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© Center For Advantage - 2005
How to Use Innovation Planner Cards for Product EvolutionRobert Cantrell
Center For [email protected] (703) 379-9429
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Contents Innovation Planner Description Basic Product Evolution
1. Identify the Central Solution2. Create a Ring of Incremental Improvements3. Develop Incremental Improvements4. Expand the Possibilities5. Document and Protect the Intellectual Property
Advanced Product Evolution Advanced Product Evolution Process Concept Cards Resolve Contradictions Cards Organizational Resources Cards Center of Gravity Cards Decision Cycle Cards
Games Additional Resources
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Innovation Planner Description
Innovation Planner Description Card Types Card Type Designs Deck Layout
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Innovation Planner Description Innovation Planner™ is a 170 card set of innovation
strategies and solutions used for rapid, effective, and efficient problem solving and idea generation
It is based on the Ideation TRIZ innovation methodology that was derived from the analysis of over 3 million patents and 500 standard patterns of technical evolution
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Card Types There are 7 types of cards in the Innovation
Planner deck1. Operators – Solutions for systems that provide the ways to solve
problems – 85 cards2. Resources – Properties and attributes of systems that provide the
means to solve problems – 37 cards3. Center of Gravity – Location within the system where a solution is
or could be applied – 16 cards4. Concept – Idea behind how the problem will be solved – 7 cards 5. Decision Cycle – Strategic parameters of how the problem will be
solved – 7 cards6. Organizational Resources – The capacity of the supporting
organization to provide the ways and means to solve problems (These are solution constraints.) – 9 cards
7. Resolve Contradictions – Methods for which a system can exhibit two or more conflicting properties or attributes – 5 cards
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Card Types
Operator and Resource cards are used in both Basic Product Evolution and Advance Product Evolution
The other 5 card types are used in Advanced Product Evolution
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Operators Resources Resolve Contradictions
Concept Center of Gravity Decision Cycle Organizational Resources
Card TypeDesigns
Card type designs appear as follows
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Deck LayoutCard deck layout appears as below
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Basic Product Evolution
Basic Product Evolution Description Steps 1 to 5
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Basic Product Evolution
Basic Product Evolution is a process for incrementally improving existing products
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Basic Product Evolution
The five steps for Basic Product Evolution include:1. Identify the Central Solution
2. Create a Ring of Incremental Improvements
3. Develop Incremental Improvements
4. Expand the Possibilities
5. Document and Protect the Intellectual Property
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Basic Product Evolution
Basic Product Evolution involves just the 85 Operator cards and the 37 Resource cards from the Innovation Planner
Separate these cards from the deck and proceed to step 1
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Step 1: Identify the Central Solution
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Step 1: Identify the Central Solution Ask and answer:
1. What does the current product do?
2. How does the current product do it?
3. How is this an advantage?1. To the user
2. Over other options
4. How might I enhance what the product does?
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Step 1: Identify the Central Solution For example, consider the central solution offered
by a cell phone: What does it do? It allows people who are not physically in
the same place to talk to each other anywhere when within the network
How does it do it? It electronically transmits voice data through a network of cells and converts that data back into audible voice on the other end
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Step 1: Identify the Central Solution How is this an advantage?
To the user – The caller can contact any individual with a working phone at any time anywhere when within the system
Over alternatives – There are three angles of competition to consider Direct competitors – List advantages over other cell phones Substitute competitors – List advantages over other means of
communication, i.e., land lines, e-mail, radio Buyer – List advantages over the buyer’s capacity to
communicate on his or her own or to do without
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Step 1: Identify the Central Solution How might I enhance what the product does?
Write down immediate thoughts Proceed to step two
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Step 2: Create a Ring of Incremental Improvements
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Step 2: Create a Ring of Incremental Improvements Browse through
Operator and Resource cards and note interesting possibilities for product evolution
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Step 2: Create a Ring of Incremental Improvements
USE THE REVERSE ACTION
CHANGE COLORS
SUBSTITUTE AN INEXPENSIVE MATERIAL
OBTAIN THE BEST OF BOTH
COMPENSATEFORUNRELIABILITY
REMOVE UNNECESSARYPARTS
Some examples of possible incremental improvements include:
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Step 3: Develop Incremental Improvements
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Step 3: Develop Incremental Improvements Select one of the
possibilitiesUSE THE REVERSE ACTION
CHANGE COLORS
SUBSTITUTE AN INEXPENSIVE MATERIAL
OBTAIN THE BEST OF BOTH
COMPENSATEFORUNRELIABILITY
REMOVE UNNECESSARYPARTS
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Step 3: Develop Incremental Improvements The possibility to “USE
THE REVERSE ACTION” is explained on card 76 of the Innovation Planner
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Step 3: Develop Incremental Improvements Document why the selected idea might prove useful For example, use the reverse action might include:
A cell phone that calls you to remind you to take an action A cell phone that calls you if it is separated from its owner A cell phone that calls you if someone is incapacitated
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Step 3: Develop Incremental Improvements Develop one of these ideas:
A cell phone that calls you to remind you to take an action A cell phone that calls you if it is separated from its owner
Tracking of people on probation Tracking of children during the day Calls assistant if you leave it somewhere
A cell phone that calls you if someone is incapacitated
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Step 3: Develop Incremental Improvements A cell phone that calls you if it is separated from its
owner Why might this be useful?
Tracking people on probation Tracking children during the day Calls assistant if you leave it somewhere
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Step 3: Develop Incremental Improvements Tracking children during the day Perhaps this could lead to the “Amber Alert Cell
Phone”
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Step 4: Expand Possibilities
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Step 4: Expand Possibilities You start with the idea of the Amber Alert Cell
Phone from USE THE REVERSE ACTION Write down how this idea might work:
USE THE REVERSE ACTION – Cell phone calls legal guardian if child is in distress. Legal guardian’s and child’s cell phones are connected for talking and listening when the legal guardian picks up.
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Step 4: Expand Possibilities Go back to the Operator and Resource cards and
document ideas that will improve USE THE REVERSE ACTION in relation to an Amber Alert Cell Phone
For example: ALLOW PARTIAL MOBILITY – Cell phone has GPS link so
that if a child moves from an accepted area at the wrong time – for example the school grounds, bus route, or home – the phone will contact the legal guardian.
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Step 4: Expand Possibilities Amber Alert Cell Phone example continued:
ALLOW BOTH FLEXIBILITY AND RIGIDITY – Use fuzzy logic within the phone so that it can recognize unusual patterns. If GPS detects a car ride when the child should be in school it calls the guardian. If an attempt is made to turn the phone off, it calls the guardian. If smashed or disassembled, a structurally sound mini air horn blasts warning.
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Step 4: Expand Possibilities Amber Alert Cell Phone example continued:
MOVE THE OTHER OBJECT - If the phone stays completely still or detects another unusual movement pattern, it calls the guardian. (This might happen if an abductor forced the child to leave the phone behind.)
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Step 4: Expand Possibilities Amber Alert Cell Phone example continued:
USE PROPERTIES TO CONVEY INFORMATION – Cell phone holder can detect child’s heartbeat and the presence of the cell phone. Fuzzy logic could be used to detect heartbeat irregularity such as might occur during the stress of an abduction or molestation incident. If it loses contact with either signal, the holder is capable of sending a warning page and GPS signal on its own.
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Step 4: Expand Possibilities Amber Alert Cell Phone example continued:
DESIGN FOR VARIABLE OUTPUT – Call initiates a different ring tone so the legal guardian does not fear regular calls.
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Step 5: Document and Protect the Intellectual Property
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Step 5: Document and Protect the Intellectual Property Determine the ideas you consider valuable for
development, sale, or licensing Set a plan to document and protect those ideas See www.centerforadvantage.com/sipa for the
Strategic Intellectual Property Assessor that provides ideas on intellectual property to get you started
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Advance Product Evolution
Advanced Product Evolution Process Concept Cards Resolve Contradictions Cards Organizational Resources Cards Center of Gravity Cards Decision Cycle Cards
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Advance Product Evolution Process Advanced Product Evolution brings other cards
within the Innovation Planner into play for more comprehensive and complete evolutions
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Advance Product Evolution Process Advanced Product Evolution
adds any or all of: Concept Cards Resolve Contradictions
Cards Organizational Resources
Cards Center of Gravity Cards Decision Cycle Cards.
Start by setting these cards aside into their respective decks
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Advance Product Evolution Process Steps 1 – 5 of Basic Product Evolution apply to
Advanced Product Evolution To begin Advanced Product Evolution, proceed with
steps 1 – 5 of the Basic Product Evolution process As you proceed with steps 1 – 5 of the Basic
Product Evolution process, use the cards for Advanced Product Evolution anywhere and at any time in that Basic Product Evolution process
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Advance Product Evolution Process Although any product evolution process has linear
steps, the product evolution process is actually not linear
You can therefore use cards for Advanced Product Evolution to jump in and out of Basic Product Evolution anywhere and at any time it makes sense to do so
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Advance Product Evolution Process Advanced Product Evolution
adds more possibilities to the Basic Product Evolution process Basic Product
Evolution
Advanced ProductEvolution
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Advance Product Evolution Process Since Innovation Planning Cards are unbound
cards, they can be rearranged in any way and at any time in the process
This means the cards, like the product evolution process, are non-linear in nature
Apply each as follows:
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Concept
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Concept
Concept cards let you identify the underlying principle for how you will evolve a product
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Concept
With Concept Cards you set a plan for how you evolve the best solutions possible that avoid the need for compromise
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Concept
A central idea behind Concept Cards is the concept of ideality
Achieving ideality means that you receive a benefit without any underlying mechanism
This means you receive all benefits and no drawbacks
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Concept
Ideality is a theoretical concept, very rarely attained in reality
For example, ideal business transportation between cities would happen instantaneously and involve no vehicles
Such a transportation system is implausible
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Concept
What is the purpose for ideality then?
Answer: The ideal solution provides a target for you to direct your product evolution efforts
The closer your solution evolves toward the ideal, the better that solution is likely to be
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Concept
Emulating the ideal provides many useful solutions For example, the telephone allows your voice to
travel instantly between cities which often allows you to solve problems just as well as physically traveling between cities
Furthermore, through conference calls, you can effectively be in many cities at once
Add video, and you can travel instantaneously through virtual space
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Concept
The optimal solution, unlike the ideal, is usually an attainable target
The optimal solution is neither too good nor not good enough to perform its intended task
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Concept
The most competitive solutions tend to be the solutions optimal for their tasks
Solutions that are either too good or not good enough tend to fail when competing with optimal solutions
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Concept
You see proof of this fact in the natural world
In the natural world, underperformers lose
In the natural world, overly high performers also lose Why? Performance comes
at a cost. If that performance is not necessary, it is a wasted cost that the optimized competitor does not pay
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Concept
Concept cards create a direction for your product evolution process
In most instances you will either: Evolve toward the ideal when top performance is not good
enough for most users Evolve toward optimal when top performance is already
good enough for most users
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Concept
The further you are from optimal, in either direction, the more important a product evolution strategy becomes in order for the present solution to stay competitive
Once a solution reaches an optimal level, product evolution should focus on new possibilities and ideas
Too GoodNot Good Enough
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Concept
If your solution is “not good enough” you will focus on how to evolve a better performing solution
If your solution is “too good” you will focus on how to evolve a product with a more effective or efficient fit for the need at hand*
Too GoodNot Good Enough
*Or you could evolve another part of the system that is “not good enough”
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Concept
Bottom line, know what is ideal and optimal so you know how your solution should evolve
Even if you find a promising idea, consider if a more ideal or optimal solution exists before you make your final decision to develop that idea
Consider all angles of competition when making your assessment
See (http://www.centerforadvantage.com/papers.htm) for “The Six Angles of Competition”
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Resolve Contradictions
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Resolve Contradictions
Resolve contradictions is a powerful problem solving idea for which a system can exhibit two or more otherwise conflicting properties
It is also very useful for product evolution
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Resolve Contradictions
For example, by using a telephone to separate a voice from its speaker, that voice can travel to multiple cities instantly and at the same time
Not too long ago, this idea would have been considered implausible
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Resolve Contradictions
Although it will likely stay impossible for individuals to travel instantly between cities, allowing the voice to do so was a very possible evolution heads in that direction.
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Resolve Contradictions
To resolve contradictions, you divide some aspect of a system so that it can exhibit two or more otherwise incompatible properties
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Resolve Contradictions
For example, the traffic light is a way to allow cars headed in different directions to use the same intersection by separating traffic flow in time
A bridge, to continue the example, allows uninterrupted traffic flow by separating traffic in space instead
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Resolve Contradictions
Separation Principles include: Time Space Structure Condition Perception
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Resolve Contradictions
To illustrate: Time – Cars cross the same intersections while traveling
in different directions by crossing at different times Space – Cars travel in opposite directions along the
same road by traveling on opposite sides of those roads Structure – Cars are solid as a whole to protect
passengers yet flexible at points to cushion an impact Condition – Convertible cars protect you from rain yet
allow you to make the most of nice days Perception – The same SUV is perfect for climbing
mountains yet perfect for carrying soccer kids
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Resolve Contradictions
Bottom line for product evolution: When you cannot evolve a product because you cannot resolve conflicting conditions, Resolve Contradiction cards help you separate the system into parts that allow you to resolve that conflict
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Organizational Resources
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints During the product evolution
process, you will have to deal with issues of abundance and scarcity
Organizational resources provide your capacity to leverage your ideas
Lack of critical organizational resources causes problems
Overabundance can also cause problems
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints Consider each of the
Organizational Resource cards as it pertains to your product. Do this in terms of: Question Ideal Functional Ideal Optimal
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints The question prompts you to consider a given
resource as it pertains to your situation The ideal describes a solution that requires no
mechanism The functional ideal describes a solution that is
100% oriented toward its intended task The optimal describes a solution that is no more
and no less of a solution than necessary to accomplish its intended task
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints The bottom line goal of
any product evolution effort is to succeed as profitably as possible
This usually means seeking solutions that evolve toward more ideal and optimal solutions
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints A solution will tend to evolve toward the ideal until it
reaches the optimal threshold of good enough At the optimal threshold of good enough, any
additional performance may not deliver any significant benefit
Optimal Threshold of Good Enough
IdealTechnical Evolution
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints For example, in a world with traffic congestions and
speed limits, raising a car’s top speed from 120 MPH to 130 MPH – theoretically allowing you to travel between cities faster and hence closer to the ideal – would not make any practical difference
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints One exception comes
into play This exception is the
Appeal Factor Although inventions
tend to evolve toward the ideal and reside at the optimal, the “Appeal Factor” can cause a different dynamic
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints For example, the airplane
is closer to ideal and optimal than the ocean liner for traveling across oceans
Ocean liners still exist, however, because of their entertainment value
Many people find cruises to be an ideal/optimal way to spend their time
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints Always consider how the
entertainment value of a solution will influence what is actually considered ideal or optimal
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints For another example,
white is probably the closest color to ideal for a car in Florida since it is the easiest to see and clean plus it stays cool in the sun
You would go out of business, however, if you sold only white cars in Florida because white is not always the psychological ideal
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Consider Organizational Resources – Dealing with Constraints As a third example, even though a car with a top
speed 130 MPH has little practical utility over a car with a top speed of 120 MPH, that capability might have psychological utility by making the car more appealing to a significant market
Your product evolution process should therefore consider behavioral issues as well as physical issues
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Center of Gravity
DESCRIPTIONWHITE SPACE OPPORTUNITIESEVOLUTION AND BUSINESS ECONOMICS
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Center of Gravity
DESCRIPTION The Center of Gravity is
the element within a system that, by creating some change to that element, will produce your intended result
A key part of product evolution is knowing where best to effect change
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Center of Gravity
Center of Gravity cards prompt you to consider all physical and behavioral aspects of a system in order to achieve the desired effect (a new or improved product) with the minimal use of resources
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Center of Gravity
For example, if you sell a system that heats water consisting of a vat and a fire, you might determine that improving controllability of heat will produce a better solution that a sufficient number of buyers will find interesting
The fire would be your center of gravity for effecting the desired change in that system
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Center of Gravity
Perhaps a plate that opens and closes over the fire to regulate the heat that reaches the vat might prove an effective evolution
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Center of Gravity All systems have elements and processes that turn
input into output
Input Output
System
Energy SourceTransmission
Instrument of WorkInstrument of Control
Subsystem
Super system
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Center of Gravity Your goal in a product evolution is to find the right
place in a system to effect a desirable change
Input Output
System
Energy SourceTransmission
Instrument of WorkInstrument of Control
Subsystem
Super system
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Center of Gravity For example, computer assisted navigation might
allow a burdened pilot to focus on other actions
Input Output
System
Energy SourceTransmission
Instrument of WorkInstrument of Control
Subsystem
Super system
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Center of Gravity
Input Output
System
Energy SourceTransmission
Instrument of WorkInstrument of Control
Subsystem
Super system
So if overburdened pilots represent a problem large enough to make a profitable market, the Instrument of Control is a Center of Gravity to explore
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity Your evolution could include “Increase User
Friendliness” of navigation. How do you do that?
Input Output
System
Energy SourceTransmission
Instrument of WorkInstrument of Control
Subsystem
Super system
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Center of Gravity Perhaps you “Provide for Self-Service” regarding
navigation. So how do you do that?
Input Output
System
Energy SourceTransmission
Instrument of WorkInstrument of Control
Subsystem
Super system
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Center of Gravity Perhaps you have airplane instruments read signals
from fixed points automatically, etc.
Input Output
System
Energy SourceTransmission
Instrument of WorkInstrument of Control
Subsystem
Super system
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Center of Gravity WHITE SPACE OPPORTUNITIES
Center of Gravity also helps you develop “white space” opportunities
To identify and develop white space opportunities, create a cause and effects net in your area of interest
In a cause and effects net, you look for where you can create a marketable change in a system as a prime location to develop a new product
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Center of Gravity
Products solve problems A problem has a cause and an effect However this cause and effect does not take place
in isolation
YieldsCause Effect
Fire Boiling Water
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Center of Gravity
Another cause yielded your cause and your effect will act as a cause for another effect
YieldsCause Effect
Fire Boiling Water
YieldsCause Effect
Match Lights Fire Wood
YieldsCause Effect
Skin InjuryBoiling Water
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Center of Gravity
Identify Root Causes – Think of your original cause as an effect and describe its preceding cause
Identify Ripple Effects – Think of your original effect as a cause for another effect and describe that next effect
Repeat backwards and forwards from the original problem as many times and with as many branches as makes sense
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Center of Gravity
A cause and effects net develops that is limitless in depth
YieldsCause Effect
Fire Boiling Water
Root Causes “Ripple” Effects
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Center of Gravity
People make money by inserting products to affect some aspect of these cause and effects nets
YieldsCause Effect
Fire Boiling Water
Root Causes “Ripple” Effects
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Center of Gravity A white space opportunity resides where no one
effectively influences a cause and effect of importance
It also resides where you can make a new connector
YieldsCause Effect
Fire Boiling Water
Root Causes “Ripple” Effects
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Center of Gravity For an example in the first case, if a lot of
companies compete in providing fire to boil water for the purpose of sterilizing instruments
YieldsCause Effect
Fire Boiling Water
Root Causes “Ripple” Effects
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Center of Gravity You might exploit a marketable opportunity to
improve that solution by adding the aforementioned control system (metal plate) for the fire
YieldsCause Effect
Fire Boiling Water
Root Causes “Ripple” Effects
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Center of Gravity Perhaps, in the second case, you could bypass the
fire and water solution altogether by selling alcohol for sterilizing instruments: LEVERAGE ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS
YieldsCause Effect
Fire Boiling Water
Root Causes “Ripple” EffectsAlcohol as New Connector
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Center of Gravity
EVOLUTION AND BUSINESS ECONOMICS Since products solve problems, and businesses
make money solving problems, product evolvers need to account for the economics of the business
Product evolvers need to evolve products in a way that embraces technical evolution yet does not put them out of business
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Center of Gravity
For example, if your business is to sell cups of cold water to douse the fire under a vat, product evolution is a clear and present danger to your revenue stream
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Center of Gravity
Rather than using the cup of cold water you sell, the owner of the vat can use boiling water from the vat to douse the fire
If that idea becomes a solution for him, he will likely stop buying your cups of cold water
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Center of Gravity
Product evolution can lead to a contradiction, therefore
If products tend to evolve toward more ideal solutions, how do you evolve products yet not evolve yourself out of business?
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Center of Gravity
To solve this problem, consider the differences in Center of Gravity between problem solving and product evolution Center of Gravity in product evolution is similar to problem
solving in that you seek highly efficient and effective places within a system to create a result
Center of Gravity in product evolution differs from problem solving in that your selection of where to focus your product evolution effort is very much predicated on the best business opportunity, i.e., where the profits are, instead of where the best possible solution lies
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Center of Gravity
So to solve this problem, focus on evolving enough new ideas within your cause and effects net to replace the revenue stream that a product evolution will eventually curtail
Or as an alternative, evolve an idea from someone else’s solution so that it does not financially matter to you if they go out of business
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Center of Gravity
An evolution that eliminates a key source of income may not rise to the top of your priority list over an evolution that creates a new stream of income
However, keep in mind that if you can eliminate a key source of your own income, someone else probably can too, and you should set your product evolution process to deal with that eventual outcome
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Center of Gravity
In our previous example, a regulation system might prove a marketable feature that you could sell in place of cold water
Evolving a solution in this direction could provide your business with an opportunity to develop a new revenue stream when you can no longer sell cups of cold water
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Center of Gravity
Selling alcohol might prove a marketable evolution that bypasses the need for the whole fire and vat system
A key feature of Innovation Planner Cards is the ease with which it helps you understand and get ahead of inevitable changes in technology
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Center of Gravity
Bottom line: Use the Center of Gravity cards to consider all aspects of where to best focus your product evolution
For more information on business issues of product evolution and problem solving, see “Competitive Vectors” at (http://www.centerforadvantage.com/papers.htm)
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Decision Cycle
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Decision Cycle
Decision Cycle cards involve how to make better decisions faster than your opposition
For product evolution, this relates directly to the Center of Gravity issues of how, where, and when to evolve products
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Decision Cycle
Your objective is to win the race of decision cycles whereby your plans not only work, but work despite active opposition to your success
In product evolution, this generally means pressing forward with new and better ideas faster than your competitor can match
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Decision Cycle
Such advantages in development time provide significant advantages in business
If you can develop a new product in one business cycle when it takes two business cycles for your competitor to do the same, you will have the advantage in the market
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Decision Cycle
Successful product evolution involves resolving problems with sufficient markets to make it worth your while
As a byproduct, your evolution will directly or indirectly cause problems for your opposition because you are better able to serve you market
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Decision Cycle
For example, an evolution that makes your product the best in its class creates a problem for a competitor that is now second best in its class, all the more so if that competitor’s product evolution process is slower than yours
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Decision Cycle
Decision Cycle cards help you determine the way you can evolve a product that makes strategic sense considering your opposition
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Decision Cycle
For example, in a world without competition, the airport might be the most lucrative place to set up a new car rental company
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Decision Cycle
Considering the established competition, however, you might better serve your objectives by instead setting up a specialized exotic car rental company downtown for the upwardly mobile
Specializing is one possible line of product evolution
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Decision Cycle
Decision cycle also asks you to consider psychological and moral aspects of a product evolution along with physical aspects
For example, if a physical evolution to a problem as a byproduct releases a new pollutant into the air, then that evolution might prove morally unsuitable
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Decision Cycle
Bottom Line: When you evolve a product, you do so in a competitive environment
You will have opposition, possibly in your own organization, when your solutions create a problem for someone else
Decision Cycle cards help you to orient your evolutions so they can succeed despite active opposition from others
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Games
Description Solve It™ Evolve It™
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Games Description
You can play two games, Evolve It™ and Solve it™, using Innovation Planner Cards
Evolve It™ is a game version of the product evolution process described on these slides
Solve It™ is a game that uses the Innovation Planner cards to solve problems
The game rules follow:
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Evolve It™: Methodology and Game for Inventing New or Better Products – 1 1. Place the Operator and Resource cards into two separate
stacks. 2. Place the Resolve Contradictions cards face up. These serve as a guide for players. 3. Select an object to evolve into a new or better form. 4. Deal at least five Operator cards and three Resource cards to each player.
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Evolve It™: Methodology and Game for Inventing New or Better Products – 2 5. Allow each player, on successive turns, to apply an
Operator or Resource card that presents a possible evolution of the object. (Evolutions should generally follow the trend established by previously played cards.) Draw cards to replace those used.
6. Use the other cards in the deck to set limitations and guidelines for the evolution as per their Card Type Definitions, or use them to change the parameters of the game entirely. These cards may be played deliberately or randomly. 7. Play until you have completed a successful evolution or until cards run out.
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Solve It™: Methodology and Game for Solving Challenging Problems – 1 1. Place the Operator and Resource cards into two separate
stacks.2. Place the Resolve Contradictions cards face up. These serve as a guide for players.3. Select a problem to solve. Describe what the problem is and what the problem means.4. Build a cause and effects chain forward and backward from the problem. For example, if the problem is “The boat is too small, meaning I cannot carry cargo across the sea,” you might go forward with “I cannot carry cargo across the sea, meaning I have too much supply to sell at home.” You might go backward with “The water in my port is shallow, meaning I need a small boat to use the docks.” Go forward and backward at least two steps from the central problem.
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Solve It™: Methodology and Game for Solving Challenging Problems – 2 5. Deal at least five Operator cards and three Resource cards to
each player.6. Allow each player, on successive turns, to apply an Operator or Resource card anywhere along the cause and effects chain, to include previously played cards, in a way that supports the resolution of the original problem. Draw cards to replace those used.7. Use the other cards in the deck to set limitations and guidelines for the intended solution as per their Card Type Definitions, or use them to change the parameters of the game entirely. These cards may be played deliberately or randomly.8. Play until the problem is solved or until cards run out.
© Center For Advantage - 2005
Additional Resources
This concludes How to Use Innovation Planner Cards for Problem Solving Additional resources appear atwww.ideationtriz.comwww.centerforadvantage.comwww.innovationplannercards.com