Use the 5 scrum values for (even) more successful innovations
After completing my scrum certifications recently, I was surprised to see how well the scrum values fit to innovation projects. Though scrum is considered mainly for IT projects, the underlying values can lead to increased success for every innovation project.
This article is a recipe for the innovation managers, chief digital officers (CDOs), and product managers as well as the management level who supports these leaders to enable innovation teams to live with these values. Naturally also the innovation teams can take it and start applying it themselves — today!
Let’s start with the values of scrum: Courage, Focus, Commitment, Respect and Openness
1. COURAGE
A courageous team is able to make unusual, tough and risky decisions, opening the doors for innovative products.
Being innovative means being different. Being different needs courage. Because you take risks, follow unconventional approaches in the way you work, you act.
In my most successful projects I have built products with partners I trusted. It could have run in a commercially unfavorable way, and cause some (calculated) damages. But through the personal relationships, the partners gave me the feeling of trust. And my management gave me the feeling I needed — that it is not problem to fail. As a result I was able to take the risk and start the different partnerships, which turned out to be mutually very successful.
Tips to make it happen:
- Convey the feeling of trust to the innovation team members
- Help them with an internal and external network of people (you trust) they can work with
- Encourage them to go the extra mile to take the necessary risks on the way to a successful product
2. FOCUS
By focusing only on the right projects and devoting the resources for those, organizations are able to create higher impact products resulting in higher returns.
The easiest thing to do when building a product is to get lost. To get lost in the different opinions/ reactions to the concept, rules and regulations, overflow of information, funding, business plans, stakeholders. Complex projects (which is the nature of innovation projects) need solid resources and dedication to get out of the “jungle”.
Providing the necessary resources can only happen through focus. In innovation portfolio management, I have experienced that killing projects is at least as beneficial as funding projects. It is like in nature: If you cut the unhealthy trees, there will be more room for the healthy ones to grow. The earth is limited. So are our resources. Focusing on high-potential projects and helping them grow will lead to success.
Tips to make it happen:
- Look beyond traditional indicators like revenue, timely delivery, etc. to make decisions
- Positive customer reaction that goes beyond words (signing of an NDA, committing to a pilot project, etc.) can be good proofs
- This tool can help you monitor the hypothesis related to the project and the progress towards its validation
3.COMMITMENT
Commitment of innovation project members to the project will ensure the delivery of a high-quality product.
Commitment comes when teams do not look at the projects like 9-to-5 tasks, but something they dream about which should come true. They are passionate about what they are doing, and want from their heart that outcome will be as they dream about. This is not to say people should work longer than normal, but they are passionate and creative about doing the right thing.
In one of my projects I had a senior colleague who went out to a supermarket over the weekend to interview some shoppers and get input on the project. Another one used a party with friends to brainstorm some new ideas. This only happens when you really want to do what you do and drive it like your own business.
Tips to make it happen:
- Be authentic. Inspire. Provide examples from books, colleagues, etc. that were successful delivering similar products.
- Show the urgency to change, to act.
- And most importantly, be committed yourself…
4. RESPECT
In an environment where everyone is being respected, extraordinary concepts can emerge, and can be implemented, even if creative, non-conventional methods are required.
With respect here, my main point is diversity and inclusion. This is a topic that is necessary for innovation, and makes respect even more crucial.
Though we all know it is easier said than done. Are you familiar with the term unconscious bias?
Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing.
For me, respect is approaching people without any prejudice, independent from their look, age, gender, origins, health state, job title, education, etc. Making everyone feel comfortable, in a psychologically safe state. Only then we can practice diversity and inclusion, which is a key in the generation of innovative concepts, and their execution.
As an example in one of my projects a colleague who used to be very quiet and following the rules, at some point felt comfortable enough to speak up. She comes from a hierarchical culture, in which they tend to follow the superior’s decisions rather than ‘optimizing’ it. What she did was to look at our process from the end, cutting corners about the steps which is not crucial for the results. Following her advice, we saved up to 25% time in projects.
Tips to make it happen:
- Exercise respect especially on the people that are somehow different from you — maybe the ones you wouldn’t approach first in a party
- Provide an atmosphere that everyone has the feeling to be taken seriously
- And all can enjoy being together
5. OPENNESS
A team that is open about the challenges, potential success or failure of a project will help organizations choose innovation projects with higher possibility of success.
Thinking about openness in innovation projects, the first thing that pops up in my mind is being candid about the things that go wrong. Not deceiving ourselves is essential for success.
Once a project starts, we start to love it more every day. We put our hearts in it and start to live with it. Following a user-centric approach, we refine and adapt our development. The difficulty arises when we realize that it makes more sense to discontinue the project. If we act open about the fact that it doesn’t work, we are probably better off following a new idea. It is important for all innovation managers and the supporters to internalize this culture of experimentation. Stopping a project is a part of the process (not a failure) and comes with a lot of learnings which are essential for the systematic creation of sustained projects.
Tips to make it happen:
- Do not see stopping projects as a failure but focus on the learnings coming with it.
- Make it simple for team members to start and stop projects — e.g. reduce the (administrative) burden associated with it. The less time is spent on the project, the easier it becomes to give it up, and be open about it
- Provide room for agility. This is necessary if we continously keep on developing ideas, ways of working, and ourselves.
CONCLUSION
Scrum values courage, focus, commitment, respect and openness are the right principles to apply in innovation projects. Though the interpretation may be slightly different, inheriting these values will help organizations be more successful in their results.
Let’s be more open to failure, rejection, criticism, missing out or letting go. Fortune favors the bold!
What is your experience? Would love to hear your thoughts and comments in the section below. Also open to challenges and conflicting views!
