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Innovation through projects
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Innovation through Projects

Innovation Through Projects

By Linky van der Merwe

Innovation can mean different things, like a change made to an existing product, idea, or field. It can also be described as the process of translating an idea or invention into a product or service that creates value and for which customers will pay. Being innovative does not only mean inventing. Innovation can mean changing your business model and adapting to changes in your environment to deliver better products or services. Take the project from Google, for example, which delivered Google translator that translates to 100 different languages.

In this article we look at certain traits that innovative people seem to share, how projects are used for innovation, how to measure the outcomes and lastly some examples of innovative projects.

Traits of Innovative People

According to an article in Fast Company, “7 Habits of Innovative Thinkers”, emotional intelligence plays a big role in innovative thinking. People can all become more innovative and creative by developing the traits that innovative people share. Harvey Deutschendorf explains that some of the emotional intelligence-related attributes that innovative people share, are as follows.

  1. Emotional intelligent people have their egos under control and are open to other people’s ideas. They don’t think their ideas are always the best. As a result of their openness to other ideas, they are able to accumulate a larger source of data from which to draw from.
  2. They are confident, not arrogant and they see failures as temporary setbacks.
  3. They are continually curious about people, concepts, and issues. They’re open to new information always on the lookout for new ideas that can be put into practice. Being avid readers, forever seeking out new ideas, and expanding their knowledge base increases their repertoire of tools for future use
  4. They are good listeners who are adept at processing information that makes them excellent listeners. When someone is speaking, most people are formulating a response in their minds instead of just focusing upon what the person talking is saying. Good listeners are able to focus not only on the words that are being spoken, but are aware of the tone of the words, the body language expressed, and the emotions behind them.
  5. They don’t let their emotions affect their innovation efforts. They don’t have to defend an idea that is proven to be wrong as they’re seeking to advance themselves personally and are looking to advance their ideas. 
  6. They can take direction and are able to give direction.
  7. They show empathy towards co-workers and customers.

Now we understand how important the right character traits are for people to come up with innovative ideas. Let’s have a look at how projects can help with innovation.

Project as a Vehicle for Innovation

Projects are good vehicles for innovation as they can be used to solve real-life problems, bring new possibilities (creativity of entertainment at home), bring together subject matter experts through innovation hubs, or to help with goals towards sustainable development. Innovation is a collaborative process; where people in many fields contribute to the implementation of new ideas. This occurs most often through the execution of a project.

Measure of Success

Since projects are so important for implementing innovation ideas, we must consider how to measure whether the outcome of an innovation project was successful and if it was, how do we determine that.

Dr Harold Kerzner’s offers a helpful explanation of how to define success on innovation projects in his White Paper: “Defining Project Management Success with application to Innovation Project Management Practices”. According to Dr Kerzner:

  • There is no single approach for defining innovation project success or success on any other type of project. There must be multiple measures using the right timing.
  • Projects can appear to be successful once the deliverables or outcomes are completed, but real success may occur later when the desired business value is achieved over the longer term.
  • He acknowledges that effective project management practices are contributors to success and therefore must undergo continuous improvements.

Real world examples of Innovation Projects

In the 1990’s after a drop in sales, Lego changed their strategy to focus on the consumer by linking both business and creativity. In order to innovate new Lego sets, LEGO started “Lego Ideas”, an initiative based on a co-create open innovation model. In this online website, LEGO consumers can design their own LEGO sets either using LEGO bricks or computer 3D applications. Users then discuss the idea and vote for it, once the idea reaches a targeted vote, LEGO can consider it as a new product with giving a small part of the revenues to the creator of the set. This model contributes putting the consumer in the heart of the innovation process and help the team to target sets that can achieve success based on the LEGO Ideas votes and comments.

Coke followed a similar open innovation model through a product called ‘Freestyle dispenser machine’. It allows users to mix their own flavors and suggest a new flavor for Coca-Cola products. The new product records the consumer flavor so they can get it from other Freestyle machines using the Coca-Cola mobile application. With the open innovation model putting the consumers in the heart of the production process, the company uses the suggested flavors as part the external ideas that can be evaluated and processed as a new product line.

Managing Innovation Projects

There is no doubt that project managers need to create environments where innovative new ideas are created and implemented. Also visit this video explaining what will enable innovation through projects.

To create the context that is conducive for innovation, we need to understand traits that innovative people share and how to define success and measure the outcomes of innovation projects. This will help to differentiate you as a project manager who can take on that strategic innovation project that your company wants to embark on.

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Project Management: 5 Metrics to Measure Project Success

By Maricel Rivera

project success metricsSuccess isn’t absolute. At the fundamental level, project success is difficult to define. According to Computer World, the usual group of project stakeholders – project manager, team members, sponsor, end users and top management – may give the project very different success ratings at any given point in time.

The triangle of time, scope and budget is just the starting point for project managers, as hurdling through the triple constraint is expected for the project’s output to be a success.

Then, there’s the fact that project success goes beyond just the output. As stated by the PMI, “Based on today’s project environments, project managers need to broaden their perspective to include other criteria to satisfy stakeholders and deliver business results.”

How to measure project success

Here are five project success metrics to consider.

#1 Client satisfaction

The project’s end result may squarely fit within the designated time, budget and scope requirements, but is the client happy? Clients, sometimes, cannot eloquently explain what they want, and it is up to the project manager to figure things out. Does the project pave the way to more future partnerships? If not, is the client willing to put his reputation on the line and recommend your company to his peers and colleagues?

#2 Quality of delivery

A project may elicit results the client absolutely loves, but if the people involved in its execution had to go through endless clarification stages and endure unnecessary headaches while working their way to completion, the project may not necessarily be a success. Knowing how team members feel about the overall project can prompt project managers to devise ways to better communicate and define future delivery objectives.

#3 User adoption

A software application as an end product can only be successful if the intended end users actually use it, and use it often. Aside from usage frequency, other questions to ask can include:

  • Is the software user-friendly and easy to navigate?
  • How is the learning curve?
  • Does it address prior user challenges?
  • Overall, is the product an enabler or a nuisance?

#4 Value realization

Apart from satisfying the needs of its clients, a company must also realize its business goals, such as ROI (rate of return), NPV (net present value), among others, for every project it takes on. Shorter time-to-market and faster project delivery benefits not just the client but the business as well, in that this ultimately leads to cost efficiency and more time to take on more projects.

#5 Lessons learned

For every project, successful or otherwise, there are lessons to be learned. While failure is oftentimes seen as a better teacher than success, two important factors to look into when evaluating the success of a project are:

  • Is the project instrumental to increasing the knowledge of its stakeholders?
  • Does it better prepare the company for future endeavors?

Conclusion

Keep in mind, to ensure success above and beyond the output, project and business objectives must be aligned. The above are just five measures to look into when evaluating the success of your projects. What other measures would you like to add? Please add your thoughts in the comments section.

 

About the Author: Maricel Rivera writes content for Comindware, the company behind Comindware Project, a state-of-the-art project management solution providing unique automated scheduling and unmatched collaboration capabilities for professional project execution.