Innovation CHEF

Facilitating with a new creative problem solving team today and used a very simple technique that always seems to help engagement in the process.

Usually within the first five minutes of sitting down I tell the team that they can save everyone a lot of time and effort if they just provide the answer to the problem right at that moment. There is usually a bit of stunned silence at this point because as far as they are concerned we have gone off the script. It is almost like a pattern interrupt in NLP. I get them to write down the idea they came into the room with, share it with the team and we have a discussion. This takes less than 30 minutes and is, in my experience, the best warm up for any idea generation session.

The script they thought they were going to follow had a big build up until they would share their best idea.  Of course, until that point they were probably watching and waiting for that moment and much less engaged and listening less actively than they could be. Within 30 minutes they don’t have that anymore. They are not thinking about when they are going to share. The decks are cleared for real engagement. You will still find that some people will remain attached to their favourite idea but that’s OK because they aren’t looking for an opportunity to share it anymore and also you, as a faciliatator, are aware of the High Gravity Ideas early and can manage them more effectively.

High Gravity Ideas are those ideas that people can’t escape from because of emotional attachment and threaten to pull all other ideas towards them regardless of their value as a solution.

High Gravity Ideas are not neccessarily a bad thing to have but without some assessment of their value they can soak up time and waste resources. I would use the TRIZ tool Ideal Final Result to assess the value and fit for the problem early in the process.

Keeping the decks clear is also very useful during a long session. It is a human need to be heard. People who haven’t spoken in a while might be getting frustrated with the process, the others in the room or with the facilitator and once this happens  they really can’t think about anything else but how they are going to get their point across. 

• Change the script early.
• Identify and manage the High Gravity Ideas.
• Clear the decks often.

Try to keep everyones mental space free for new ideas and thoughts to occur. Make it easy for for the team to listen and build on the ideas of others and work in an idea space that is going to add real value.

I had only been slightly aware that there was a book called Getting Things Done by an Author called David Allen. After listening to the free podcast from LearnoutLoud today. I am Hooked! It is not often you listen to someone speak and think “I want to be like him” Amazing Stuff. Check out the podcast or the book on Amazon.

If you are pitching to a Venture Capitalist, the Bank Manager(!)  the Dragons Den, your boss or anyone who could help you build a business you want to get the basics right.  This is a slide pack to help you cover some of the key questions in a succinct an effective manner.

Intentionally the slides are plain so you can add a bit of branding and sizzle  for yourself.  The content on these slides are pointers; filling in the blanks will get you started nothing more so think about the material and make it work for your business.

Guidelines

• 10/20/30 10 slides, 20 minutes talking, 30 point font size minimum.
• Talking points – don’t read them while looking at them, look at the audience
• Black & white hardcopy- No fancy graphics or animations or anything that depends on subtle colour variation.
• Intelligible - It should make sense when they read it again tomorrow.
• Positive and honest – your business is good so don’t trash the competition or oversell.

Best of Luck!

Hooray! More Dragon’s Den. Though, I confess it is probably a show that is better as entertainment rather than at actually helping out entrepreneurs. Even then, the fun is had at the expense of those who have taken a risk by getting up of national TV with something they believe in.  I tune in because there is always something to learn. This week the key things to learn are all about presentation and pitching of ideas.

on #ddire the Dragons Den got called the Wasps Nest and it certainly seemed that the Dragons were in poor form. A bit testy and less encouraging that one might hope for.

Lisa was up first with Cleanpass. Essentially it is Safepass but for hospitals. Lisa provides training that meets the standard required by personnel to work in hospitals. Crucially though; it just provides  accredition of the Cleanpass training but is not HSE approved or validated. It is hitting a niche but for the longevity of the business that exclusive contract is the key. Later in the show some of the inventions got hammered for being at the Patent Pending stage. Patents are valuable because they create scarcity and this business doesn’t have much of that and is vulnerable because of it. Most of the Dragons saw this as a weakness and were out. Sean offered the cash (€130k) for a 30% stake. Lisa tried for a clawback option that Sean didn’t humour and she walked away from the offer.

Sean set himself apart from the other Dragons this evening with this offer. They said “this business is vulnerable – I’m out” Sean said “I can help you to address a vulnerability with your business – this is my premium”

Lesson 1. in making a pitch – Listen to the audience  – when they are helping, pay attention.

Tim had a novel invention. Called the Chordelia it is a mechanical block that fitted around the fretboard of a guitar and allowed chords to be played by the talentless. You hold down a lever and the strings are held to the neck of the guitar to make an D or A or whatever while you strum. Take the hard work out of playing but keeps the fun said Tim. Yeah, but learning to play is the point of having a guitar said the dragons. At €100 for a Chordelia it did seem to be steep for a bit of novelty item.

Lesson 2. Identify your market segment. 1% of all guitars sold is not identification of customers. Niall actually put forward special needs guitar players as a potential market.

If you can identify your market then you can figure out a lot more about your business. Where they shop, how they shop, how to position your product. I’ll follow up this post with a quick 4Ps / SIVA model later.

Tim mentioned his patent application and that there was prior art going back to at least the 1920s on this problem. As I covered in this post you want your patent to protect your business NOT the technical choices you made. I hope Tim has a robust design. There is a niche there for his product. Maybe as more of an Artisan product but the Dragons didn’t go for it.

Curt and Carl had there Oil Guard product. It used some kind of undisclosed oil level measuring system to  monitor the level of oil in your home heating kerosene tank. If the level drops too much too quickly the OilGuard tells you you are being robbed by text and sets off the house alarm. It also functions a standard oil level detector to let you know when you should top up. I liked it. Seemed like good engineering and the technology seemed like it could integrate with other systems. I probably would have tried a licencing play with some of the big alarm systems manufacturers. Anyway. Something went a bit astray during the presentation and the guys seemed to get the Dragons offside. The valuation of the company did seem quite high at roughly €2million and this seemed to annoy the panel somewhat.

Lesson 3 – Build Rapport. The Dragons invest in people. How well you sell your idea and help your audience accept your pitch is really important. Use context and example to build your case. If your business is worth €2m then great – show how big the home security market is, the average household expenditure on alarm products, the relative value of the investment to the asset it is protecting make it easy for them to see the value.  Lisa really annoyed the panel earlier by refusing to disclose how much she was charging for training and probably cost herself a deal she could accept.

The guys also got battered for being patent pending. This seems a bit harsh because the Dragons seem to have it in their collective heads that only a granted patent would be worth investing in. An issued patent is a huge validation but might not offer any real protection to the business.

The unsuccessful quickies:

• Mick with carsireland.ie was about 2 years too late
• Bidforfreight.ie the online transport auction site seemed in tune with recessionary times but maybe less so with quick logistics and transport risks
• Slidofloor – pull out shelving for tucks and vans looked ok
• Ritas advertising for cabs seemed ok again – captive audience
• The mobile kitchen design showroom was 2 years too late aswell.

Final Pitch

Darren represented sourcingproductdesign.com a one stop shop for design, prototyping and production in Ireland. The concept was good and Darren , part time comedian, was a confident speaker. Wasn’t immediately clear what he was speaking confidently about though at the start.

Lesson 4 – be clear on what you are asking for. Context is great but not at the expense of diluting the message or muddling up the audience.

Darren the Designer and his partner the Engineer wanted to create, design, manufacture and distribute their own brand of products. I thought the 70K they asked for was a little light to do all this and Sarah rightly pointed out they would need to get someone else on board to accomplish this without giving up completely on the current business.

Darren got his cash at the expense of 45% of the business to three Dragons. A result in a tough week.

Last week the buttons charm bracelet topped the poll
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Dragons Den week 1
Dragons Den week 2
Dragons Den week 3
Dragons den week 4
Dragons den week 5

This is a fun video to watch..but is it the wrong image of invention?

Wouldn’t normally be the kind of thing we’d recommend. Innovation is more of an everyday habit of excellence rather than some esoteric or mysterious thing for the gurus and Einsteins. We’ll not suck the fun out of it but this entry for Cadbury’s “Unleash The Goo” competition, in which entrants must find the most creative way to break a Creme Egg shows a lot of great behaviours to be totally supported.

This shows:

• Dedication
• Understanding of physics
• Use of free and available resources
• Teamwork
• Prototyping
• success

Two posts in a row on Goo?
Is there a 41st principle of innovation here?

Enjoy:

This is a great piece from Gamasutra on rapid prototyping. Although set in the world of game development the rules are applicable to many high intensity development situations. If you are familiar with IDEO principles you will feel right at home.
I am a big fan of rapid prototyping. I believe that short loop learning is crucial. In fact it is a favourite interview question of mine. Setup a scenario and then ask the candidate to prototype it there and then. Big differentiator!

Some nuggets:

• Fake the magic: nobody knows how you made it and nobody cares.(other than us IP guys)
• Rapid is a state of mind
• Complexity is not necessary for a great customer experience (fun)
• Simulate in Your Head –Imagination

There is also a part that totally clicked with me about when to work together and when to work alone.

Their most successful game was called Tower of Goo which is now World of Goo and has been hailed as “an instant classic”, “Virtually Flawless” and “Physics’ latest, purest, and most brilliant gift”.
Not bad for a game knocked out in a week. Get it here .

Happy Prototyping!
Thanks to Antonio Rodriguez