This is really simple but works.  Think about the processes involved in going from innovation to product/feature delivery.  If they are supposed to work closely together then put them close together.  Is that it?  Okay not quite.

To maximise the interactions between different groups, try to increase the size of the physical interface between them.  I'd say that in English if I could. 

Maybe an example will help - doubt it but worth a try. 

If you have a development team and an industrialisation team say - then don't design the office so they are separated.  See if you can set it up so that as many people as possible are next to someone from the other department.  I don't mean mixing them up completely as you want each group to still function well on their own.  I just mean think about how you can create long borders between groups where colleagues from the different groups can talk.

© Copyright Richard A D Jones 2005

When your project has reached a decision point, do you really want to wait until the management team can assemble? Are you sure they will have time to get to your part of the agenda? You've probably been in a project that gets bounced from at least one meeting and has to wait. The key here is to remove senior management physically from the decision making process.    more »

There is some simple wisdom about having customers. It costs 10 times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to sell to an existing one. Then, with a strange lack of gratitude, a happy customer will tell between 0 and 3 people whereas an unhappy one will tell more than 10 people of their negative experiences. These figures were created before the advent of email, Internet forums, blogs etc. so I can only assume the picture now is even more extreme.

As part of the cost of having customers, support can make a big difference to the profitability of companies like ISP’s, ASP’s, software companies – in fact most companies that are driving towards low revenues per customer. These companies need to focus on operational excellence and hence low cost customer support.   more »

Corporate venturing is a difficult area at the best of times. However, creating spin-outs from a weak parent can be fatal – no matter how good the new venture. I suggest you sit comfortably and don’t read on if you are of a nervous disposition.   more »

This approach provides a simple way to compare the 'attractiveness' of different candidate projects.    more »

I love matrix organisations. I love seeing them done well and I take secret pleasure at seeing a group of intelligent people in an organisation occasionally tie themselves in knots with them.   more »

Part of the point of having portfolio management processes and, in particular, decision making criteria is to ensure that individual projects are not derailed   more »

The difficulty with trying to create purely formal processes for innovation is that you can lose the clichéd “water cooler” effect of accidental generation of ideas through chance discussions, meetings and exchanges of information. However, relying purely on your personnel to generate enough good new ideas is near suicidal for a business.   more »

People are cynical animals. More so perhaps in Europe than in the United States. When someone starts in a new role, they will not just take what they are told about fresh starts, new ways or working or anything at face value. They probably don’t believe it’s going to happen and wait to pounce on the first outward sign that the person involved is not actually doing as they said they will do.   more »

I meet companies that frequently say they want to keep a low profile, stay under the radar and other phrases that mean they are hoping that no-one will notice what they are doing for a while. Forget it!   more »