Each week I scour articles, wading through the dogs, and bringing you the best insights to help product managers, developers, and innovators be heroes.

Product Innovation Tips Around the Web

 

What innovators can learn from modern-day explorers and adventures. “The highly constrained and extreme circumstances that explorers face provides a fertile ground for the birth of the most cutting-edge technologies—and the fact that lives are at stake means these technologies cannot fail. Remarkably, the discoveries that happen here end up more often being widely applicable than from any other source, and many of them—think GoPro—have become multibillion-dollar companies alone.” Read more at Fast Company http://www.fastcoexist.com/3043563/5-lessons-on-innovation-from-modern-day-explorers-and-adventurers

Thoughts on the effectiveness of public-private collaborations for social innovation? “Speaking on a panel at the recent Wharton Social Innovators Conference, Melby described how in 2008, pronouncements by the likes of Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and venture capitalist John Doerr about public-private partnerships began to grab his attention.” Read more from Wharton http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/social-innovation-putting-a-number-on-saving-the-world/

5 trends in social innovation. “In 2015, a number of converging trends will create an optimal environment for inspiring, launching and sustaining social innovations like never before.” Read more from Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pat-walsh/5-trends-defining-social-_b_6906366.html

5 Digital Marketing trends for innovators-insights from the Adobe Digital Summit. “The digital marketing train has left the station. Thankfully, more than 7,000 eager passengers jumped aboard the fast-moving Adobe Digital Summit last week in Salt Lake City.” Read more at Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2015/03/20/five-innovation-trends-for-cmos/

A social innovation framework – innovation forwards and backwards. “The principle purpose of innovation forwards is a liveable existence for future generations worldwide. Type 3 innovations (both technical and social) are its main driver, supported by type 2 and type 1. Innovation forwards does not exclude improving productivity (type 1), for instance by deployment of robotics, but will safeguard autonomous and challenging jobs for all in the first place…” Read more at Innovation Excellence http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2015/03/20/innovation-forwards-and-backwards/

Lots of perspectives on the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). “There is a common understanding among agile organizations that they should aim to build the products which are ‘good enough’, that meet the criteria for being a MVP (Minimum Viable Product).  The challenge is how do we know what “good enough” means for our customers.” Read more at InfoQ http://www.infoq.com/news/2015/03/good-enough

Learning from the 3 Phases of Chinese innovation. “In the space of less than four decades Chinese companies have moved from outright imitation to pure business innovation.” Read more at Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/ceibs/2015/03/23/the-three-phases-of-chinese-innovation/

4 metrics for measuring innovation. “There is no fixed innovation metric suited to all companies, all industries and all audiences. The calculus used by startups versus established companies will probably be different. Each stage of an innovation’s lifecycle may require different measures. What is universal is that the test of a good metric begins with the same question: What business problem are you trying to solve?” Read more at Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-radin/the-daily-innovatorsm-the-right-ways-to-measure-innovation_b_6912150.html

Breaking through organizational roadblocks to innovation. “Blocks often occur when organizations believe that beliefs and opinions are true and treat them as facts, or even irrefutable laws. These turn into mental blocks and prevent people from seeing opportunities…” Read more at Time http://time.com/3754512/3-ways-find-forgotten-innovation/

Another benefit of innovation – consumers pay more for it. “The 2015 Ketchum Innovation Kernel Study, the first multi-country survey to calibrate the importance of innovation as a brand attribute, shows that 68 percent of consumers are willing to pay on average 21 percent more for a brand they consider innovative.” Read more at Market Watch http://www.marketwatch.com/story/innovation-is-more-than-a-buzzword—consumers-are-willing-to-pay-21-more-for-innovative-brands-2015-03-24

6 steps to product innovation from a CTO’s perspective. “How does an IT organization that finds itself responsible for product innovation reinvent itself to become a world class technology division?” Read more at CIO http://www.cio.com/article/2901678/leadership-management/six-easy-steps-to-product-innovation.html

Still Important – Product Management Flash from the Past

Book review – 4 Lenses of Innovation by Rowan Gibson. “The four lenses is a tool to provide us the ability to find and explore fresh perspectives. He calls these ‘four perceptual lenses’ and when he went back and studied successful innovation it uncovered and reinforced his belief in this tool for each of us to uncover insights and opportunities.” Read more at Innovation Excellence http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2015/03/03/reviewing-the-four-lenses-of-innovation-by-rowan-gibson/?Itemid=92