Each week I scour articles, wading through the dogs, and bringing you the best insights to help product managers, developers, and innovators be heroes.
Yes, hackathons/innovation-athons in companies are bad for innovation. Finally others are talking about this and not just me – hackathons cause great excitement but they don’t solve the issues companies have that are barriers to innovation. Read more in Fast Company’s article: http://www.fastcompany.com/3054023/hit-the-ground-running/why-hackathons-are-bad-for-innovation
The 12 things that kill innovation in companies. #1 is Culture of Fear. Read them all at http://www.afr.com/leadership/innovation/12-things-that-kill-innovation-in-your-organisation-20151028-gkkoeh
How to create a successful product concept. You need three key elements – company fit, portfolio fit, and market fit. Read about all three at http://www.pddnet.com/blog/2015/11/key-elements-successful-product-concept
Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Innovative Companies. Apple, Google, Tesla, Microsoft and Samsung take the top-5 spots. My favorite is #40 – 3M. They continue to be an innovation force despite existing for more than 110 years – innovation in old large companies is something we all can learn from. Read more at http://fortune.com/2015/12/02/50-most-innovative-companies/
One cost product managers don’t consider. Experienced product managers can probably guess this one because they have felt the pain from it, but still, many repeat the same steps again and again. Let’s just stop making products more complex than they need to be. Read about the details of this cost at http://firstround.com/review/The-one-cost-engineers-and-product-managers-dont-consider/
Clayton Christensen’s latest insights on Disruptive Innovation. He discusses why Uber is disrupting the taxi industry but is not an example of disruptive innovation. Good stuff. Read more from Forbes at http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2015/12/02/fresh-insights-from-clayton-christensen-on-disruptive-innovation/
Lessons from Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA). A student took a practical problem he had and used DFMA approaches to find a practical solution. Read about it at http://www.deskeng.com/de/a-hands-on-look-at-product-design-and-development/
How $100K, 6 months, and a good idea lead to an award-winning product. It starts with finding the needs and pain points of your potential customers. Read more at Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2015/12/03/how-to-design-and-ship-an-award-winning-product-in-record-time/
The primary responsibilities for an organization are product management and innovation. They deliver value to customers. They're also exciting responsibilities for those properly equipped. That is my job - equipping product managers and innovators. 