Entries by Richard Walton

The One Best Way: Open Innovation (Part 3)

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Is there “one best way” to do innovation? On the surface, Open Innovation is pretty appealing. There is a huge amount of information “out there” that you can use to deal with a problem quickly and efficiently. www.openinnovation.net presents a good overview of the philosophy behind this movement. But before charging in — some caution is […]

Hope Is Not a Strategy – Odds of Success (Part 2)

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Recently I corresponded with a reader who was concerned about the implied negativity around the “odds” of success described in these posts. I have done quite a bit of research on the odds around product development and am comfortable with my numbers. It is not much different than saying that 1 out of 5 small […]

We Have Met The Enemy and He is Us (Walt Kelly)

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Many organizations do not recognize that they have an innovation problem. Last year I attended an industry-sponsored event that included a dinner with “thought leaders” on the subject of innovation. The event started predictably enough with statements such as, “our only problem is finding enough good people”, or “we have so many ideas, the problem […]

Oblique Strategies

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I am a big believer in Edison’s “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration”. At Micrex, we eschew creativity enhancement programs, inspiration tools and their ilk. Problem solving, however, is not without rules. We run trials of one kind or another almost every day. Failure is a big part of our world, and learning […]

The Theory and Practice of Good Enough

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One of my favorite and often used aphorisms is, “Perfection is the enemy of good.” Very often the essence of a promising development is obscured by added features or over-refining of an idea. This concept is usually attributed to Voltaire. Business leaders have nuanced it: Edward de Castro, one of the founders of Data General, […]