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

 

Henry Chesbrough, father of open innovation, shares how open innovation has evolved. Chesbrough wrote his Open Innovation book in 2003. In this article he shares what has been happening in open innovation since then and why it is still important today: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601459/striving-for-innovation-success-in-the-21st-century/

12 keys to open innovation 2.0. This is another look at how open innovation has evolved and the 12 principles to make it work for an organization…(1) purpose, (2) partner, (3) platform, (4) possibilities, (5) plan… Read what open innovation 2.0 is about and the details of all 12 principles at http://www.nature.com/news/twelve-principles-for-open-innovation-2-0-1.19911

IBM inventor shares how to innovate without costly R&D. Companies share they are only “marginally effective” at converting R&D spending into product advancements. R&D is not correlated to innovation. As an example, under Steve Jobs, Apple spent a fraction on R&D compared to its peer group yet consistently released new products. This article  explores simple and low-cost ways to use surveys to gain innovation insights: http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2016/05/18/how-to-innovate-without-all-that-costly-rd/2

6 steps to being customer-centric and developing products customers want.  Customer feedback is an important source of ideas for product managers. Interestingly, 80% of companies claim to be customer-centric while only 8% of customers agree they are. The six steps are: (1) Let product management take the lead. (2) Conduct one-on-one interviews. (3) Start with customer needs. (4) Present your solution, and ask more questions. (5) A/B test product features. (6) Create a culture of feedback appreciation. Read about each at http://www.forbes.com/sites/falonfatemi/2016/05/15/six-steps-to-better-customer-feedback

A history of innovation from 1870 to the present. This is an enjoyable article from The New York Times providing a history of innovation accompanied by enchanting pictures. What’s your choice for the most important innovation… electricity, canned food, the internet or something else? Enjoy the read at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/upshot/what-was-the-greatest-era-for-american-innovation-a-brief-guided-tour.html

5 ways to drive innovation in your teams. A CTO shares how he has increased the innovation muscle of his teams using five perspectives: (1) Classic Change Management. (2) 10x Thinking. (3) Forgiveness. (4) Great People. (5) Fun. Read the details of each at http://www.cio.com/article/3068337/leadership-management/driving-innovation-with-your-teams.html

5 lessons learned at Dell for driving innovation in a large company. Dell co-designed a new laptop with a customer community, turning a $40,000 investment into tens of millions of dollars of revenue. Barton George, the technologist in charge of the program, shares five lessons learned: (1) Get a champion, be a champion. (2) Leverage, execute. (3) Start small. (4) Speak directly and be transparent. (5) No one is perfect. Read the article at http://www.cio.com/article/3069955/it-industry/driving-innovation-at-a-large-company-five-lessons-learned.html