15 Minutes of Innovation: Break the Tablets

I'm writing this article as a participant in the Board of Innovation's 24 hours of Innovation marathon. Bloggers from around the world are contributing their views on 2009 innovation in their area of expertise.

My 15 minutes is today, May 15, 12:45 UCT (or 8:45 AM EST).

For my post I thought I'd share some insight into what my company (EMC) is doing via an innovation initiative that is starting to get a lot of press this year: innovation by contest.

And I can't get any more current than by writing about innovation conversations that I'm having within my own group this week. I'm on a multi-site and global development team that's currently in the grind.

What's The Grind?

The grind is that period of time in the software development cycle where long days are spent discovering, diagnosing, fixing, and re-testing bugs. Everybody is heads down, grinding away at the list of outstanding bugs. Typically during this phase the completion of testing and the shipment of a finished product is months away. You can barely see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But product teams can't stop innovating during this time. The vision for the next generation product needs to be generated. Innovation needs to occur. This often happens in one of two ways:

1. Ivory tower idea generation. With this approach, a dedicated research team is developing a set of next generation ideas and approaches. Quite frankly, we don't have many of these teams at EMC. There aren't any facilities or big teams that are strictly dedicated to research.
2. Shake Free a Few Architects. With this approach, several of the senior developers are occasionally pulled from the development trenches to collaborate, innovate, and articulate the "next thing" that should be done. I've seen this approach occur frequently in the past. Software architects hold a set of meetings, inscribe the vision on a set of tablets, then come down from the mountain and preach the new gospel.

The tablet-based approach can (and has) produced team focus and plenty of innovative new product offerings. It also seems like an excellent way for the majority of the team to "keep their eye on the ball" and finish shipping the current product. But it also can lead to the following set of problems:

• Trench players lack the ability to contribute key input. Often times the builders from the trenches are out at customer sites for an alpha- or a beta- engagement. Or they may suggest important process innovations that improve the quality and process of building the next generation offerings. Either way it's a shame if their input is not taken into consideration (especially the customer input).
• Geographic isolation can occur when key architects are located in a specific time zone or a specific geographic location. Free-flowing ideas about innovation are bandied about locally, but not globally. This can be demoralizing and result in a vision which is less than complete.
• Pockets of resentment can occur throughout the organization. Why do the architects get to do the fun stuff?

Contests in a Culture of Innovation

For several years now EMC has run yearly innovation contests as a way of globally engaging trench players. I've written about it before. To be quite honest it's been a breath of fresh air and a very low-touch, high-value way to practice intentional innovation within the company.

Furthermore, innovation by contest is now merging with the adoption of social media tools (e.g. blogs, wikis, Yammer, comments) that make it even easier to engage suggestions from employees in a way that is simple and has a negligible impact. Employees in the middle of the grind can lift their heads up while their software is compiling and browse the list of ideas proposed by their global teammates. They can take two minutes to leave a comment.

I've seen employees work extra hours on a white paper that fully articulates a new idea. All because somebody took the time to ask their opinion.

Key Takeaway: Global Engagement

It's true that contests can bring out innovative results. In my opinion the more important aspect is the global unity that a social media contest provides. EMC is headquartered in Hopkinton Massachusetts, yet the largest number of contest entries came from outside of the United States.  India had a HUGE number of contest suggestions. Ireland had one of the largest number of submissions (per employee). Dozens of countries participated. Why? Because they were offered the chance to drive the next generation of product.

For any employee working in a remote location from headquarters you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Employees in China have taken this one step further. They designed their own version of social media software that is specifically geared for innovation contests, and they just completed a contest for some of their own business units (ideas generated in China were graded by any EMC employee worldwide!).  My group is currently evaluating this software and I'm considering having my Chinese co-workers help my Russian co-workers set up an innovation portal of our own.

For my current project I am not working directly with anybody in China. So why am I collaborating with them?  Because in 2007 I submitted an idea with a co-worker, we came in third place, and a team in China built the idea. We got to know each other, and in 2008 we all submitted a new idea together. The idea was impressive enough that EMC flew two of them over from Shanghai to the US so that we could present our idea together.

I collaborate with China regularly, even though it's not my day job.

The Bottom Line

The "24 hours of innovation" concept sponsored by the Board of Innovation is a great idea. I've been reading the different global perspectives on innovation and I've learned a lot.

I've felt for several years that ivory tower innovation wouldn't work too well here at EMC. I'm starting to believe that the tablets of innovation approach should be abandoned, too. Break the tablets!

There's one key takeaway for your organization:

Innovation by contest should be a global best practice.

Steve

http://stevetodd.typepad.com

Twitter: @SteveTodd

Comments

[Andrea Meyer]

Thanks for your informative post, Steve. And you're right on target with the value of innovation by contest. In fact, Wharton professor Karl Ulrich just published (May 14) a book called Innovation Tournaments!

[Steve Todd]

Thanks Andrea! Jeff also wrote a post today which resonates with me: companies should make innovation fun, and contests fit right in with his thinking:

http://www.principledinnovation.com/blog/2009/05/15/24-hours-of-innovation-time-for-a-pep-talk/

Steve

[Bob Warfield]

Cool idea!

[Jerome Breche]

Innovation by contest is a very interesting concept to help cross time zones and prevent "geographic isolation" from becoming "idea isolation."

I'd be really interested in your feedback on www.timzon.com, a tool with similar purpose: to help global teams collaborate through recorded video conversations.

That communication, enhanced with other functionality such as white boarding, is designed to create a face-to-face like experience but on your own time.

I'll be thinking about how the contest concept might fit within the concept as well.

Thank you for the excellent post!

[Philippe]

Steve, thanks for sharing your pep talk today! innovation be contest is a concept that sticks.