Maria B. ThompsonDirector, Innovation Strategywww.linkedin.com/in/mariabthompson

Using Directed Innovation to generatecreative, high-quality solutions to gnarly problems

INNOVATION STRATEGY

Forward –Looking

IPR

InventiveCompetency

Creative

Capacity

Innovation Champions

- Market & Technology Trends- Disruptive Technologies- CTO Strategic Thrusts

MSI Thought Leadership

Innovation Framework

DirectedInnovation

MentorProgram

Launch

Campaigns

GenerateExploreAdopt

IPR Strategy

• Intellectual Property Champions

• Disclosure Management

• Patent Committees

• Innovation Champions

• Bright Idea

• Business Strategy Context

KeyTechnology

Areas

ProblemsOf

Tomorrow

BusinessChallenges

Adjacent&

New BusinessGrowth

Ideas

Inventions

Solutions of Today and Tomorrow

DirectedInnovationmethods

Motivation

Why increase your “Innovation IQ?”Your “IQ” can be thought of as a predictable measure of

intelligence and performance…

We will cover ways to enhance you and your team’s

performance in creative problem solving to support • Invention: novel idea generation (cash to ideas)• Innovation: successful implementation of novel ideas (ideas to

cash)

Creative problem solving skills are critical success factors in today’s competitive

environment!

Paths to Motorola Solutions Value

Innovation creates value through...

Engaging team members in forward-looking activities.Networking and knowledge sharing. (Engineering Effectiveness)Employee satisfaction. (Engineering Effectiveness; Retention)

Product Feature.Customer-funded feature. Help “making the sell”.Cost improvements/synergies implementing other features.Enabling a service revenue stream/ new business model.

Patent/ Intellectual Property (IPR).Improved IPR licensing costs/ opportunities for Joint Ventures.Litigation cost avoidance.Brand equity/ thought leadership.

Courtesy Tom Tirpak, Motorola

Strategic Technology Analysis MetricsIdentify Motorola Recipe for Success

Component areas of focusIdentification of what we haveHow good is it (quality & value) ?

Competitor ScanInventoryTrend analysis based on published applications

Gap analysisWhat do we need for desired end state?PrioritizationAllocation

Security IP- Last 5 Years (1999-2004)

Motorola

Ericsson

Nokia

Samsung

Siemens

Sony

Encryption Authentication Authorization

Content Protection

Financial eCommerce

Network Security

Secure Hardware

Key Management

Public Key Math

Secure Software Boot

Tamper Resistance Theft Deterrence

Example – Competitive Analysis-Patents

Co

mp

anies

# Patents in Strategic Categories within Technology Domain

Patent Portfolio Goals

Forward-LookingProblems of TomorrowNon-traditional markets and verticals

Portfolio-Building Growth businessesFundamental technology

Incremental / Portfolio-SustainingPerformance improvements, cost savingsTechnology enablers

Portfolio Composition

Forward-LookingPortfolio BuildingIncremental

History

Advanced Inventing

Ad hoc brainstorming by project teams

Infrequent Patent attorney participation

Direct to patent filings

Many Techniques to Think Creatively

HistoryStrategic Portfolio Development– Focused on generating solutions & patents from new

promising technology– TRiZ used rarely to identify conflicts & tradeoffs in new

technology– Attorney = scribe– SME = facilitator (sometimes)– Project &/or technology team

participation– Participants vote on ideas to patent

Directed Innovation (DI):Treat Your Inventing session like a PROJECT and MANAGE it!

1.0PLAN

4.0 ACT

3.0CHECK

2.0DO

Directed Innovation– Agnostic facilitator– Provocation/Question Banking– Diverse & cross-functional team– Innovators = scribes– Balanced left brain vs. right brain activities– Idea Sheets & Competition– Post-its –> Problem Storming– Chocolate, Cinnamon, Peppermint, Green Tea– Concept Evaluation by SMEs & Patent Attorney– Inventor Mentors– Prior Art searching/ Patcomm review

History

Directed Innovation Workflow

1

•Obtain Senior Management Sponsorship

2

•Select Experienced DI Facilitator

3

•Identify High-Value Problem of the Future

4

•Conduct Problem Storming/Provocation

5

•Generate Question Bank

6

•Select ~20 diverse participants

7

•Use Question Bank to Ideate in pairs in one room

•Allocate minimum of 15 minutes/big question

8

•Combine, evaluate, eliminate, distribute Idea Sheets

9

•Generate metrics, mentor innovators, track ideas to closure

11/11/2012 14

• Business Sponsor with budget & resources• Inventing team

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in Technology Domain

Planning & Ideation team memberscritical thinkers (problem-oriented)

divergent thinkers (creatives)

Facilitator (IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation)

process observer

objectivity

no emotional connectivity to outcome

Sponsorship & Team Selection

"The mere formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science."

Albert Einstein

1. Focus/Goal/Objective/Problem:

2. li

mita

tions

2. li

mita

tions

3. O

ppor

tuni

ties

w/o

lim

itatio

n3.

Opp

ortu

nitie

sw

/o li

mita

tion

QuestionGeneration-Recipe: How might we use Opportunity #3 to overcome Limitation #2 and achieve/remove #1?

OR How might we achieve/remove #1 by using #3 without #2?

Business Sponsor selects Critical Challenge Problem Storming w/ critical thinkers Describe and list all attributes of Ideal Solution(s)

• see TRiZ

Identify known solutions and current patents• Describe characteristics and parameters and why they are

insufficient: these are your CRITICAL CHALLENGES

Transform Critical Challenges into thought-provoking questions to inspire breakthrough thinking

*The format of the problem statements and related open-ended thought-provoking questions is key to successful results

Identify High-Value Problem of the Future

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish

for wealth and power, but for the passionate

sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever

young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure

disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is

so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so

intoxicating, as possibility!"

- Soren Kierkegaard

1

•Obtain Senior Management Sponsorship

2

•Select Experienced DI Facilitator

3

•Identify High-Value Problem of the Future

4

•Conduct Problem Storming/Provocation

5

•Generate Question Bank

6

•Select ~20 diverse participants

7

•Use Question Bank to Ideate in pairs in one room

•Allocate minimum of 15 minutes/big question

8

•Combine, evaluate, eliminate, distribute Idea Sheets

9

•Generate metrics, mentor innovators, track ideas to closure

11/11/2012 MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INTERNAL USE ONLY 20

Directed Innovation Workflow

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.”

Bernard Baruch

How often do people ask questions?

Why does the typical 5-year-old ask 65 questions a day?

Why does the typical 44-year-old ask only 6 questions a day?

Why is it that the older we get, the fewer questions we ask?

The Older People Get, the Fewer Questions they Ask

• Clarifies problems• Engages minds• Increases brain flow• Cultivates curiosity• Improves Listening• Promotes analogous thinking• Enhances quality thinking• Accelerates innovation• Improves idea management

How Questions Help Creative Problem Solving

• More Questions => More Ideas

• Facilitations using Question Banks generate 34-65% more ideas

• More Ideas => Better Solutions

SolutionPeople’s Client ROI for Questions

Questions Accelerate the M-Curve and Help Produce Breakthrough Ideas Faster

VALUE

OldIdeas

NewSolutions

TIME

????????????????? STIMULANTS ???????????????

What is the Question Banking Methodology?

IDENTIFY Sources of Questions COLLECT Questions ORGANIZE Questions IMPROVE Questions APPLY Questions (Questionate to Ideate)

• What are ALL the questions that people might answer in order to address the goal(s), challenge(s) or problem(s)?

• What are all the obstacles or challenges that might relate to the goal(s)?

• What are the 3-5 MOST IMPORTANT questions that should be asked to address the goal(s)?

Questions to Ask When Collecting Questions

Advanced Questions

• What do we know?• What don’t we know?• Who knows what we don’t know?• How do we get to know what we

don’t know?

Use the PROVOCATION process to get yourself in the right mindset = “PROBLEM STORMING” Checklist to generate your problem statements and

questions: Identify & list all attributes & characteristics of the ideal solution Identify current technologies that address achieving each

attribute Characterize & list all the attributes, constraints & limitations of

current technologies preventing achievement of the ideal attributes

Generate open-ended questions in the form of "How might we achieve the IDEAL ATTRIBUTE by applying technology Yto overcome the Limitations & Constraints of technology X ?"

Advice for Writing Good Directed Innovation Questions

Question Banking TIPS & Checklist• Wordsmith and polish questions• Use www.thesaurus.com• Increase “open-ended” questions (eliminate “yes” or “no”

questions)• Replace “can/could/should” with “might” and “may”• Genericise so non-domain experts can engage• Tease out inflection points: conflicts, contradictions and

tradeoffs

√ Quality Review CHECKLIST Brief and concise Provocative, inviting and inspiring Clear and focused Understandable by variety of people Grammatically correct Functional, action-oriented verbs that describe the desired result or outcome

What are the most important questions you should ask and answer to improve

innovation performance?

Six Key Questions

I keep six honest serving-men.

They taught me all I knew;

Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

- Rudyard Kipling Indian-born British writer and poet

• Who should know what you learned?• What ideas were valuable?• When will you apply the ideas?• Where will you apply the ideas?• Why are the ideas valuable or important?• How will you share or apply the ideas?

Activate to Innovate Questions(Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s Quote)

“Don’t Ever Stop Asking Questions”

- Albert Einstein

Directed Innovation Workflow

1

•Obtain Senior Management Sponsorship

2

•Select Experienced DI Facilitator

3

•Identify High-Value Problem of the Future

4

•Conduct Problem Storming/Provocation

5

•Generate Question Bank

6

•Select ~20 diverse participants

7

•Use Question Bank to Ideate in pairs in one room

•Allocate minimum of 15 minutes/big question

8

•Combine, evaluate, eliminate, distribute Idea Sheets

9

•Generate metrics, mentor innovators, track ideas to closure

11/11/2012 36

Inventing RulesDO’s DON’Ts

BUILD on others’ ideas Criticize others’ ideas

Write down all problems on post-its attached to ideas for later discussion (Opportunities For Invention)

Vocalize issues to thwart idea generation (e.g., prior art)

Ask exploratory open-ended questions

Use questions as way to criticize idea

Record all details of your ideas on Idea Recorder to later enhance disclosable concepts

Work only at high-level (a potentially novel idea may be eliminated later during Evaluation)

Be Tenacious and take the Risk to support “wild” ideas

Be shy or a perfectionist

Permit Ambiguity and Be Optimistic Project negative non-verbal or verbal behaviors

Be Speculative and Idealistic Be too practical or pragmatic (until Evaluation)

Session Name: Gemini Innovation Workshop

What problem are you trying to solve?(If working from a list of questions, record the question number.)

What is your idea/solution?

How might your idea/solution be implemented? (A sketch, flowchart, or list of features will help to explain this.)

Innovator(s) CoreID(s): Today’s Date:

4/27/2007

Potential Business Value:

High, Medium, Low, Unknown

What is a “working title” or keywords for your innovation?

Motorola Confidential when Completed

Suggested Lead:

Session Name: Gemini Innovation Workshop

What problem are you trying to solve?(If working from a list of questions, record the question number.)

What is your idea/solution?

How might your idea/solution be implemented? (A sketch, flowchart, or list of features will help to explain this.)

Innovator(s) CoreID(s): Today’s Date:

4/27/2007

Potential Business Value:

High, Medium, Low, Unknown

What is a “working title” or keywords for your innovation?

Motorola Confidential when Completed

Suggested Lead:

Idea Sheet

Idea Recorder

DI lessons learned

1. Two Day agenda - infuse with networking and fun!2. Diversity of Thought - Engage global workforce3. Inventor Mentoring4. Assumption Storming

• Involve more critical thinkers sooner in the planning & problem storming

5. Share and reuse Use Cases & QUESTION BANKS6. PLAN new sessions on low-yield problem areas7. Allocate & prioritize time for idea conversion

Motorola Solutions IncIntellectual Asset ManagementMotorola Solutions IncIntellectual Asset Management 41

Idea Evaluation1. Is the invention aligned with strategic technology

areas of value?2. Is the idea NOVEL? Differentiate it from prior art3. WHEN is the idea valuable? Context in which idea

demonstrates usefulness?4. WHAT are ALL the problems the idea addresses or

solves? 5. WHO are ALL the potential USERs or Beneficiaries

of the idea? 6. HOW did/will we implement the idea? ALL the

alternatives.7. What are potential OTHER PROBLEMS that may

be identified by implementing the idea? 8. WHERE is the idea useful or valuable?

Environments, Ecosystems, other related innovations to pair with it to allow it to be leveraged?

9. Ask WHY the problem exists and WHY your solution effectively solves the problem – 5 times!

10.How might someone WORK AROUND the invention (all the possible ways), and why are none of these alternatives desirable?

11.How might we make money from the idea? 1. Are you selling a product, service, license? 2. How much development work (resources and dollars)

is needed to realize your product? 3. What is the revenue opportunity over the next 5-7

years? List all the assumptions.

Recommended Books for Skills Building

Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of

America’s Greatest Inventor

by Michael Gelb, Sarah Miller Caldicott

Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking by Tim Hurson

Simplified TRiZ: New Problem-SolvingApplications for Engineers & ManufacturingProfessionalsby Kalevi Rantanen, Ellen Domb

Making Questions Work: A Guide to What and How to Ask for Facilitators, Consultants, Managers, Coaches, and Educators by Dorothy Strachan

Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideasby James L. Adams

“Every END is a new BEGINNING.”

Proverb

Q & A

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariabthompson