This morning at the Business of Software 2009 conference, I heard an excellent talk by Geoffrey Moore on (surprise!) how technology company should use innovation to achieve company success. The emphasis in the previous sentence is important, since a lot of companies struggle, or even fail, because they don't make the connection between the idea and the company.
The core idea of Moore's talk was, Not all forms of innovation are the same. For example, some innovations help companies differentiate themselves from the competition. Other innovations keep companies in play, when prospective customers are pondering which vendors they should take seriously. Finally, there are innovations that increase operational efficiencies.
You'll notice that the way in which Moore is using the term innovation has less to do with the idea itself, and more with the outcome of bringing the idea to market. That shouldn't be surprising, if you've kept the difference between invention and innovation clear in your mind. The idea--big or small, prosaic or revolutionary--is the basis of invention, not innovation.
People in the business of innovation management tools certainly are getting this message. Accept Software, for example, is certainly one of many ISVs in this area who realize that the innovation process that they model, support, streamline, etc. is bigger than just the idea. Suggesting and voting on ideas is a process worth supporting, but so too is quickly translating the idea into concrete requirements, and fitting the idea into the larger portfolio. That, according to the people at Accept, is why they have products in all three areas.
Unfortunately, in the technology industry, we're still a significant distance from a collective understanding of what innovation really means. The speaker right after Moore, Paul Graham, asserted that the founders in technology companies will play a stronger role, over time. Even if it were true, as Graham argued, that "hackers" can understand business more easily than business people can understand "hacking," it's not the case that the same people should focus on generating new ideas and nurturing the business. Even the greatest minds among us aren't good at everything, and they definitely don't have time for everything.
Companies that make the right guesses about the type of innovation they should emphasize, build the strategy that spells what to do next, and succeed at executing this strategy, are the collective triumph of some people who generate ideas, others who fit them into the company strategy, and make sure that the company acts quickly and successfully on all fronts.
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