Archive for November, 2006
Friday, November 24th, 2006
On the road…
I’m travelling through Asia on the way to London at the moment, and so will be posting less regularly until I’m back in the office in early December…
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Roger Dennis
Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
Malcom Gladwell on the fringes
Malcom Gladwell comments on the fringes that exist within an organisation in his article for the New Yorker about workplace design. More precisely, as one study after another has demonstrated ,the best ideas in any workplace arise out of casual contacts among different groups within the same company. If you are designing widgets for Acme.com, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Fringe scanning / peripheral vision by Roger Dennis
Thursday, November 16th, 2006
Interview with Tony Ulwick – author of “What Customers Want” (final part)
(continued from Part Three…) 8. I think there is a lot written about innovation, but very little about actually how to do it successfully, and in a repeatable fashion. What are your thoughts on this? I agree, a lot has been written – most of it about over arching innovation theory, not much on the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Innovation PROCESSES by Roger Dennis
Tuesday, November 14th, 2006
HBS interview on Time Pressure and Creativity
Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile is in the midst of a ten-year study looking at, among other things, how time pressure in a corporate setting affects employee creativity. Interviewed here she talks about how her study is the first to empirically study creativity in the wild. By stripping out assumptions and myths about creativity [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Innovation CULTURE by Roger Dennis
Monday, November 13th, 2006
McKinsey article : Reinventing innovation at consumer goods companies
The latest issue of The McKinsey Quarterly has an article titled “Reinventing innovation at consumer goods companies.” If you’re in this sector, it’s a relevant and insightful read. If you’re in a product design company, it’s old news. Nevertheless, the highlights are worth digesting : On predicting the success rate of new products : “Consumers [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Fringe scanning / peripheral vision,Innovation PROCESSES by Roger Dennis
Monday, November 13th, 2006
Interview with Tony Ulwick – author of “What Customers Want” (part 3)
(…continued from part two) 5. Since your book came out, what has been the reaction to the idea? Generally, once people understand the fundamentals of what we are describing here, they love it – it has logical appeal. After all, we are simply saying that companies must uncover and prioritize their customers’ needs and use [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Innovation PROCESSES by Roger Dennis
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006
Interview with Tony Ulwick – author of “What Customers Want” (part 2)
(…continued from part one) 3. How would you describe your process? In my recent book, What Customers Want, (McGraw Hill, 2005), I reinforce the theory that customers buy products and services to get jobs done. [Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen introduced this terminology in The Innovator’s Solution. He also cites my work in his [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Innovation PROCESSES by Roger Dennis
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006
Nicholas Negroponte on the fringes
New ideas do not necessarily live within the borders of existing intellectual domains. In fact they are most often at the edges and in curious intersections.
No Comments » - Posted in Fringe scanning / peripheral vision by Roger Dennis
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006
The history of Innovation Tools
In his latest Ice Update, Eric Mankin of Babson points out that incentives to spur innovation – such as the X Prize – are not new. In fact, they’ve been around for long time. One of Mankins readers – Parker Neal – points out : In 1919, a gentleman named Raymond Orteig offered a prize [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Innovation CULTURE,Innovation PROCESSES by Roger Dennis
Monday, November 6th, 2006
Interview with Tony Ulwick – author of “What Customers Want” (part 1)
Over the next week I’ll be posting an email interview with Tony Ulwick – author of the fascinating book “What Customers Want.” I’ve not read many interviews with Ulwick, which is why I’m posting this. He has developed a thorough and unique framework for innovation which brings incredible clarity to an otherwise mis-understood process. In [...]
