Stop! And think about what type of innovation you need

There are many different types of innovation tools and there are many different types of innovation needs. Are we using the right innovation process to fit our particular needs?

The process is never a goal in itself, but the narrative around innovation has been shaped by its tools (like Design Thinking or Outcome Driven Innovation) and not by understanding the problem that needs to be solved. There is nothing wrong with these tools, but it becomes too easy to choose a method first (nobody got fired for buying Microsoft) before asking any important questions like:

What describes the progress we are trying to achieve or struggle we are trying to overcome? What is the context of this problem and what are the barriers and guardrails? E.g. are we:

• Improving a process by making a hack
• Creating better kitchen utencils
• Redesigning a distribution chain
• Developing a successful customer relationship program
• Developing a disruptive offering converging across industries

And then identifying which tool fits best with the characteristics of the problem and the capabilities of the team doing the work.

As with any tool, we need to understand the problem before we find the tool. The tool is never the solution in itself, but only a process to reach the outcomes we seek at the other end.

If we choose the wrong tool to solve the process we might have a nice Microsoft, but that might also be it / all.