Author: Henry William Chesbrough. Publisher: Harvard Business Press; First Trade ... Author: Dennis Sherwood. Publisher: Ashgate Publishing (June 1998).
Ian Care is an Engineer with Rolls-Royce working on research programmes as well as NPI (New Product Introduction) projects as a designed and in manufacturing. He champions TRIZ within the company and is known for problem solving.
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Problem solving and creativity are often considered to just happen. Recent research has given us a lot of information about how we can improve in these areas and use systematic techniques. This is important for everyday life as the world becomes more complex. An example is in the area of disruptive innovation, where a new product, change in service etc. can totally disrupt the market/ organisation. TRIZ is one approach which gives us a tool box of systematic problem solving techniques, which can be used to find win-win solutions, identify disruptive threats, change perceptions and mindsets etc. Recent research has been on how to introduce these ideas (particularly TRIZ) to organisations and individuals, through workshops and teaching. But a business needs this disruption to happen at the right time, in the right place, and without stopping profitable activity from continuing.
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Let us first define what our requirements and output from the study should be. Then we can use this output to decide our next actions.
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There are many psychological parameters that are definable and can be brought to flower. However, the cognitive work we have done clearly shows there are people with cognitive profiles that have the potential to do innovation and others that do not. (There is a difference between innovation and problems solving, although they are similar in many ways.)
Hence, the challenge is to find these people and help them bloom. This includes both the environment in which they can operate, skills development, and the fostering development / application of effective exploration tools. Do we really want to create, and have, an army of innovators? How do we direct innovation to use it in the right place at the right time – Just in Time?
What is the strategy to put this in place ready to be used when needed?
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Innovation goes beyond an idea or invention
Inventions can be for non-physical items and should not be excluded from our study
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As a Design Engineer I like equations, and the simpler the better. This is a bit of a mouthful, but I have come up with something that I have called the Implementation of Innovation Equation. It is made up of 2 parts:
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Here is a glimpse of how some of the outcomes of the study fit together.
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This may seem negative, but it shows some of the inertia that needs to be overcome in some work areas. For our recommendations to work we need to address or have answers to these issues otherwise we risk our initiative from failing.
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Let us also look at this in the same way we might do root cause analysis of a problem. If this is not the usual (current) way to analyse problems in your workplace, then use whichever template is normally used.
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As part of the assessment of the health of the business, several other aspects were compared against an international standard and against the “Best in Class” – that is other companies that have been surveyed. This is useful to identify requirements, benchmark performance, and highlight improvements and strengths.
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All tests reviewed were limited in what they found. None gave consistent results either when repeated several years apart or between themselves. Measures were equally problematic as things such as patents filed or papers written were often the result of awareness or target setting driving specific behaviours.
Peer identification was powerful when asked in the correct way. Asking “Who is inventive in the company?” often got a null response or a global strapline response. Asking who might help solve a difficult technical / process / manufacturing problem generally pointed us in the direction of the “experts” within the company. It was the lists that emerged from these experts that was the most interesting.
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Many creative people keep a low profile, and although good at problem solving, do not openly discuss ideas until they have a working single solution. This may be down to company culture. What was a revelation was that inventive people naturally appeared to network with each other. Is their creativity due to their network? Or their network because of their wider interests? This was still the case for people with inventions in only a slim and limited field. What was surprising is that inventive people were not always recognised by the people sitting next to them, likewise managers were often unable to cite inventive people and tended to indicate those who present many things to them, such as workpackage owners – who when questioned pointed us in the direction where the ideas came from.
A small number of people appear in the “measures” list of such as patents and papers, but on closer questioning of experts in that area the inventorship becomes questionable.
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Whether an inventor is born or bred – and it is probably a bit of both – the working environment plays a huge role in whether people display and use their inventiveness.
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5S is the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words. The list describes how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order. The most obvious benefit from items being organized in such a way (i.e. that they are always readily available) is that of improved productivity. The next aim is Quality. Another goal is improved Health & Safety. The adoption of 5S must be driven by goals. Many Western companies now promote 5S with a sixth ‘S’ added for Quality. Not unnaturally, there is some debate over this. The sixth S serves a fundamental purpose – it reminds everyone of the need for Quality. Adding an S for Safety and Security also emphasise these points. A key lesson taught by Japanese automobile manufacturers, and one central to the Toyota Production System, is that traditional levels of performance must be not only exceeded, but replaced by a completely different perception of the scale of what is acceptable – the equivalent in TRIZ terms of moving to the new paradigm and onto a new “S” curve.
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Better ideas tend to have multiple inventor input. In a study last year (Carlisle & Care, 2011) where problems were tackled by just 2 creative people the multiple inventions to get near to a solution was very fast compared to a room full of experts or worse still a brainstorming session. Encouraging wider experiences tends to bring stimulation of ideas from elsewhere.
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Reward for invention always seems to be a contentious and divisive subject. The challenge is to make the motivation the reward. Does game theory really apply to Engineers? If it did, would they not all up and go and work in the City?
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As in our studies on environment, we found management key to whether innovation was to succeed – in many respects better buy-in from maagers than from creatives and inventors is required
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Books on Innovation
The following is a list of innovation books that will broaden horizons and help with discovering the keys to systematic innovation, open innovation, disruptive innovation, TRIZ (The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) and more. The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care Authors: Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman M.D., Jason Hwang M.D. Publisher: McGraw-Hill; First edition (December 4, 2008) ISBN: 978-0071592086 Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns Authors: Clayton Christensen, Curtis W. Johnson, Michael B. Horn Publisher: McGraw-Hill; First edition (May 14, 2008) ISBN: 978-0071592062 The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business Author: Clayton Christensen Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (January 7, 2003) ISBN: 978-0060521998 The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth Authors: Clayton Christensen, Michael E. Raynor
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Publisher: Harvard Business Press; 1 edition (September 2003) ISBN: 978-1578518524 Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology Author: Henry William Chesbrough Publisher: Harvard Business Press; First Trade Paper Edition (September 30, 2005) ISBN: 978-1422102831 Democratizing Innovation Author: Eric von Hippel Publisher: The MIT Press (April 1, 2006) ISBN: 978-0262720472
The Sources of Innovation Author: Eric von Hippel Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 22, 1994) ISBN: 978-0195094220 OECD Reviews of Innovation Policy: Korea 2009 Author: OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Publisher: OECD Publishing (July 31, 2009) ISBN: 978-9264067226 OECD Reviews of Regional Innovation Competitive Regional Clusters: National Policy Approaches Author: OECD Publishing Publisher: Org. for Economic Cooperation & Development; illustrated edition (June 6, 2007) ISBN: 978-9264031821 Simplified TRIZ: New Problem Solving Applications for Engineers and Manufacturing Professionals, Second Edition Authors: Kalevi Rantanen, Tris Oy, Turku, Finland; Ellen Domb Publisher: AUERBACH; 2 edition (December 10, 2007) ISBN: 978-1420062731 And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared: TRIZ, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving Author: Genrich Altshuller Publisher: Technical Innovation Center, Inc.; 2nd edition (May 1996) ISBN: 978-0964074026 Hands on Systematic Innovation: For Business and Management Author: Darrell Mann Publisher: Edward Gaskell Publishers (October 2004) ISBN: 978-1898546733 Systematic Innovation: An Introduction to TRIZ Authors: John Terninko, Alla Zusman, Boris Zlotin Publisher: CRC; 1 edition (April 15, 1998) ISBN: 978-1574441116
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Innovation Algorithm: TRIZ, Systematic Innovation and Technical Creativity Author: Genrich Altshuller Publisher: Technical Innovation Ctr; 1st edition (March 1, 1999) ISBN: 978-0964074040 Innovation on Demand: New Product Development Using TRIZ Authors: Victor Fey, Eugene Rivin Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 14, 2005) ISBN: 978-0521826204 What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services Author: Anthony Ulwick Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (August 16, 2005) ISBN: 978-0071408677 TRIZ: An Approach to Systematic Innovation Author: Ellen Domb Publisher: Goal/QPC (September 1998) ISBN: 978-1879364998 Unlock Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Deliberate and Systematic Innovation Author: Dennis Sherwood Publisher: Ashgate Publishing (June 1998) ISBN: 978-0566079832 A Systematic Innovation Model Based on TRIZ Authors: Frank Chen, Yong-huang Lin Publisher: VDM Verlag (April 30, 2008) ISBN: 978-3836492317 Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation Author: Tim Brown Publisher: HarperBusiness (September 29, 2009) ISBN: 978-0061766084 Innovation Management for Technical Products: Systematic and Integrated Product Development and Production Planning Author: Walter Eversheim (Editor) Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (November 17, 2008) ISBN: 978-3540857266 Design Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean Author: Roberto Verganti Publisher: Harvard Business Press (August 3, 2009) ISBN: 978-1422124826 Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and Organizational Change Authors: Joe Tidd, John Bessant Publisher: Wiley; 4th edition (April 27, 2009)
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ISBN: 978-0470998106
Harvard Business Review on Innovation Authors: Harvard Business School Press (Compiler) Publisher: Harvard Business Press; 5 edition (June 15, 2001) ISBN: 978-1578516148 Innovator's Guide to Growth: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work Authors: Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson, Joseph V. Sinfield, Elizabeth J. Altman Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; illustrated edition (June 23, 2008) ISBN: 978-1591398462 The Myths of Innovation Author: Scott Berkun Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 1 edition (May 15, 2007) ISBN: 978-0596527051 Innovation Leaders: How Senior Executives Stimulate, Steer and Sustain Innovation Author: Jean-Philippe Deschamps Publisher: Jossey-Bass; illustrated edition (June 10, 2008) ISBN: 978-0470515242 The Elegant Solution: Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation Author: Matthew E. May Publisher: Free Press; 1 edition (October 10, 2006) ISBN: 978-0743290173
Innovator's Toolkit: 10 Practical Strategies to Help You Develop and Implement Innovation Authors: Harvard Business School Press Publisher: Harvard Business School Press (March 31, 2009) ISBN: 978-1422199909 TRIZ – Systematic Innovation in Manufacturing Author: Yeoh Teong San Publisher: Firstfruits Sdn Bhd; First edition (July 8, 2009) ISBN: 978-9838040266 Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape Author: Henry Chesbrough Publisher: Harvard Business Press; First edition (December 6, 2006) ISBN: 978-1422104279 Tools for Innovation Authors: Arthur B Markman, Kristin L. Wood Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 13, 2009) ISBN: 978-0195381634 Engineering Design: A Systematic Approach Authors: G. Pahl, W. Beitz, Jörg Feldhusen, Karl-Heinrich Grote Publisher: Springer; 3rd edition (January 24, 2007) ISBN: 978-1846283185
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Seeing Differently: Insights on Innovation Author: John Seely Brown (Editor) Publisher: Harvard Business Press (April 1, 1997) ISBN: 978-0875847559 Imitation to Innovation: The Dynamics of Korea's Technological Learning (Management of Innovation and Change) Author: Linsu Kim Publisher: Harvard Business Press (March 1, 1997) ISBN: 978-0875845746
Grabbing Lightning: Building a Capability for Breakthrough Innovation Author: G. Colarelli O'Connor Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (February 25, 2008) ISBN: 978-0787996642 Getting to Innovation: How Asking the Right Questions Generates the Great Ideas Your Company Needs Author: Arthur B. VanGundy Publisher: AMACOM (July 16, 2007) ISBN: 978-0814408988 INsourcing Innovation: How to Achieve Competitive Excellence Using TRIZ Authors: David Silverstein, Neil DeCarlo, Michael Slocum Publisher: AUERBACH; 1 edition (December 17, 2007) ISBN: 978-1420062274
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