The Rumsfeld Matrix Has Implications (Rumsfeld Part 2)

If you are working in a world that depends on rigorous use of verifiable data (the bottom left quadrant), it is likely that your innovations will be incremental; that is, product improvements rather than breakthroughs.

Conversely, if you are really working “out of the box”, you are most likely in the top right quadrant.

  • What does this imply about Six Sigma techniques and innovation?
  • Can one work “out of the box” without knowing where the box is?
  • How much does industry even care about real breakthrough innovations anymore?