Primed for Innovation

PRIMED FOR INNOVATION
Our approach to innovation needs us to see the world beyond the way we are
Andrew Marshall [Drew]
Principal
PrimedAssociates, LLC
Copyright © Primed Associates, LLC. 2009 All rights reserved.

When first observed this photo caused quite a stir.

A human face.
Evidence of Life on Mars?
Viking Photograph of Mars 1976

Not so fast. 25 years later…
“Where’s the Man in Mars?”
MGS Photograph of Mars 2001

AnaÏsnin20th Century Author Philosopher
We don’t see the world the way it is.
We see the world the way we are.

Priming is…
A state of readiness
To make ready; prepare: guard dogs primed for attack.
To prepare (a gun or mine) for firing by inserting a charge of gunpowder or a primer.
To prepare for operation, as by pouring water into a pump or gasoline into a carburetor.
To prepare (a surface) for painting by covering with size, primer, or an undercoat.
To inform or instruct beforehand; coach.
Informed by our experiences, beliefs, mores, culture, upbringing, and so much more

Priming is also…
A way of coping with the almost infinite number of information inputs we receive each day through our senses so that they don’t overload us
Based on the concepts of pattern recognition and pattern expectation encountered in heuristics
Neither good nor bad
At times, fallible

How does this relate toInnovation?

Product Development is…
Inherently risky
A cross-organization resource drain
Change forced into stable systems
Where good ideas get “improved”
Among the first to be sacrificed for survival
Like running a marathon, hopping on one leg, while someone continually changes the route in front of you

Product Development needs…
Palatable risk – to be prepared for pain
Cross-organizational commitment of resources
Leverage within organizational systems
To embrace “That the enemy of good is great”
To demonstrate that it can close the growth gap
The patience of a guru, the stamina of a Tour de France cyclist, the focus of a chess grand master, the insight of Sherlock Holmes and the gregariousness of Oprah

President’s research committeeon Social Trends
There is in our social organization an inertia…Unless there is a speeding up of social invention or a slowing down of mechanical invention, grave maladjustments are certain to result.

There is in our social organization an inertia…Unless there is a speeding up of social invention or a slowing down of mechanical invention, grave maladjustments are certain to result.
President’s research committeeon Social Trends(1933)

How do you see your world?

How do you see your world?
Product Development

Is it full of potential?

Is it constantly delayed?

Is it on the verge of catastrophe?

Or perpetually cheery?

A LITTLE SUBVERSION IS A GOOD THING…
Right?

What does it take to see the world differently a láBanksy?

To subvert the dominant paradigm?

To take the everyday
and see it anew?

Ludwig Mies Van DerroheArchitect, Designer, Modernist
Less is more.

Robert VenturiArchitect, Author, Post-Modernist
Less is a bore.

SophoclesGreek Playwright, Show-off
Success is dependent on effort.

helping your organization drive successful innovation can feel like trying to turn a cruise ship.How do you Get your “cruise ship” Turning?

Effort.But What Kind?

www.kstoolkit.org/Social+Network+Analysis
Start your understanding here.

Priming Product Development
Prime an internal social network to directly support your product development and innovation outcomes takes considerable effort
Use the following levers to move the fly-wheel:
Stories – to energize
Images – to inform
Physical Space – to influence
Text – to instruct
Dialogue – to engage

Telling tall tales & true – the stories we tell

Wheatley & RogersLeadership and the New Science 1999
Organizational folktales become ways for building shared coherence, defining the “fundamental integrity about who we are.”

iMac Advertisement2001

I've been thinking hard about the Apple product-development process since I left…If you follow my [guidelines], it will guarantee good design. But Steve Jobs doesn't want good design. He wants great design, and my method will never give you that. That takes a rare leader, who can bring both the cohesion and commitment, and style. And Steve has it.
Donald NeilsenFounder – Neilson Norman Group (who left Apple in 1997)

Arthur Fry the inventor of the Post-it Note ™ realized that his "bookmark" had other potential functions when he used it to leave a note on a work file, and co-workers kept dropping by, seeking "bookmarks" for their offices. Stories sold the idea inside 3M, first.

The recent re-branding of HP returned to an old story too.

Every community has a memory of itself.Neither an archive nor an authoritative record ...but a living history, an awareness of a collective identity woven of a thousand stories.

A picture is worth10n words – the visuals we display

How can you begin to innovate in this space?

Design a tool for market dialogue
Like >

Napoleon’s March to Moscow (Minard)
A data-rich story that stands alone
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/minard

Product development drawingswork as internal sales tools

And help convey experiences

…of all types

Affect the physicalaffect the perspective – the Spaces we present

The Parthenon

“Entasis” makes it appear normal

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

The towers at each end (pylons)
serve no real structural purpose
except to make people feel safer

2008 Mansory Rolls-Royce BelAir
The power of a “perfect” prototype

How are you using your spacesto affect the way you support your innovation efforts?

The cubicle farm.
Is this really how to reap the benefits of the best and brightest?

Newspapers are deadlong live news- the instructions we prescribe

Well, things are grim a bit , aren’t they?

But we still seem to have a lot to say

How do engage a president?
Fictional

The power of the written word

This poster was never used when it was designed – for Great Britain in WW2
In the current economic times it has unexpectedly
received a new lease of life

With our written words we prepare for the conversation
www.wordle.net

Have a chat with that!- the conversations we foster

Dialogue: a form of discussion aimed at fostering mutual insight and common purpose.

Dialogue: how Galileo got himself into a little trouble.

The quality of dialogue here…

…Needs to find a welcome home here, too.

IsaacsDialogue 1999
A jazz musician improvising and inventing new music is engaged in generative dialogue with the music and his band.

Prime yourself and your organization - who knows where the journey might take you and your organization?

Any Questions? Find answers here…

Andrew Marshall [Drew]
Principal
PrimedAssociates, LLC
Twitter:@DrewCM
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/DrewCM
www.thinkprimed.com

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Primed for Innovation

by Andrew Marshall

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