The document outlines a structured process for innovation, emphasizing the importance of diverse capabilities, brainstorming, and rapid prototyping. It covers key phases including finalization, documentation, and presentation, highlighting that each step is essential for successful innovation. Team building and providing necessary support are critical to navigate bureaucracy and achieve innovation goals.

1. A Study of Innovation
Philip Wheat
Singularity Innovations
Phil@SingularityInnovations.com

2. Innovation
• It’s the new wonder word
• Noun - a creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation
• Verb - the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new
• But can’t we get more targeted than that?

3. The Process
•Capabilities
•Brainstorming
•Targeting
•Rapid Prototyping
•Proofing
•Finalization
•Documentation
•Presentation

4. Capabilities
• These are your Knowns and Known
Unknowns
• Building Capabilities is often the
most challenging part of the
process.
• Diverse Capabilities are key to a
successful effort
• Be Careful not to center on a single
capability
• Example:
• EDDIE Robotics Research
Platform
• Kinect Game Sensor
• Windows 8 Alpha SDK
• Phidgets Hardware Interface
System

5. Brainstorming
• “I need a…”
• “I want a…”
• “Wouldn’t it be cool if…”
• “I read about a…”
• “I saw a movie about…”
• Key parts of Brainstorming are
understanding the scope and
objectives.
• Product
• Press
• Process
• Inspritation

6. Targeting
• This is where the mapping happens
• How do you use Capability X/Y/Z to get to Brainstorm A/B/C?
• Quickly throw out the impractical or the improbable.
• Decide on at least the general feature set
• Don’t get too detailed yet
• Build your list of questions

7. Rapid Prototyping
• THIS is where you want to spend your time
• Rapid means many things – ideally you want to have a cycle time of about 24
hours.
• Hardware is actually easier to break down into rapid chunks than software
• Let your answers guide your path – a “It won’t work” result is the second best
answer you’ll get. “Not sure” is the worst.
• When working with hardware – budget for failure (3x requirements are
conservative.)

8. Finalization
• At some point you’ll have to decide what will make the first cut
• Remember that it should be just the first cut – waiting for production quality
on everything leads to paralysis.
• Finalization will often take as much time as prototyping did.
• Things that don’t make this cut go back into the idea pile for Rev Next.
• Never let there be a final Rev (or at least always act as if there is a Rev Next.)

9. Documentation
• Nothing’s done until the paperwork is in.
• Seriously – you’ll need to push out the information to others. If you can’t, you’re
stuck with it.
• Documentation is also your QC – this is where you find all those obvious problems
before you go out in public.
• Build it as a hand-off packet – and a budget justification for that Rev Next.
• Bring the lawyers in at this point – this will likely be when the patents and
trademarks happen.

10. Presentation
• Part of the Innovation process is the presentation - what kind will depend on the
goals you started with
• Press – Pretty clear
• Process – Internal leads
• Inspiration – Internal and external
• Product – Production people first, and then release
• This is also why communications skills are an important part of an innovation team
• This is the payoff – where teams get to gather mindshare for their innovations

12. So how do YOU do it?
• Build the right team
• Give them the support and budget to explore
• Give them cover from Bureaucracy
• Give them a time limit
• Give them a target
• Give them the authority to get it done
• Get out of the way

13. Questions?

14. A Study of Innovation
Philip Wheat
Singularity Innovations
Phil@SingularityInnovations.com