On Killer Innovation
Philip McKinney
podcast@killerinnovations.com

The content, information and opinions shared in this
presentation are mine and mine along and do not
necessarily reflect those of my past, current or future
employers.
The content is my personal content and is licensed under
Creative Commons – Non-Commercial/Attribution.
Philip McKinney
podcast@killerinnovations.com
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 2

What’s wrong with current
approach’s?
• Innovations are either incremental or totally
unrealistic
• Rarely any real follow-up
• No confidence that there aren't better ideas to be
had
• Lack of executive/organizational support
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 3

Killer Innovation approach
• Focus The Innovation Search
Depth is better than breadth for idea quality
• Ask the right set of questions
Structured questions that drive discovery/insight
• Prioritize The Ideas
Will this idea change the customer expectation?
Will this idea change the competitive landscape?
Will this idea change the economics of the industry?
• Quick Execution
Quick idea validation via “fast” prototype (days versus weeks/months)
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 4

Areas of innovation focus
Moving into
New or
new
existing
competitive
customers
arenas
Innovation
in products
Expansion into
or services
new
geographies
Innovation in
value delivery Improvement
system in industry
structure
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 5

Better Questions=Killer Ideas
New or Existing Customers
4What emotional, psychological, or status benefit do (could) people derive
from using the product?
4How can you create a social or group experience with the product?
Industry Structure
4What are some of the basic assumptions under which the industry
operates?
4What external jolts have the potential to significantly impact the
operational rules of the industry?
Product & Services Innovation
4Who uses the product because of some benefit we did not foresee?
4What regularly used makeshifts can we capture in a product design?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 6

How to Generate Killer Ideas
Purpose - the yield of high quality ideas is significantly
•
higher with a clear business purpose and a supportive
business sponsor.
Timeliness - the difference between a great idea and a
•
so-so idea is market/technology timing.
Diversity - the pool of contributors needs to be broad,
•
broader than you intuitively think.
Perspective Change - the very best ideas come
•
through individuals looking at things in a different way.
Collaborative Development - environment, where
•
people can comment and build on ideas thereby
significantly increasing the overall yield of high impact
ideas.
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 7

Execution = Stage Gate
Management
Milestones Timeline
Product Proposal Phase Definition Phase Development Phase Release Phase Deploy
Customer
Agreement Agreement on
on wants Deliverables
Product Marketing
Product Concept Mkt. Req. Business Committ PIT Project W ork Project Potential Implemen- Select 1st Preliminary Sales Force Product Project
Idea Presentation Def. & case to Creation Definition Breakdown Plan Problem tation Kickoff beta site Product Preperation Release Review
Plng Customer Issue X Analysis Announcement Approval
Software Development
SW Req. Def. & SW Req. Def. & Detailed Design Code Software Beta Beta Issues Product
Plng - Prelim X Plng Issue X Functional Review/ Review Release Fixed Release
Definition Approval
QA/Test
QA/Test QA/Test QA/Test Product Product Beta Revised Product Prod
Plan - Review of Plan - Test Plan Test Testing Test Plan Test Testing
Prelim X Req. Issue X Complete Complete
Training
Training Training Detailed Prelim Training Customer
Plan - Plan - Definition of Package Ready Training
Prelim X Issue X Contents Ready
Documentation
Doc. Plan Doc. Plan Detailed 1st Rev. Prelim Doc Part Released
- Prelim X - Issue X Definition of Documents Document Number Documents
“The Best” use some from
Contents Ready Package Ready Released Ready
“The Best” use some from
Customer Service
of aaMilestone/Stage Gate
Support Identify Review Support Customer Service Product Support CS/PS Reps
of Milestone/Stage Gate
Impl. Plan Applicable SW Req. Impl. Plan Verification Begins Package Ready Trained
- Prelim X Stds. - Issue X
process to introduce new
Marketing Communications
process to introduce new
MARCOM MARCOM Prelim Sales/ Sales/Support
products and services
Plan - Plan - Support Materials Ready
products and services
Prelim X Issue X Materials
Release Control
Release Release Beta Build Beta Release Prod Build Production
Plan - Plan - Approved Release
Prelim X Issue X
Sales
Sales Sales Target Competitive Ready to Sell Customer
Plan - Plan - Customer Selling Strategy Acceptance/
Prelim X Issue X Selling Plan - Issue X Standardization
Operations
Operations Operations Ops - Beta Ops - Ops - Ops - Ops - 1st Ops - Beta Ops - Ops - Beta Ops - Prod.
Plan - Prelim Plan - Issue Planning Procedure Training Testing Customer Production Beta Bills Bill/Rev Ready
X X Doc Planning Mtg Verificaton
Beta Coordinator's Role
Beta Prelim Beta Field Field Field 1st Customer 1st 1st Beta
Coordinator's Plan Verification Verification Verification Beta Customer Customer Review
Plan - Issue X Beta Beta Begins Review Planning Beta Beta
Planning Meeting Begins Ends
Meeting
Go/No Go Decision Go/No Go Decision Go/No Go Decision Go/No Go Decision
Source: Techtrend Group
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 8

Let’s Warm Up
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 9

What do you see?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 10

What is half of
thirteen?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 11

Killer Innovation Workshop
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 12

Areas of innovation focus
New or existing
customers Moving into new
competitive
arenas
Innovation in
products or
Expansion into
services
new geographies
Innovation in value
delivery system Improvement in
industry structure
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 13

WOW!!
This is so COOL!!
Experience Economy
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 14

The Experience Model
ion Experience
t
iza
om
st
Cu Services
on
ti
Goods
iza
t
di
mo
m
Co
Commodities
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 15

What do people not
like about the
process of
purchasing my
product?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 16

What service levels
could I offer if I
controlled the entire
experience chain?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 17

I’m not going to
pay for that!
Value Based Pricing
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 18

Value By The Pound
Intel Processor $42,893.00
Hermes Scarf $1,964.29
“Shrek”/DVD $874.75
Mercedes-Benz $18.98
Hot Rolled Steel $0.19
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 19

What would it take to
make my product at
half the cost?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 20

Could I offer my
product at 5 times
the cost if it had
greater
feature/function?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 21

We are just like
them - just better!
BestPractices ≠ BestStrategy
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 22

“Me To” Companies
Late 1970’s Late 1990’s
Bottled water brands 16 50
Milk types 4 19
Magazine titles 339 790
Radio stations 7,038 12,458
New book titles 40,530 77,446
Replication of market concepts lead to a lack of differentiation and confused
customers. The result is an industry where commodity strategies (e.g. win
market share with lower prices) take over.
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 23

Brand Extension
Late 1970’s Late 1990’s
McDonalds items 13 43
Levi’s jean styles 41 70
Frito-Lay chip varieties 10 78
Pop-Tarts 3 29
KFC menu items 7 14
Brand extension is not to be confused with true innovation. In many cases,
customers only care about the one or two items within a brand they purchase.
Brand extension normally doesn’t increase the size of the market, but instead
simply provides choices to existing customers.
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 24

Types of Differentiation
- Preference
- Owning an Attribute
- Getting the herd to follow
- Must be unique
- Look at opposite attributes (e.g.
- Production
small against a larger competitor)
- Ingredients
- Products/system innovations
- Owning a Category (Leadership)
- Sales leadership
- Be the Latest
- Technology leadership
- New
- Performance leadership
- Make yourself obsolete
- Heritage
- Hotness
- A substitute for leadership
- Sales
- Search the history
- Industry ratings
- Industry Ratings
- Market Specialty
- NOT all things to all people
- Must stay specialized
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 25

Who uses my
product because of
some benefit I did
not foresee?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 26

How can I capitalize
on pop culture in my
product offering?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 27

So ... How many
ideas did you come
up with?
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 28

Contact:
Podcast: www.killerinnovations.com
Blog: www.philmckinney.com
Email: podcast@killerinnovations.com
11/23/2006 Creative Commons - Non-Commercial/Attribution by Phil McKinney 29