A summary of key takeaways, themes and favorite sound bites from this years 2018 Front End Innovation conference. By Sasha McCune, Director of Design at Conifer Research.

1. FEI 2018
REFLECTIONS FROM

2. © 2018 private & confidential FEI 2018 KEY THEMES
KEY TAKEAWAYS
2
➫ Spend more time on the people
➫ Avoid “me too” innovation
➫ Lean into fast-cycle learning
➫ Establish focus and boundaries
➫ Uncover roadblocks at the start
THEMES FROM FRONT END INNOVATION 2018
➫ Maintain traction

3. © 2018 private & confidential FEI 2018 KEY THEMES3
➫ Establish focus and boundaries
A lack of focus often gets teams in
trouble - and going too broad often leads
to confusion. Hone your focus at the
beginning and stay true to it throughout.
Create simple rules to set boundaries and
provide focus for each project or initiative.
Avoid overfunding a problem too soon.
Don’t place big bets on an idea before
exploring whether or not it’s worth
pursuing.
Identify and frame assumptions and
hypotheses early and often.
CONIFER RECOMMENDS:
• Opt for smaller, bite-sized
design and research programs.
• Run lean tests or small research
programs to gut check
opportunity spaces.
• Apply remote research methods
to small, targeted exploration
and inspiration.
• Consider Stakeholder
Interviews and Assumptions
Workshops to surface and
document going-in ideas.
• Host facilitated Stakeholder
engagements like Summits or
Safaris for stakeholders to
explore problem areas through
real-world audits.
➫

4. © 2018 private & confidential FEI 2018 KEY THEMES4
➫ Uncover roadblocks at the start
You have to know the rules in order
to break them.
Get to the “no” and “that won’t work”
as fast as possible.
Don’t let “no” kill ideas,rather use it
as fuel to make ideas smarter and
better.
Establishing boundaries for
feasibility can unlock creative ways to
disrupt around or within constraints.
“Accept the frustration that the assets
you have might not be designed to
perfectly suit your needs.” BOB DIXON, USPS
CONIFER RECOMMENDS:
• Embrace the potential for roadblocks at the
beginning of your project. Begin kick-off
with a facilitated activity to list all of the
ways your team could potentially succeed as
well as all potential roadblocks and
challenges.
• Include a cross-disciplinary team in all
phases of a project, especially kick-off and
ideation. Stakeholder interviews can also
help you surface and fill knowledge gaps
and uncover assets, resources, and barriers.
• Test and socialize your concepts early and
often to gather feedback through concept
walk-throughs or “internal crits” to invite
iteration and collaboration on prototypes
and concepts before and after testing with
consumers.
• Avoid fostering a "kill or scale” mentality in
early iteration cycles. Remind stakeholders
that feedback is intended to help learn and
evolve ideas to get smarter, not necessarily
throw them out.
• Have your vendor partners tour R&D and
co-manufacturer facilities for knowledge
transfer. Let them help you connect the dots
of assets and restrictions so that they are
innovating with all the pieces of information
instead of partial knowledge.
• Leverage the “Desirable, Viable and
Feasible” framework for pressure-testing
ideas.
➫

5. © 2018 private & confidential FEI 2018 KEY THEMES5
➫ Spend more time on the people
The success of a project has a lot to do with
spending more time on the people - your
internal project stakeholders.
The right internal stakeholders can help you
identify the assets, barriers and internal
capabilities hidden within the company.
They can also help you surface systemic
pressures that surround a problem.
Be intentional about how you engage with
stakeholders by adapting your innovation
persona to the situation and need.
* FROM MIKE REHORST’S (NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL) SESSION: “THE MANY FACES OF AN
INTRAPRENEUR: A CONVERSATION ON ADAPTING TO A CHANGING CORPORATE
TERRAIN”
The Ninja - working on limited resources and time, Ninjas capture the evidence needed for
quick and swift wins
The Farmer - patiently plants the seeds of insights and innovation throughout the organization -
nurtures them slowly over time
The Diplomat - empathetic storytellers and relationship builders who look for synergies and
alliances throughout the organization
The Blocker - playing a trusted defense role to creates safe spaces for innovation, thinking,
reflection and risk-taking
Take their quiz to find out what your main style is: uquiz.com/QTBW03
CONIFER RECOMMENDS:
• Include a broad set of
stakeholders to lower the
risk in the long run.
• Leverage your vendor
partners as a tool to help
you engage stakeholders
throughout your project.
• Compare stakeholder,
consumer and end user
perspectives. Visualize the
complexity of these internal
and external layers.
• Information modeling and
journey-mapping can be an
invaluable way of surfacing
the layers of complexity and
relationships across
stakeholders.
➫

6. © 2018 private & confidential FEI 2018 KEY THEMES6
➫ Avoid “me too” innovation
Avoid chasing the competition and red
tides by looking just off the beaten path:
Look to parallels - what is adjacent to your
problem space?
Look to proxies - what might be a suitable
stand in to help you achieve your learning
goal and cut costs?
Look to metaphors - how might
provocative metaphors or pivots help you
see things differently?
Look to experiential delights - instead of
always solving for pain points,try finding
new applications of experiential delights
that work in other categories.
CONIFER RECOMMENDS:
• Explore parallels and proxies when you
have hard-to-get or expensive data and
limited budget.
• Strategically select markets, audiences,
products, behaviors or experiences that
can be a proxy for one another while still
serving your learning goals.
• Leverage creative and lean research
methods such as: Deprivation-Based
Research, Parallel Products and
Experience Audits, Internal Empathy
Exercises, or learning through games to
get to the heart of inspiration and insight
when budgets, low incidence or feasibility
gets in the way.
• Reframe competitive threats as
opportunities (one we like to use is “Hug
a Cactus” - a metaphor about embracing
discomfort).
• Improve upon, leapfrog or bypass the
competition by exploring adjacencies,
parallels or future states.
• Explore new twists, pivots and “what if?”
thinking to avoid the “me too” trap.
➫

7. © 2018 private & confidential FEI 2018 KEY THEMES7
➫ Lean into fast-cycle learning
Sprints are the method du jour to move
forward with purpose and momentum. These
fast-cycle learning and making projects
require acceptance of fast failure and
iterative learning.
Remember that no idea,product or experience
survives the first pass with customers
unchanged.
Choose the fidelity levels for your outputs with
intentionality. Let your learning goals dictate
the level of fidelity in your prototypes.
“The cost of doing is going down, while the
cost of waiting is going up.”
MAGNUS LINDKVIST
“Reduce your learning cycles from months
to days and triple your experiments.”
KATHY FISH, P&G
CONIFER RECOMMENDS:
• Avoid over producing too early! Start
small, and learn as you go.
• Leverage digital and remote research
tools to gather insights and inspiration
quickly.
• Inspiration audits, co-creation sessions
and collaborative team design iteration
sessions can help you accelerate your
team’s learning and output through
rapid iteration.
• Since sprints are fast and furious, make
sure that you have clearly defined and
simple learning goals going in.
• Learning goals should help you identify
when sketches or foam core and fast
low-fi prototypes are sufficient for your
learning and investment vs. when you
may be ready for a fuller-scale
production.
• Lean on your partners to plan, facilitate
and execute these fast-moving
programs - it’s hard to do it all
yourself!
• Block out time on stakeholders’
calendars as soon as possible. While it
is hard to get 2-3 days of anyone’s
time, the impact of having alignment
and participation is worth it.
➫

8. © 2018 private & confidential FEI 2018 KEY THEMES
PROVOCATION
The most provocative insights challenge norms,
expose contradictions, and create cross-industry
connections (both real and imagined). You have
to work to reframe insights away from cozy
corporate boundaries. You’ll know you are on
the right track when your teams start thinking
and behaving differently.
ENGAGEMENT
The fastest, best way to maintain a project’s
momentum is to ensure broad-based engagement
at key points along the journey. Artfully stretch
your stakeholders’ level and style of involvement
to gain speed and confidence along the way.
INSPIRATION
If provocation gets your team moving into uncharte
territories, then inspiration helps maintain that
momentum and is suggestive of the possibilities
ahead. Inspiration is one result of an internalized
insight — usually evidenced by the powerful storie
that teams tell themselves and others recruited to
the cause.
St
8
➫ Maintain traction: Conifer’s 5 Forces to Maintain Traction
PROVOCATION
The most provocative insights challenge norms,
expose contradictions, and create cross-industry
connections (both real and imagined). You have
to work to reframe insights away from cozy
corporate boundaries. You’ll know you are on
the right track when your teams start thinking
and behaving differently.
ENGAGEMENT
The fastest, best way to maintain a project’s
momentum is to ensure broad-based engagement
at key points along the journey. Artfully stretch
your stakeholders’ level and style of involvement
to gain speed and confidence along the way.
INSPIRATION
If provocation gets your team moving into uncharted
territories, then inspiration helps maintain that
momentum and is suggestive of the possibilities
ahead. Inspiration is one result of an internalized
insight — usually evidenced by the powerful stories
that teams tell themselves and others recruited to
the cause.
SOCIALIZATION
Unruly, provocative, and inspirational insights at
the heart of new ideas need socialization. Plan to
share your process and insights broadly, extending
their value by sparking unanticipated connections,
reducing redundant initiatives, and paving the
way for network effects.
Stories:
OCATION
insights challenge norms,
s, and create cross-industry
l and imagined). You have
sights away from cozy
. You’ll know you are on
your teams start thinking
ntly.
ENGAGEMENT
The fastest, best way to maintain a project’s
momentum is to ensure broad-based engagement
at key points along the journey. Artfully stretch
your stakeholders’ level and style of involvement
to gain speed and confidence along the way.
INSPIRATION
If provocation gets your team moving into uncharted
territories, then inspiration helps maintain that
momentum and is suggestive of the possibilities
ahead. Inspiration is one result of an internalized
insight — usually evidenced by the powerful stories
that teams tell themselves and others recruited to
the cause.
SOCIALIZATION
Unruly, provocative, and inspirational insights at
the heart of new ideas need socialization. Plan to
share your process and insights broadly, extending
their value by sparking unanticipated connections,
reducing redundant initiatives, and paving the
way for network effects.
ITERA
Ideas are plentiful and
unlike powerful insight
Develop systems to reta
concepts and the insigh
that teams can distingu
problems and insight p
Stories:
ROVOCATION
t provocative insights challenge norms,
contradictions, and create cross-industry
ons (both real and imagined). You have
o reframe insights away from cozy
e boundaries. You’ll know you are on
track when your teams start thinking
aving differently.
ENGAGEMENT
The fastest, best way to maintain a project’s
momentum is to ensure broad-based engagement
at key points along the journey. Artfully stretch
your stakeholders’ level and style of involvement
to gain speed and confidence along the way.
INSPIRATION
If provocation gets your team moving into uncharted
territories, then inspiration helps maintain that
momentum and is suggestive of the possibilities
ahead. Inspiration is one result of an internalized
insight — usually evidenced by the powerful stories
that teams tell themselves and others recruited to
the cause.
SOCIALIZATION
Unruly, provocative, and inspirational insights at
the heart of new ideas need socialization. Plan to
share your process and insights broadly, extending
their value by sparking unanticipated connections,
reducing redundant initiatives, and paving the
way for network effects.
Ideas are
unlike pow
Develop s
concepts a
that teams
problems
Stories:
ON
nge norms,
oss-industry
). You have
m cozy
u are on
thinking
ENGAGEMENT
The fastest, best way to maintain a project’s
momentum is to ensure broad-based engagement
at key points along the journey. Artfully stretch
your stakeholders’ level and style of involvement
to gain speed and confidence along the way.
INSPIRATION
If provocation gets your team moving into uncharted
territories, then inspiration helps maintain that
momentum and is suggestive of the possibilities
ahead. Inspiration is one result of an internalized
insight — usually evidenced by the powerful stories
that teams tell themselves and others recruited to
the cause.
SOCIALIZATION
Unruly, provocative, and inspirational insights at
the heart of new ideas need socialization. Plan to
share your process and insights broadly, extending
their value by sparking unanticipated connections,
reducing redundant initiatives, and paving the
way for network effects.
ITERATION
Ideas are plentiful and relatively easy
unlike powerful insights that are rare a
Develop systems to retain the connecti
concepts and the insights that inspired
that teams can distinguish between ex
problems and insight problems.
Stories:
ENGAGEMENT
The fastest, best way to maintain a project’s
momentum is to ensure broad-based engagement
at key points along the journey. Artfully stretch
your stakeholders’ level and style of involvement
to gain speed and confidence along the way.
INSPIRATION
If provocation gets your team moving into uncharted
territories, then inspiration helps maintain that
momentum and is suggestive of the possibilities
ahead. Inspiration is one result of an internalized
insight — usually evidenced by the powerful stories
that teams tell themselves and others recruited to
the cause.
SOCIALIZATION
Unruly, provocative, and inspirational insights at
the heart of new ideas need socialization. Plan to
share your process and insights broadly, extending
their value by sparking unanticipated connections,
reducing redundant initiatives, and paving the
way for network effects.
ITERATION
Ideas are plentiful and relatively easy to change,
unlike powerful insights that are rare and dear.
Develop systems to retain the connection between
concepts and the insights that inspired them so
that teams can distinguish between execution
problems and insight problems.
Stories:
A FRAMEWORK CONIFER USES TO HELP MAXIMIZE TRACTION AND MAKE INSIGHTS ACTIONABLE ON YOUR INSIGHTS AND INNOVATION PROJECTS

9. © 2018 private & confidential FEI 2018 KEY THEMES9
Fashion is beautiful today and ugly tomorrow.
Art is ugly today and beautiful tomorrow.
MAGNUS LINDKVIST“
If you want to innovate, you have to be willing
to be misunderstood for a long time.
JEFF BEZOS, AMAZON
“
Failure is a necessary consequence of
doing something new.
ED CATMULL, DISNEY
“
Do 100% of your work in 80% of the time to give
yourself the space to do other things. Always do
the easy things first.
JOHN VALENTINE, CVS HEALTH
“
➫ Memorable zingers to use around the watercoolor
R&D stands for ripoff and duplicate.
MAGNUS LINDKVIST
“

10. © 2018 private & confidential PROPOSAL10
RIGHT BRAINLEFT BRAIN
RESEARCH DESIGN
• In-depth, ethnographic
research and observation
• Global market reach
• Longitudinal studies
• Online and remote ethnography
• Blended qualitative and quantitative methods
• Customer intercepts, path-to-purchase studies, shop-a-longs,
and retail audits
• Typologies and personas
• Multiple integrated data streams such as social listening, eye-
tracking, and big data for a complete picture
• Generative, iterative, and evaluative design
planning
• Concept testing, evaluation, and rapid
prototyping
• Co-creation and user-focused facilitation
• Design methods and concept creation such as
ideation, rendering, prototyping, testing, and
iterating
• Storytelling and rich, visual and interactive
deliverables
• Customer journey mapping and information
modeling
Conifer is a partner to Fortune 1000 companies in
research, design and innovation initiatives

11. THANK YOU!
Sasha McCune - Director of Design
sasha@coniferresearch.com