 Commentary by Ellen Domb Subscribe via Email or RSS |  Biography |
May 4, 2008
|
 | 
|
The Customer-Centered Innovation Map |
|
|
Harvard Business Review’s “Tool Kit” article this month (May 2008) is “The Customer-Centered Innovation Map” by my colleagues Lance Bettencourt and Tony Ulwick. With all the soft (squishy?) “how to be innovative” articles and books getting published these days, it is a real pleasure to read a clear method that makes sense, that any of us can do using a combination of common sense and customer research tools.
A simple summary of the three steps is as follows: 1. Break down the task that the customer wants done into a series of steps. (Not what they are doing now, but what they want to do. You’ll have to get out of your office and go see real customers!) 2. This will show you all the places where your customer might need help 3. Then, consider innovations to make each step simpler, easier, faster, if the customer is satisfied with the current basic performance, and to make it better if the customer is unsatisfied. This is a very powerful tool for getting companies to step back from focusing on their current offerings, and looking for new opportunities. To inject a bit of TRIZ vocabulary, it uses an available resource in the environment—the customer for your current products—as the source of information and stimulus for new ideas. Real Innovation and TRIZ Journal readers will see the clear link in step 3 to whatever methods they use now—once you know what the customer needs to do her job more effectively, you’ll know where to innovate. The saddest problem that I see in TRIZ workshops is people who say that their problem is that they don’t know what to work on—here’s the cure for that problem. Try it (well, read the article first…) and use the “comments” button to let us know your experience. |
|
Comments [2] | Permalink |
|
| Categories: Buzz/Press, Methodology | |
|
|
| posted by Navneet Bhushan [ http://innovationcrafting.blogspot.com ] | May 6, 2008 at 5:57 am |
I am not sure why the first two steps havent been termed the way they should be and that is Value Stream Mapping. Everyone (even our customers) is performing some function and adding value in each and every small step that he or she does. The generic value stream mapping by becoming the subject and observe and record everything that happens to the subject is very powerful and my practical experience indicates it works! A very interesting paper on Value Stream Mapping and TRIZ is at VSM and TRIZ . |
|
| posted by Ellen Domb [ http://www.trizpqrgroup.com ] | May 8, 2008 at 5:06 pm |
I agree that if the value stream map is done with TRIZ-type function language, these methods will be equivalent. BUT in many cases value stream mapping is done with very loose discipline, with the emphasis on activities, not on the functions of those activities. This method makes it easy for people to be very disciplined in this study. Ellen |
|
