Summarized list of potential products

gel insert for Bras: We thought combining Dr. Scholl's and Bras to make them more comfortable, but after research we found they exist.

Rubber Duckie and wash clothe: I came up with this one while babysitting my wife's nephew and we had to give him a bath. The product would allow to use the wash clothe while he can look at the rubber duckie.

Swiffer sweeper/ shoes: Shoes for kids to allow them to clean the floor with their shoes. After research we found them online.

Couch with storage containers: We thought this would be a good simple product, you could store movies or toys under he seats of your couch. After research we found it exists.

Magnetic notebooks: The cover of the notebook would be magnetic so or pen would stick to it and you wouldn't lose so many pens.

Picture frame/ TV tray: This idea we actually didn't find that it exists and thought is would be a fine product. For all those people who eat in front of the TV. After they are done they could take the tray hang it on the wall and it would also be a picture frame with a family photo.

magnetic Tool board: For all those people who have a messy work bench and cant seem to find all their tools. You could just put all you tools on the board and they would hang up so you can find them. After research we found that this exists.

Battery powered caulk gun: I use a caulk gun at work a lot and it can be hard on the hand to squeeze the trigger. So if it was battery power it takes the work out of it. They already make them and they are not that expensive.

Paint brush with hollow bristles to deliver paint: We thought if you could paint and never have to dip a paint brush in paint again. If you had hollow bristles that could deliver paint through the bristles instead of on the bristles. We decided to go with another product even though we didn't find this one in research.

Hiking Boots with airtight container in sole: This is the ideas we final went with. Imagine your hiking in the majestic northwoods of Wisconsin and you slip into a river and your phone had fallen out of your pocket. Once you get out of the water you don't know where you are, your cold, and you lost your phone so you can't call for help. But you still have your boots because they were tied to your feet. You remove the soles off you boots and reveal the airtight container that contains many essential tools like dry matches, flint, compass, needle/ thread, and medicine.

Verging two products into one

During our creative thinking process, we came up with a number of good ideas for our project. We thought about making a magnetic workbench wall for holding tools, a caulk gun that was drill powered, and a paint brush that automatically dispensed paint through a tube system. Although most of the ideas were good ones, we found out many of these were already on the market.

Ben came up with an idea for hiking boots that have waterproof compartments in each heel to hold a small survival kit and other essential items. At first, this seemed like something for Maxwell Smart or Inspector Gadget, but after thinking about some of the challenges hikers can face, it started to sound more sensible. Hikers can get lost, separated from their group, or even lose their backpack/equipment in a freak accident, but they’ll always have their shoes.

By having a hollow heel that can hold small items like matches, a needle with some thread, fishing line and a few hooks, a small compass, and a mirror or whistle for signaling, the hiker can feel confident that they have a few essential items that may save their life.

The heel could be totally removable or have a compartment that merely opens from the side, but when attached or closed it would be sealed in order to make it waterproof. Having one in each boot would allow for more items like important medication, first aide items, etc.

Our team thinks this is a great idea and after researching the web for any and all items that related to hiking boots or shoes, and survival kits, we could not find anything similar on the market.

Summary: Workplace Innovation Team 5-New and Innovated Product Project

Our purpose is, for each of us on the team to learn the “cycle of innovation.” This “cycle of innovation” consists of ideas such as; Visualizing the Ideas, Measuring the Gaps, Strategizing the Approaches, Projectizing the Details, and Orchestrating the Results. We are going to learn and experience this “cycle of innovation” through the process of creating a new and innovative product. Our team will then be responsible for a final presentation about our experiences in discovering a new product and our use of modern technology to make it happen.
We found the challenges that we as a team face in creating a new and innovative product to be many. However, one big problem we have had in creating a new product is, we could not just take two random items in a room and try to put them together to come up with something creative. The creative juices just will not flow for us using this process. It seemed to team members, most of our product ideas would come when we would try to think of something to no avail, and then forget about the project. Low and behold, minutes, hours, and even a day later, when our minds were occupied with something else, we get product ideas!
We as a team learned from working with the various technologies, on how we used it,to find its challenges. To start with, team members had some similar experiences in what we learned in using the technologies and the challenges we faced. Much of the web technologies were new to us and we had not even looked at them before this project. We as a team also had to figure out (a challenge) which web technology would work the best for us to do this team project, with the time we have to do the project and our technical savvy taken into account. Almost all the web technologies we looked at, we learned, members working on a team project did not have to communicate in real time.
Just look at what’s out there today in workplace technology, computers and laptops with their desktop applications, wireless PDA’s, e-mail, voice mail, and don’t forget all the web applications, such as blogs, Wiki, and Google Doc’s, that today’s companies have at their disposal
New technology has been rapidly increasing in use in today’s businesses. Most companies see the use of new technology as a way to increase profits, and to remain competitive in today’s global market place. Much of this new technology of the last few decades has been in the handling of information, known as information technology or IT, things such as e-mail and cell phones. However, in the last decade, many new and innovated technological web based applications came about, gained popularity, or both, such as Twitter, Facebook, and others.
Many businesses find that workers are no longer tied down to a desk in their offices. With much of the technology today, one could say, many workers can take their offices with them wherever they go. This portability has allowed many people the opportunity to work from home and still be in contact with the office. This new technology also offers the opportunities for a worker, to the people across the hall, to across the globe, to work together as a team for a common purpose; this is called a virtual team. Each individual on the virtual team can live and work anywhere in the world at any time, because communication between team members with the new technology, does not have to be in real-time, such as voice mail, e-mail or a blog. Nerveless, if team members across the globe wish to communicate in real time, there is such technology as teleconferencing, video conferencing and others. However, computers do not always work right, servers go down, routers go on the blink, the power goes out; push the wrong button, how do I get back where I was? This technology is not without its problems. But when everything is taken into account, the cost savings compared to the challenges, this new technology is the way to go.
The “Cycle of Innovation” of the New and Innovated Product Team Project:
Phase 1: “Visualizing the Ideals” is the team members’ agreement of the “why” or purpose of our innovation and the “what” or “Desired Future State” the innovation will be. “Visualizing the Ideals,” allows the team to head in the same direction, to start, be focus, be committed, and to see the project to the end (Papageorge).
Phase 2: In “Measuring the Gaps”, the team is looking at the difference between what is going on at the start of the project and the “Ideals” that were set in Phase1. The difference between where a team project is today and where it should be in the future (the end of the project) is the “Gap.” Once the team knew its “Gap,” the team used “Key Success Measures” or “KSMs” to help track our progress to our “Desired Future State.” Which were? 1. Week 5, the “Verge” new and innovated product will be chosen by the team members from the list of all product ideas that have been researched not to be in existence.
2. Week 5, the “Verge” new and innovated product team project will be 80% done, by having 80% of the items crossed off on the “Team Project to Do List.”
3. Week 6, the “Verge” new and innovated product team project will be 100% done, by having 100% of the items crossed off on the “Team Project to Do List.”
Phase 3: “Strategizing the approaches” We used the Scan-Focus-Go approach. We started out by coming up with a number of different ideas (Scan) that we thought could be very useful. After looking at a number of ideas, we started to narrow them down (Focus) to one or two that we thought were feasible given our skill level and the technology that is available to us. As we proceeded, we focused on one idea and did our best to produce a prototype (Go) that we could test and further develop until to a finished product that we felt comfortable to introduce to the public via marketing and distribution.
Phase 4: “Projectizing the Details” is about, who is going to do what in the period to finish the project, and it is the project management step. The team in “Projectizing the Details”, thought about all the details that would be necessary to finish the project. Details such as, the number of activities needed to finish the project, the time each activity will take, and who will do what when.
Phase 5: “Orchestrating the Results” was the team members need to address their problems of today, while at the same time to meet the challenge of finishing the team project on time. The team members knew if they do not find the time to work on the project, it will never be done. The team members knew they needed to have balance and some flexibility to work on the team project, because they still had to handle their own everyday life situations and issues.

Phase 5: Orchestrating the Results

Orchestrating the Results” is the team members need to address their problems of today, while at the same time to meet the challenge of finishing the team project on time. The team members know if they do not find the time to work on the project, it will never be done. To accomplish the goal of finishing the project on time, the team members prioritize their work. Asking themselves and each other questions such as; “What should be done first?”, “What can be done latter?”, “What is most important?”, and “What can wait?” By doing this, the team members realized they could spend the majority of their time on what was important and needed in the project, and spend little time lesser things. The team delegated a schedule for each team member of goals that needed to be met each week for the project. Each team member needed to set up individually their own weekly schedules to work on the project, and to avoid interruptions. The team members knew they needed to have balance and some flexibility to work on the team project, because they still had to handle everyday situations and issues.

Phase 4: Projectizing the Details

“Projectizing the Details” is about, who is going to do what in the time frame to finish the project, it is the project management step. The team in “Projectizing the Details”, thought about all the details that would be necessary to finish the project. Details such as, the number of activities needed to finish the project, the time each activity will take, and who will do what when. The team notice by breaking the main project into smaller simpler activities or small projects, in a detail order, made the main project easier to accomplish and less stressful. One could say, each activity was a stepping stone to the next activity. The team members, by having a list of their organized activities, of who was doing what when, knew where the team stood each week in meeting the team’s “Key Success Measures” and how close the team was to their “Desired Future State.” Some of the activities for the project the team discussed where; what are the main points to be covered in the project? Who will write about which points? How many points should be written each week to finish the project on time? In what order should each activity be carried out? And who is going to put the project all together in the end on the team’s blog? The team members notice that without the “Projectizing the Details” for the project, it would have been confusing, with much wasted work, and most likely not done on time.

Phase 2: Measuring the Gaps

In “Measuring the Gaps”, the team is looking at the difference between what is going on at the start of the project and the “Ideals” that were set in Phase1. The difference between where a team project is today and where it should be in the future (the end of the project) is the “Gap.” By the team knowing the size of the “Gap” helps to bring about the decisions necessary to make the innovation a reality. Once the team knows its “Gap,” the team used “Key Success Measures” or “KSMs” to help track our progress to our “Desired Future State.” “KSMs” were used to track, review, make corrections, and report on how we were doing in reaching our “Ideals.” Once the team members knew the “KSMs”, the members found that they could make better decisions in closing “Gaps” to reach the team’s “Ideals.” “KSMs” came about by the team members asking each other and themselves questions that could be measured. Questions such as; “How do we know we are on the right track with this project?” “How can we tell if were headed in the right direction?” “How will the team members know the innovated project is finished and no more needs to be done?” With the team members’ answers to these questions, the team came up with three basic “KSMs”
1. Week 5, the “Verge” new and innovated product, will be chosen by the team members from the list of all product ideas that have been researched not to be in existence.
2. Week 5, the “Verge” new and innovated product team project, will be 80% done, by having 80% of the items crossed off on the “Team Project to Do List.”
3. Week 6, the “Verge” new and innovated product team project, will be 100% done, by having 100% of the items crossed off on the “Team Project to Do List.”

Phase 1: Visualizing the Ideals

“Visualizing the Ideals” is the team members’ agreement of the “why” or purpose of our innovation and the “what” or “Desired Future State” the innovation will be. “Visualizing the Ideals,” allows the team to head in the same direction, to start, be focus, be committed, and to see the project to the end (Papageorge). With shared ideals, the team became committed, bound and determined, to see the project to the end, which is part of the team’s common “Desired Future State”. The “Visualizing the Ideals” has helped the team, by providing clarity, a sense of direction, and the setting of the team’s priorities. In addition, it has helped the team’s commitment to each other, for members to stay motivated about the project, to using the team’s resources better, and the “how” and “why” of the team’s decisions. One of the ideals the team visualized was our purpose, the “why” of “why do we want to do this innovation project and why do we want to innovate?” The team’s purpose is than to “We will provide consumers the most innovated products that return the greatest value back to them.”The other visualized ideal is the “Desired Future State,” the “what will this innovated project be in the end?” and the “what will this look like?” Workplace Innovation Team 5, “Desired Future State” is “We will become world’s most valued innovation team, by creating new and innovated products that return the most value back to the consumer, by respecting each individual, and respecting the earth.”

Works Cited
Papageorge, Andrew. Golnnovate!: a Practical Guide to Switch, Continual and Effective Innovation. San Diego, CA: Golnnovate, 2004. Print.

Discussion: Technology Use in the Workplace and Its Challenges

Just look at what’s out there today in workplace technology, computers and laptops with their desktop applications, wireless PDA’s, e-mail, voice mail, and don’t forget all the web applications, such as blogs, Wiki, and Google Doc’s, today’s companies have at their disposal
New technology has been rapidly increasing in use in today’s businesses. Most companies see the use of new technology as a way to increase profits, and to remain competitive in today’s global market place. Much of this new technology of the last few decades has been in the handling of information, known as information technology or IT, things such as e-mail and cell phones. However, in the last decade, many new and innovated technological web based applications came about, gained popularity, or both, such as Twitter, Facebook, and others.
Many businesses find that workers are no longer tied down to a desk in their offices. With much of the technology today, one could say, many workers can take their offices with them where ever they go. This portability has allowed many people the opportunity to work from home and still be in contact with the office. This new technology also offers the opportunities for a worker, to the people across the hall, to across the globe, to work together as a team for a common purpose; this is called a virtual team. Each individual on the virtual team can live and work anywhere in the world at any time, because communication between team members with the new technology, does not have to be in real-time, such as voice mail, e-mail or a blog. Nerveless, if team members across the globe wish to communicate in real time, there is such technology as teleconferencing, video conferencing and others.
A business using the new information technology for meetings and teams, across the building, state, or globe, can save the cost of travel and accommodations. Members don’t have to; many times, change their schedules, travel, or leave their office. However, the challenges with new technology can be many. Computers do not always work right, servers go down, routers go on the blink, the power goes out; push the wrong button, how do I get back where I was? Same goes for doing a project as a virtual team and using this new technology. Everyone one on a virtual team can be on a different schedule, the time to receive an answer to an e-mail or comment on a blog can take awhile; there is not an instant answer, compared to real-time, such as using a cell phone or instant messaging. This will cause a virtual team project to move slower many times, than a team that meets face-to-face. Another challenge is that much of the communication technology is done in written form, such as e-mail, IM’s, or a post on a blog. A person cannot read the other person’s body language using this technology, and this can lead to misunderstandings, of course using video conferencing can reduce this problem.
Of course, the big advantage of the new and innovated communication technology is the amount of time and costs it can save a company compared to face-to-face meetings. However, this technology is not without its problems. But when everything is taken into account, the cost savings compared to the challenges, this new technology is the way to go.

Overview: Project Technology; Learned, Use, & Challenges

This is an overview on what we as a team learned from working with various technologies, how we used it, and what our challenges were. To start with, and I do believe, myself and the other team members had some similar experiences in what we learned in using the technologies and the challenges we faced. Much of the web technologies were new to me. I hadn’t even looked at them before this project. Some of the other web technologies; I had looked at, but never had sat up my own account. Some of the challenges I faced was to set up an account of my own on some these web technologies. Not only that, I had to learn to setup my page on the account and from there with the team members, we had to figure out how to contact each other using a web technology that was new to most of us. We as a team also had to figure out (a challenge) which web technology would work the best for us to do this team project, with the time we have to do the project and our technical savvy taken into account. Almost all the web technologies we looked at, we learned, members working on a team project do not have to communicate in real time. One member could be awake at their computer at the office, writing information to the other members who are sleeping at home. When the sleeping members wake up and read the information, they can write back and the first member could be the one sleeping. A problem can arise though, with many of the web technologies, as we know, a person doesn’t have to be there in real time to receive information, it can sometimes take awhile before someone sends information back to you because they were busy with other things and didn’t get a chance to look at the message you sent. Some of the technologies try to help with this problem, by an option; people can have a message sent to their cell phone, telling them that a message has been received at their web account. Working in real time does have its advantages, such as Meebo or Instant Messaging; it is quicker and easier for people to play off of each other’s ideas to come up with better ideas. However, not everyone is on the same schedule and it is hard to find a time that everyone can agree to get together and talk. Some of the web technologies we looked at and played around with are; Blog (www.blogger.com), Wiki (www.pbwiki.com), Twitter (www.twitter.com), Blackboard (blackboard.nwtc.edu), Google docs (www.google.com), Meebo (meebo.com).

Ben's Ideas

Ben...I like your latest ideas. I know they make a small magnetic tool tray that mechanics use when working on cars, but I've never seen a board. Interesting. I also think we could come up with a better system than the current caulk gubs. Those things are a pain.

The Magnetic hammer might work if you were doing a roof or something, but it might be hard to be precise for other nailing.

I have to agree with Steve B. here. I'm struggling to come up with anything new, but I'm working on it.

See you both tomorrow.

Discussion: Challenges in Creating a New Product

I have found the challenges that we as a team face in creating a new and innovative product to be many. However, I can only mainly speak for myself. One big problem I have had in creating a new product is, I can’t just take two random items in a room and try to put them together to come up with something creative. The creative juices just will not flow for me using this process. It seemed to me, most of my product ideas would come when I would try to think of something to no avail, and then forget about the project. Low and behold, minutes, hours, and even a day later, when my mind is occupied with something else, I get a product idea! This is fine and dandy, however, as I learned the hard way by getting too excited, it may be a great idea, but someone else thought of it first. This is where the research of the “maybe” new and innovated product idea comes in. Mainly, I would use different internet search engines, using different key words and different word combinations of my idea, to see if the product is out there in the world. It is hard to believe at first, but most of what I thought would be a new and innovated product idea, is already a product being sold in the world. The kicker to this is that I never heard of this product before, never seen it, never even saw an advertisement for it. So this brings me back to square-one, of finding a new and innovated product.

More Ideas

What if you had a board that the back was a magnet and all your tools had a certain magnetic strength this way all your tools could hang on the board but it would not require hangers to hang everything.
I was also thinking a hammer that had a magnet in the head that you could put a nail on and it would stick there you wouldn't have to hold the nail. then you would never hot your hand when pounding in a nail.
Or how about a paint brush that was able to deliver paint out of the bristles through some sort of tube system.
The other thing I thought of was they already have drill powered grease guns. So what if we took they same concept and applied it to a caulk gun. so the you wouldn't have to sit there and squeeze the trigger all the time.
I didn't research any of these ideas yet i am going to. I just wanted to put them out there so you guys could tell me what you think.

Overview: Team 5 Workplace Innovation Project

Overview of Team 5 Workplace Innovation Project: Our purpose is, for each of us on the team to learn the “cycle of innovation.” This “cycle of innovation” consists of ideas such as; Visualizing the Ideas, Measuring the Gaps, Strategizing the Approaches, Projectizing the Details, and Orchestrating the Results. We are going to learn and experience this “cycle of innovation” through the process of creating a new and innovative product. Our team will then be responsible for a final presentation about our experiences in discovering a new product and our use of modern technology to make it happen.
In this project, we are going to use Andrew Papageorge 5 Phase Cycle of Innovation and Joel Barker’s Innovation at the Verge concept to create our new innovated product. To do this, we are going to use the 5 Phase Cycle of Innovation to dream up a list of different products and their different combinations. Then from this list, we will choose a product combination, as the basis for our new and innovative product. This is to be a new and innovated product, so it should not currently exist in any form, known on the face of the earth. Then we will “identify” and “measure” the gap between the products in our combination and the new and innovated product. From there, we will “strategize” on how we will close this gap and then “projectize” our work needed to close this gap. As we, as a team, move through the “cycle of innovation,” we will always be reflecting on how our team project activities are being preformed and look for necessary improvements.
Some of the following modern technologies have been, are, and might be, used in Team 5’s Workplace Innovation Project, for communication and collaboration, and they are but not limited to; this blog at http://workplaceinnovationteam5.blogspot.com, also each team member has created their own blog. Some members have created personal Wiki accounts at www.pbwiki that could be used on this project. The team started this project using a Blackboard discussion board at http://blackboard.nwtc.edu and e-mail, when other forms of contact would not perform. Nevertheless, as of this moment, unless things change, the main work, communications, collaboration, and final project will be done at this blog post; workplace Innovation Team 5