Directed Innovation to produce high-quality, novel solutions to gnarly problems

1. Using
Directed Innovation
to generate
creative, high-quality
solutions to
gnarly problems
Maria B. Thompson
Director, Innovation Strategy
www.linkedin.com/in/mariabthompson

2. - Market & Technology Trends
MSI Thought Leadership - Disruptive Technologies
- CTO Strategic Thrusts
INNOVATION STRATEGY
• Innovation • Intellectual Property
Champions Innovation IPR Champions
Framework Problems Strategy
• Bright Idea • Disclosure
Of Management
• Business Strategy
Context Tomorrow • Patent Committees
Key
Technology
Areas
Directed
Creative Innovation
Launch Capacity
Directed Campaigns
Innovation
methods Ideas
Generate Inventive
Innovation Explore Inventions Competency
Adopt
Champions
Adjacent
Forward –
& Looking
New Business Mentor IPR
Growth Program
Solutions of Today and Tomorrow

3. Motivation

4. 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!

5. 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

6. Strategic Technology Analysis Metrics
Identify Motorola Recipe for Success
Component areas of focus
Identification of what we have
How good is it (quality & value) ?
Competitor Scan
Inventory
Trend analysis based on published applications
Gap analysis
What do we need for desired end state?
Prioritization
Allocation

7. Example – Competitive Analysis-Patents
Security IP- Last 5 Years (1999-2004)
Sony
Siemens
Companies
Samsung
Nokia
Ericsson
Motorola
Encryption Authentication Content Financial Network Secure Key Public Secure Tamper
# Patents in Strategic Categories within Technology Domain
Protection eCommerce Security
Authorization Hardware Management Key Math Software
Boot
Resistance
Theft
Deterrence

8. Patent Portfolio Goals
Portfolio Composition
Forward-Looking
Problems of Tomorrow Forward-
Non-traditional markets and verticals Looking
Portfolio
Building
Portfolio-Building
Incremental
Growth businesses
Fundamental technology
Incremental / Portfolio-Sustaining
Performance improvements, cost savings
Technology enablers

9. History
Advanced Inventing
Ad hoc brainstorming by project teams
Infrequent Patent attorney participation
Direct to patent filings

10. Many Techniques to Think Creatively

11. Strategic Portfolio Development
History
– 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

12. Directed Innovation (DI):
Treat Your Inventing session like a
PROJECT and MANAGE it!
1.0
PLAN
4.0 2.0
ACT DO
3.0
CHECK

13. History
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

14. Directed Innovation Workflow
• Obtain Senior Management • Conduct Problem
1 Sponsorship 4 Storming/Provocation
• Select Experienced DI • Generate Question Bank
2 Facilitator 5
• Identify High-Value • Select ~20 diverse
3 Problem of the Future 6 participants
• Use Question Bank to Ideate in pairs in one room
7 • Allocate minimum of 15 minutes/big question
• Combine, evaluate, eliminate, distribute Idea Sheets
8
• Generate metrics, mentor innovators, track ideas
9 to closure
11/29/2012 14

15. Sponsorship & Team Selection
• Business Sponsor with budget & resources
• Inventing team
 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in Technology Domain
 Planning & Ideation team members
critical thinkers (problem-oriented)
divergent thinkers (creatives)
 Facilitator (IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation)
process observer
objectivity
no emotional connectivity to outcome

16. "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

17. 3. Opportunities QuestionGeneration-Recipe: How might we use Opportunity #3 to overcome
w/o limitation Limitation #2 and achieve/remove #1?
OR How might we achieve/remove #1 by using #3 without #2?
2. limitations
1. Focus/Goal/Objective/Problem:
2. limitations
3. Opportunities
w/o limitation

18. Identify High-Value Problem of the Future
 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

19. "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

20. Directed Innovation Workflow
• Obtain Senior Management • Conduct Problem
1 Sponsorship 4 Storming/Provocation
• Select Experienced DI • Generate Question Bank
2 Facilitator 5
• Identify High-Value • Select ~20 diverse
3 Problem of the Future 6 participants
• Use Question Bank to Ideate in pairs in one room
7 • Allocate minimum of 15 minutes/big question
• Combine, evaluate, eliminate, distribute Idea Sheets
8
• Generate metrics, mentor innovators, track ideas
9 to closure
11/29/2012 MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INTERNAL USE ONLY 20

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

22. The Older People Get, the Fewer Questions
they Ask
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?

23. How Questions Help Creative Problem Solving
• Clarifies problems
• Engages minds
• Increases brain flow
• Cultivates curiosity
• Improves Listening
• Promotes analogous thinking
• Enhances quality thinking
• Accelerates innovation
• Improves idea management

24. SolutionPeople’s Client ROI for Questions
• More Questions => More Ideas
• Facilitations using Question Banks
generate 34-65% more ideas
• More Ideas => Better Solutions

25. Questions Accelerate the M-Curve and Help Produce
Breakthrough Ideas Faster
????????????????? STIMULANTS ???????????????
New
Solutions
Old
Ideas
VALUE
TIME

26. What is the Question Banking Methodology?
 IDENTIFY Sources of Questions
 COLLECT Questions
 ORGANIZE Questions
 IMPROVE Questions
 APPLY Questions (Questionate to Ideate)

27. Questions to Ask When Collecting Questions
• 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)?

28. 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?

30. Advice for Writing Good Directed Innovation
Questions
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 Y
to overcome the Limitations & Constraints of technology X ?"

31. 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

32. What are the most important questions
you should ask and answer to improve
innovation performance?

33. 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

34. Activate to Innovate Questions
(Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s Quote)
• 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?

35. “Don’t Ever Stop Asking Questions”
- Albert Einstein

36. Directed Innovation Workflow
• Obtain Senior Management • Conduct Problem
1 Sponsorship 4 Storming/Provocation
• Select Experienced DI • Generate Question Bank
2 Facilitator 5
• Identify High-Value • Select ~20 diverse
3 Problem of the Future 6 participants
• Use Question Bank to Ideate in pairs in one room
7 • Allocate minimum of 15 minutes/big question
• Combine, evaluate, eliminate, distribute Idea Sheets
8
• Generate metrics, mentor innovators, track ideas
9 to closure
11/29/2012 36

37. Inventing Rules
DO’s DON’Ts
BUILD on others’ ideas Criticize others’ ideas
Write down all problems on post-its Vocalize issues to thwart idea
attached to ideas for later discussion generation (e.g., prior art)
(Opportunities For Invention)
Ask exploratory open-ended Use questions as way to criticize
questions idea
Record all details of your ideas on Work only at high-level (a potentially
Idea Recorder to later enhance novel idea may be eliminated later
disclosable concepts during Evaluation)
Be Tenacious and take the Risk to Be shy or a perfectionist
support “wild” ideas
Permit Ambiguity and Be Optimistic Project negative non-verbal or verbal
behaviors
Be Speculative and Idealistic Be too practical or pragmatic (until
Evaluation)

38. Session Name: Gemini Innovation Workshop
Idea Sheet Motorola Confidential when Completed
What problem are you trying to solve? What is a “working title” or keywords for your innovation?
(If working from a list of questions, record the question number.)
How might your idea/solution be implemented?
(A sketch, flowchart, or list of features will help to explain this.)
What is your idea/solution?
Idea Recorder
Innovator(s) CoreID(s): Suggested Lead: Potential Business Value: Today’s Date:
High, Medium, Low, Unknown 4/27/2007

39. DI lessons learned
1. Two Day agenda - infuse with networking and fun!
2. Diversity of Thought - Engage global workforce
3. Inventor Mentoring
4. Assumption Storming
• Involve more critical thinkers sooner in the planning &
problem storming
5. Share and reuse Use Cases & QUESTION BANKS
6. PLAN new sessions on low-yield problem areas
7. Allocate & prioritize time for idea conversion

41. Idea Evaluation
1. Is the invention aligned with strategic technology areas of value?
2. Is the idea NOVEL? Differentiate it from prior art
3. 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.
Motorola Solutions Inc
Intellectual Asset Management 41

42. 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 Conceptual Blockbusting:
by Tim Hurson A Guide to Better Ideas
by James L. Adams
Simplified TRiZ: New Problem-Solving
Applications for Engineers & Manufacturing
Professionals
by 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

43. Q&A
“Every END is a new BEGINNING.”
Proverb
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariabthompson