tech-company, mobile-apps, innovation-accountingInnovation in the life of startups - especially who deal with digital products - is crucial. As I see innovation is not a result of central planning, but of a trial and error and the learning process of coworkers.
Implementation of even the finest concept often fails unless initiatives are made very specific. But usually not this is the case. To reach the same goal there are alternative routes. From same software requirements many different code can be created. I.e. an enterprise app can be done so that it needs always to be customised according to the new demands or it can be configurable. (more about customization vs. configuration here) First case 80% of the staff time is dedicated to product support, in other case 80% is spent on new project development. This is only one factor of what a startuper developing an enterprise software have to notice, and follow the appropriate one.
The only problem that coworkers duty is to carry out daily tasks you explicit formulate for them. How would you stimulate them to do experiments, and when they are ready, come up with their result, instead of quit and based on their experiment start their on business?
As I see innovation is not a result of central planning, but of a trial and error and the learning process of coworkers.
Are you so sure about that?
Apple is innovative by any reasonable standard, but it would be hard to argue there wasn’t some level of central planning when Steve Jobs decided they’d make the iPhone.
To me, innovation is 99% copying. It is applying existing ideas you pick up elsewhere in a novel way. It’s seldom about coming up with an idea while thinking in an ivory tower.
Innovation comes from a mindset. What I think you meant to convey, by stating it’s not about central planning, is that you cannot decree that mindset from the top.
Ideas to promote innovation:
Create an interdisciplinary team. (Think Apple, which is or was engineering combined with liberal arts, vs Google, which is or was mostly STEM PhDs.) This is really important, because you’ll get few original ideas out of a team that consists in socially inept engineers who are clones of each other.
Promote communication inside and outside of the company. Do not seek to decree it by calling for random brainstorming sessions. Instead, promote the idea that everyone should be regularly chatting with clients, suppliers, or industry peers in addition to team mates. Instill the idea of getting feedback on what worked as they do: “I saw you’re trying this or that; is it working well?”
At least try to keep track of the hodgepodge of ideas that comes up. Create some Trello boards, allow everyone to dump and organize ideas they have for others to read, and invite team members to periodically give feedback on the ideas others dump (even when they’re outside of their domain of expertise) in order to promote discussion and flows of ideas within the organization.
Have a free electron or two in the organization. That is, a socially apt jack of all trades whose unofficial job description is to have a rough idea of what everyone is working on. You’ll know when you have one: it’s that guy who doesn’t give the impression he’s getting much done because he’s chatting around a coffee with colleagues throughout the day, and who everyone likes because he always has something insightful to contribute to everyone’s work. Don’t fire him. He’s the glue that unsuspectingly lands ideas in the hands of that one person who sees the light.
Innovation can mean different things. For a casual observer, new discoveries and breakthroughs may seem to be random events. We may attribute it to a genius mind, accidental luck, good timing, or the combination of those. I’ve collected a few methods that foster innovation, and I’ve collected them in this article: Best practices in product development
Some examples:
I think it is crucial for a startup to apply as many of these in their product development process as they can. It is also important to keep in mind that one’s innovation may be just a slight improvement, and not ground-breaking at all. Getting diverse feedback is the best to ensure that you are on track.
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