Structuring the innovation process: Stage-Gate Thinking · Source: R.G. Cooper, The Stage-Gate...
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Managing the Innovation Process Structuring the innovation process: Stage-Gate Thinking
Transcript of Structuring the innovation process: Stage-Gate Thinking · Source: R.G. Cooper, The Stage-Gate...
Managing the Innovation Process
Structuring the innovation process:Stage-Gate Thinking
Nurture
The Development Funnel
Stages of the innovation process / time
Products /Services
(market launch)
Knowledge
InnovativeConcepts
Discovery (ideation
and concept development)
Ideas Realization Invention
Front End of Innovation (FEI)
Based on Wheelwright / Clark 1992
FEI activities are less structured and less predictable (“fuzzy”)
Development activities can be structured by a formalized
and prescribed set of activities
New Product (Service) Development
Opportunity
17
Some typical numbers of an innovation process
Original ideas1919
Initial projects524
Board projects369
124Flops
24Losses
11Success products
17Average
profit
Source: Schröder (2005)
Launched Products176
Innovations of this company
Robert G. Cooper: The Stage-Gate Model
“Stage-Gate process “is a conceptual and operational map for moving new product projects from idea to launch and beyond”
Structuring the innovation process into different stages to master complexity of this process. Each stage defines a set of cross-functional and parallel activities to be undertaken by the project team.
Nurture Discovery Realization
Source: R.G. Cooper, The Stage-Gate Idea-to-Launch Process, J. Product Innovation Management, 25 (2008) 3.
The continuous need to evaluate and make a decision is a key success factor of managing the apparently open, complex and unstructured process of innovation.
Clear gate criteria allow to compare projects and provide an aggregated overview for top management.
Robert G. Cooper: The Stage-Gate Model
Source: R.G. Cooper, The Stage-Gate Idea-to-Launch Process, J. Product Innovation Management, 25 (2008) 3.
The stage-gate process has been subject of plenty of critique:
Too determined, too slow for minor improvements
Not suited for radical innovation (what would be a gate criteria?)
Sequential thinking, but innovation happens in iterations (“trial and error”): There has to be an option to restart
What happens before Gate 1? How are new projects being created? Focus on the “Frontend of Innovation”.
Most firms today use what is called a “Third-Generation process”: a flexible interpretation of the basic process, allowing overlapping phases and fuzzy gates.
Lately, Cooper has further developed his system into a “next gen” stage gate processes.
Critique at the Stage-Gate model
Managing the Innovation Process
The Big Picture: A full perspective of innovation
The Big Picture
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
The Big Picture
Meet Dr. Hans Lercher, the „inventor“ of the Big Picture
The Big Picture
Hans, can you tell us something about your personal background?
The Big Picture
Why and how did you come up with the big picture?
The Big Picture
A Deep Dive into the Big Picture
The Big Picture: Stages & Gates
The Big Picture: Four Project Types
The Big Picture: Four Project Types
The Big Picture: The different stages
The Frontend of Innovation (FEI)
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Trend Analysis & Opportunity Recognition
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
The Strategy Phase
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Strategyphase
Idea & Concept Generation
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Idea generation
phase
Implementation and Project Phase
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Development Activities
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Launch
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Project Review
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Life Cycle Management
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
The Big Picture
The Big Picture
Agile (highly iterative) project management, design thinking,
and the Big Picture
The Big Picture
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
The Big Picture
Hans, what are your experiences with innovators
using the Big Picture?
The Big Picture in real life
Managing the Innovation Process
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Managing the Innovation Process
The Frontend of Innovation (FEI)
Managing the Innovation Process – The Big Picture
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
The Frontend of Innovation (FEI)
Source: Lercher 2016, 2017
Learning objectives
The (Fuzzy) Front End of Innovation (FEI)• Characteristics of the early steps of an innovation project
Opportunity Analysis and Strategic Planning of an innovation project• When to start a new innovation initiative?
Trend Analysis • How to monitor and evaluate external developments and trends?
Nurture
The Front End of Innovation (FEI)
Stages of the innovation process / time
Products /Services
(market launch)
Knowledge
InnovativeConcepts
Discovery (ideation
and concept development)
Ideas Realization Invention
The Front End (FEI)
Based on Wheelwright / Clark 1992
FEI activities are less structured and less predictable (“fuzzy”)
Development activities can be structured by a formalized
and prescribed set of activities
New Product (Service) Development(Product Design & Engineering)
Opportunity
The Front End of Innovation (FEI)
Based on Wheelwright / Clark 1992
Opportunity: A business ortechnology gap (that a companyor individual realizes) betweenthe current situation and anenvisioned future in order tocapture competitive advantage,respond to a threat, or solve aproblem.
Idea: The most embryonicform of a new product,process, or service. Often ahigh-level view of the solutionenvisioned for the problemidentified by the opportunity.
Concept: A bundle of elaboratedideas. It is a verbal or prototypestatement of what is going to bechanged and how users stand to gain.Has a well-defined form that includesits primary features (customer benefits)combined with a broad understandingof the technology needed.
Four main clusters of FEI activities
FEI
Trend Analysis
Opportunity Analysis
Idea Generation
& Enrichment
Concept Develop-
ment
1) Understanding the external environment of our business units & our
customers
2) Identifying gaps between our present state and an
envisioned future
3) Creating alternatives for solutions to benefit from opportunities identified in
previous stage
4) Combining ideas into concepts which cover primary features and customer benefits of
future solution
Differences between FEI & conventional process
Source: Peter Koen 2012
Challenges at the FEIPDMA: “The frontend is perhaps the greatest weakness of the innovation process”
Lack of High Profitable Ideas
- Need to “feed” the Stage Gate process faster with higher profitable products
Lack of understanding where high profitable ideas come from
- Many anecdotal stories, but few factual case studies
- Often perceived as coming from one brilliant individual working in a environment free of anxiety
Front End Perceived as Mysterious
- No accountability
- Who is responsible?
- Documented “best practices” only at the end of the front end
