I recently received an email from Chris, a former innovation management consultant, who challenged the results of Strategyn’s Track Record Study. You may recall that this study found that products and services launched using our Outcome-Driven Innovation methodology had an 86 percent success rate.
He criticized us, saying we failed to address issues such as “starting point, talent, industry dynamics and tons of other independent variables.” This led him to the following conclusion: “Clearly, ‘process’ is 90 percent of (your) equation. Seems horribly overstated. What about the myriad of other factors at play?”
Chris is right. The thesis behind our Outcome-Driven Innovation methodology is all about the process that companies use to determine which products and services to bring to market. Clearly, companies aren’t struggling with developing products. But they are struggling to put out the right products. That’s why the average product success rate is 17 percent.
By using Outcome-Driven Innovation, we help companies identify unmet customer needs and look for the greatest opportunities to meet those needs using our patented process. The reason our success rates are so high – 86 percent is unheard of in the industry – is that customer needs are identified before a product or service is ever introduced into the pipeline.
We don’t think companies need to revamp their product development or launching process. Companies do a great job of executing these elements of the innovation process. What they don’t do well is the upfront process – everything that happens before invention takes place.
In an hour-long conversation with Chris (he invited me to spar with him), we talked about many things. But I think the big stumbling block for many in the innovation field is: how do we measure innovation success?
At Strategyn, we measure success by how well our clients meet their customer’s needs by producing products and services that grow revenue, market share and deliver value. It’s not about how many products an organization launches, it’s about launching the right products. And when organizations feel that happens, that’s success.
I loved Chris’ final comment in his email to me. “Your piece,” he said, “was successful in being provocative and raising my blood pressure.” When we hit a nerve and get to talk to someone about our innovation theory, they often come away convinced that this is a common sense approach. I can guarantee that Chris’ blood pressure is much lower after our conversation.