What's wrong with these two pictures?
a) A product manager is working on the latest strategic initiative. She's researching competition, finding opportunities in the marketplace, considering price points, sizing up the revenue potential and evaluating vendors. She may even narrow down the list of vendors to an optimal one or two, and if she's really dangerous, will determine exactly what's needed from the internal tech team to integrate the functionality. She might even have a full project plan with implementation costs. She now takes it to her boss to get the necessary backing to implement the project.
b) A technologist thinks he's found the killer new feature. He discusses it with some members of his team and they like the idea, but it's one of many good ones being discussed. The technologist isn't deterred and decides to do some prototyping, first largely in his "spare time" but as he becomes more engulfed in the implementation he devotes more time to it and loses interest in his assigned tasks. He takes his prototype as far as he can technically, then goes to his boss for the necessary backing to implement the project.
Sadly, these two individuals exist in many companies that implement customer facing technology solutions. Now there's plenty of managerial issues here - product managers evaluating vendors without gathering external input, technologists overextending their R&D efforts, etc.
But the real issue here - the root cause - is the lack of an organizational environment (including structure, process, and culture) to promote collaboration and innovation.
Lets consider a third scenario:
c) Senior leadership has identified a top level strategy and a product manager proposes to research a possible initiative. She's paired with a technologist and while she's finding opportunities in the marketplace, considering price points, and sizing up the revenue potential, the technologist is reviewing a select list of vendors. The technologist also identifies some areas where there's opportunity to innovate, our product manager agrees that solutions might provide a key value to customers, and the technologists looks to prototype. Our product manager and technologist have a good working relationship with the project management office and request assistance in developing a high level plan and cost model. These three individuals finalize a present together and present options to senior leadership.
This approach has many of the right ingredients including:
continue reading "When Organizational Silos Hurt Innovation"
a) A product manager is working on the latest strategic initiative. She's researching competition, finding opportunities in the marketplace, considering price points, sizing up the revenue potential and evaluating vendors. She may even narrow down the list of vendors to an optimal one or two, and if she's really dangerous, will determine exactly what's needed from the internal tech team to integrate the functionality. She might even have a full project plan with implementation costs. She now takes it to her boss to get the necessary backing to implement the project.
b) A technologist thinks he's found the killer new feature. He discusses it with some members of his team and they like the idea, but it's one of many good ones being discussed. The technologist isn't deterred and decides to do some prototyping, first largely in his "spare time" but as he becomes more engulfed in the implementation he devotes more time to it and loses interest in his assigned tasks. He takes his prototype as far as he can technically, then goes to his boss for the necessary backing to implement the project.
Sadly, these two individuals exist in many companies that implement customer facing technology solutions. Now there's plenty of managerial issues here - product managers evaluating vendors without gathering external input, technologists overextending their R&D efforts, etc.
But the real issue here - the root cause - is the lack of an organizational environment (including structure, process, and culture) to promote collaboration and innovation.
Lets consider a third scenario:
c) Senior leadership has identified a top level strategy and a product manager proposes to research a possible initiative. She's paired with a technologist and while she's finding opportunities in the marketplace, considering price points, and sizing up the revenue potential, the technologist is reviewing a select list of vendors. The technologist also identifies some areas where there's opportunity to innovate, our product manager agrees that solutions might provide a key value to customers, and the technologists looks to prototype. Our product manager and technologist have a good working relationship with the project management office and request assistance in developing a high level plan and cost model. These three individuals finalize a present together and present options to senior leadership.
This approach has many of the right ingredients including:
- A clearly defined strategy that sets direction
- Leadership asks for a multi-disciplinary team to consider options
- A culture that encourages collaboration
- Room for further innovation, collaboration, and iterative improvements once options are reviewed