Innovation X: Why a Company's Toughest Problems Are Its Greatest Advantage

259 Pages·2010·2.19 MB·English

by  Adam Richardson

C M Y K V E R S I O N F O R C O L T R A N E O N LY
“For everyone bright, creative, and ambitious enough to want to make a huge impact
Praise for Innovation X R in their organization.” —DANIEL H. PINK, author of A Whole New Mind The word innovation is one of the most widely
I
C used—and misunderstood—terms in business.
H
A What used to be a means to create a successful
R
“Want your product or service to succeed? Read this book. Through case studies and analy- D enterprise, improve the lives of customers, and
ses, Adam Richardson demonstrates that in today’s complex world it is necessary to treat S make the world a better place has been distorted
O
products or services as integrated systems of customer experiences, not as isolated offer- N to become an end in itself—usually nebulous in
OB GRAVES itnhges w. Tohrlids obfo bouks iisn eessss emnetiaanl rse eavdeinrygo fnoer .a”nyone involved with products or services, which in defiC nlietiaornly ,a inndn oavlmatoiosnt aislw baryosk eimn.m Beuats iunrnaobvlaet. ion
O BY R —DON NORMAN, Nielsen Norman group, and author, Emotional Design is not the problem. The problem is the problem—
OT and the solution.
PH
“Innovation X offers a smart, powerful framework for companies large and small to create Innovation X defi nes a new class of business
Adam Richardson is a creative director at frog
and advance not just an innovation culture but an innovation strategy. It’s a high-level book problems— X-Problems—tough new challenges
design, inc., a global innovation and design con-
for high-level people—or for everyone bright, creative, and ambitious enough to want to that thwart conventional planning but present
sultancy, where he has worked with companies
make a huge impact in their organization.” massive innovation opportunities.
such as HP, Intel, Yahoo, Motorola, and Logitech.
—DANIEL H. PINK, author, A Whole New Mind and Drive Written by Adam Richardson, creative director
His background combines experience in product
at the award-winning global innovation fi rm frog
development, interaction design, product strat-
“Adam Richardson brilliantly hits upon a global, macro trend that is impacting all corpora- design, Innovation X outlines a proven process
egy, and customer research. Richardson writes
tions, large and small—the blurring of lines between historically siloed industries, compa- for translating customer insights into relevant
regularly on design and business, and speaks at
nies, products, and solutions. Innovation X explains how an integrated design strategy is innovations. With a simple but powerful frame-
conferences worldwide. In addition to teaching
shaping the future of global business, one idea at a time.” work, Richardson shows how to use X-Problems
design and user research, he is a guest lecturer
—MICHAEL MENDENHALL, senior vice president and chief marketing offi cer, HP to harness customer insights (Immersion); open
at the École Nationale Supérieure de Création
new advantages (Divergence); integrate systems
Industrielle in Paris and at the IESE University
“Innovation X is a brilliant design and business book. What makes its brilliance particularly of products, online experiences, and services
of Navarra in Barcelona. Richardson earned his
intense is Adam Richardson’s recognition that grand ‘innovation strategies’ matter less than (Convergence); and stay nimble in a fast-moving
BFA in Industrial Design from the California Col-
simple ‘innovation behaviors.’ Because he is a tactical practitioner as well as a strategic environment (Adaption).
lege of the Arts, and a multi-disciplinary MA from
thinker, Richardson gives the reader graspable tools for transforming innovation cultures Challenging conventional wisdom, Innovation
the University of Chicago.
and processes.” X shows why companies must start crafting solu-
—MICHAEL SCHRAGE, MIT Sloane School Center for Digital Business, and tions before they fully understand the problem,
For more information, please visit
author, Getting Beyond Ideas how standard customer-focused approaches
www.innovationxbook.com.
hinder innovation leadership, and that “wasteful”
“Ever wonder why design fi rms can predictably deliver the big innovations that corporations innovation provides greater effi ciency. Featuring
frog design is one of the world’s foremost
often can’t? In your hands is the answer, and guess what—there is no magical process! It’s a wealth of case studies from such leading com-
global innovation fi rms, helping companies cre-
a strategic approach to thinking and collaboration which Adam has kindly laid out for you panies as Google, Zipcar, salesforce.com, and
ate and bring to market meaningful products,
based on years in the trenches at frog design. Read it and you just might do something Hewlett-Packard, as well as detailed examples
services, and experiences. With a team of more
you’ll really be proud of.” from frog design’s work, Innovation X offers
than four hundred designers, technologists,
—ERIC RYAN, cofounder, Method Home business leaders and managers the information
strategists, and analysts, the company delivers
and tools they need to accomplish truly effective
fully convergent experiences that span multiple
innovation in today’s disruptive climate.
BUSINESS/MANAGEMENT
technologies, platforms, and media for clients W H Y A C O M P A N Y ’ S T O U G H E S T P R O B L E M S
$27.95 U.S. | $33.95 Canada Grounded in insights about rapidly changing
such as Disney, GE, HP, Logitech, Microsoft, Jacket design by Adrian Morgan
customers, competitors, and technologies,
MTV, Seagate, Siemens, Yahoo! and others.
A R E I T S G R E AT E S T A D VA N TA G E Innovation X is the manual for leaders seeking
Headquartered in San Francisco, frog has offi ces
greater clarity about the emerging challenges
www.josseybass.com
in Austin, New York, Seattle, Milan, Amsterdam,
facing their businesses, innovation strategies
Munich, and Shanghai.
that will work in dynamic markets, and tactical
methods they can put to use immediately.

Why a Company’s
Toughest Problems
Are Its Greatest Advantage
Adam Richardson
Copyright©2010byAdamRichardson.Allrightsreserved.
PublishedbyJossey-Bass
AWileyImprint
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Richardson,Adam.
InnovationX:whyacompany’stoughestproblemsareitsgreatestadvantage/Adam
Richardson.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-470-48219-3(cloth)
1.Technologicalinnovations—Economicaspects.I.Title.
HD45.R452010
658.4’063—dc22
2009043627
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
firstedition
HBPrinting 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Wechoosetodothesethingsnotbecausetheyareeasy,butbecause
theyarehard.
—JohnF.Kennedy

Contents
Introduction 1
Prologue 13
1 LivinginanX-ProblemWorld 17
2 TheInnovationXFramework 37
3 Immersion 51
4 Convergence 81
5 Divergence 109
6 Adaption 129
7 Strategy 159
8 Organization 183
9 Truths 205
Notes 211
Bibliography 227
Acknowledgments 237
AbouttheAuthor 239
Index 240

Introduction
A
mysterious entity called dark matter takes up over half the
universe.Thoughithasbeentheorizedaboutfordecades,until
recentlynooneknewwhetheritexistedatall.Scientistsbelieve
it is the glue that holds galaxies together, but we do not know what it
ismadeof,whereitcomesfrom,orwhyitexists.Currentastrophysical
instruments cannot detect dark matter. The only way to identify its
shadowy presence is by observing the influence it exerts on visible
matter,suchashowitalterstheorbitsofplanets.
In the business world, something equally enigmatic is interfering
with our ability to be consistently successful at innovation. Though
hardtodefine,itseffectsareclearenough:newlyreleasedproductsthat
failtoachievethedesiredgoalsofgrowth, competitiveadvantage,new
customers,orrevitalizedbrands,andorganizationsthatstruggletofind
afocusandidentityamidturbulenceandambiguity.
Itisatruismnowthattoomanyinnovationsgetstalled,squashed,
sidetracked, or warped beyond recognition by byzantine organiza-
tional processes and decision-making edifices. Some companies have
attemptedtodealwiththeseinternalroadblocksbysequesteringspecial-
izedinnovationteamsawayinexoticallydecoratedcubicle-freeoffices,
orbyrampingupinnovationeffortswithhothouses (orsandboxes,or
1
2 Innovation X
kitchens—chooseyourmetaphor).Manyemployeeshavebeensentto
seminarsonthinkingoutsidetheboxwiththehopethattheywillvirally
infecttherestoftheorganization.
Andyet,onerecentstudyrevealedthatexecutivesstillgiveoddsof
worsethanacoin-tossastowhetherinnovationsdevelopedwithformal
processeswillhavethedesiredmarketimpact.1
Attempts so far to systematize innovation have failed, and inno-
vation processes are often haphazard in structure and frustratingly
unpredictableintheirsuccessrates.Theworditselfissowidelyoverused
that it has lost its meaning. Innovation has become an end in itself,
ratherthanthemeanstocreateasuccessfulbusiness,improvethelives
ofourcustomers,andmaketheworldabetterplace.
Clearly,innovationisbroken.Butinnovationisnottheproblem.
Theproblemistheproblem.
By this I mean that the scope and complexity of problems that
businesses must solve have changed, and we lack the tools not only
to diagnose them but also to focus our innovation efforts to be more
consistently successful. I call this new breed of innovation challenges
X-problems,andtheyarisefromthecollisionofseveralfactors:
(cid:129) Disruptive competition and blurring of industry boundaries as
companies leap into each other’s spaces, diversifying beyond
theircorecategoriesintorealmspreviouslyreservedforpartners
oradjacentcompanies.
(cid:129) More demanding customers who place a higher premium on the
experiential qualities of using a product—ease of use, how it
makesthemfeel,howitfitsintotheirlives,whatitcommunicates
toothers—thatgoaboveandbeyondfamiliarobjectivecriteria
likeperformanceandprice.
(cid:129) Theneedtocreateintegratedsystemsofphysicalproducts,software,
onlineexperiences,andservicesthatworkasasinglewhole.Often
theseintegratedsystemsarethekeystoexpansionbeyondcore
areas,aswellastomeetingcustomerneedsinwaysimpossible
fromamoreisolatedoffering.