5 Phase Cycle of Innovation

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, to focus, to 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 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.

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.”

Strategizing the approaches:

Our group has been fairly creative. 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. Items like magnetic tool trays, hiking boots with a waterproof compartment in the heel, paint brushes that would dispense paint through the bristles via a tube system, and even a drill powered caulk gun. We researched these, and a number of other ideas, to see if they were currently available in any form. Although not highly popular, some of these ideas were already products on the market.

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 proceed, we will focus on one idea and do our best to produce a prototype (Go) that we can test and further develop until we have a finished product that we feel confortable to introduce to the public via marketing and distribution.

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? 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.

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.