Entries by Richard Walton

The One Best Way (Part 4): Creativity

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Looking closer at whether there is one best way to solve a particular problem: let’s look at creativity and bringing it into your company. Can it be taught? Probably to some degree. How to invent, be more creative, or develop new products has always been part art and part science. George Bernard Shaw wrote in Man […]

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 […]