Entry points and practical advice on how to inspire innovation and reshape your team: from Culture and Product development, to Hackathons, Ideation and Gamification How to establish an ‘Innovation culture’ The mindset, the components, the tools The culture of innovation is a key ingredient of a . This special culture needs to be there across all levels and functions of the corporation. To get there, companies need to invest in transformation programmes introducing new ways of thinking, including , , and . really innovative company Experimentation Ideation Innovation tools Gamification The level of innovation of a corporation, heavily depends on the readiness and will of its employees to experiment with novel ideas and concepts, to build prototypes, to investigate opportunities for novel products and services; It depends on the level of support this ‘experimentation culture’ receives from the leadership of the corporation. Both employees and leadership need to adapt and inherit a new attitude for experimentation, risk taking and failure: failure, in an innovation context, is perfectly acceptable In fact, failure is part of the overall innovation process, since it can feedback significant insights, results, metrics and findings for the idea itself, the prototype or even the process. Following practices like ‘ ’ and ‘ ’, ideas can be quickly tested from real users, in order to make informed decisions, as soon as possible and at minimum cost. For instance, in a rapid prototyping scenario, the team might realize early enough that, although the prototype looks good and is working fine, the predefined success criteria and/or user expectations are not met. Hence, the team has enough information to make good product development decisions, like to evaluate if this gap can be fixed under acceptable cost and thus continue iterating or ‘kill’ the product. rapid prototyping fail fast Read more here How to establish an ‘Innovation culture’ — pixabay How to setup the ‘Innovation dream team’ Roles, profiles and responsibilities for setting up your ‘innovation machine’ — a solid team to naturally diffuse the innovation spirit, to introduce the right technologies and the best practices regarding innovation and creative thinking; to make sure the overall innovation program is also in alignment with the on-going business; to manage the noise and the risk of (internal) disruption from the ‘innovation machine’. This special team needs to be strategic, tactical, agile and fast. Companies need a driving force from within Read more here The ‘Innovation dream team’ How to establish a Stream of Ideas An unsupervised ideation framework at the core of innovation culture Modern corporations need to embrace real innovation as part of their day-to-day business. They need to operate in an ‘ ’ mode where, on one hand, employees actively participate in the idea generation process and on the other hand, executives constantly evaluate ideas and business opportunities in an experimentation-driven setup. actionable innovation Read more here A Stream of Ideas: the driving force of innovation How to select an ideation platform 15 points to consider before you buy or build an ideation platform Sticky notes are great to quickly capture ‘ideas’- they also help the team busy and productive. But, when it comes to an ideation channel, you need some serious technology to capture, process, and diffuse ideas within your corporation. ? What are the key principles and components that need to be there? look What makes a good ideation platform Read more here Principles of a great ‘Ideation Channel’ How to make the most of your ideas An ‘ideas backlog’ and other methods to manage your ideas ; ideas inspire people, teams, companies. Great ideas can come at any moment regardless the context; and can be easily forgotten, fade out or miss-classified as ‘not-good enough’. This is why you need a single place where you can reflect your ideas and iterate to enrich, evaluate and prioritize them. You need a simple but consistent process to maintain your personal ideas backlog. A stream of ideas is the energy of innovation Read practical advice here How to make the most of your ideas How to define a Minimum Viable Product Moving from a concept to a properly defined MVP The Minimum Viable Product, although a properly defined term, means different things to different people. In fact, it is one of the most misused terms in the technology domain: it is often poorly referenced to describe a prototype, a demo or even the first deliverable of a project. Definitions and more here How to define a Minimum Viable Product How to win the hackathon: a practical guide Is a great idea enough to win a hackathon? No matter the type (corporate or public one) a hackathon is always a great opportunity to showcase your talent and skills: yes, hackathons are also about team spirit, innovation, collaboration and fun but the primary motivation of the typical participant is to win it and capitalize on that (reputation, opportunity, networking). Discover here how to win the next hackathon Winning the hackathon: a practical guide How to run a successful corporate hackathon How to define, execute and get value from hackathons Corporate hackathons provide a great way to inspire your team. They can also promote creativity, collaboration, and innovative thinking. If run properly, a series of hackathons can establish a stream of valuable ideas. It can also have a significant cultural effect within your team, potentially awakening a experimentation and innovation mindset. Read a complete guide on setting up a hackathon here How to run a successful corporate hackathon

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