What’s in your toolbox for conducting consumer and market research? Does it include Conjoint Analysis? Well, if not, it will after you listen to this interview. To explore the topic and walk through an example of using Conjoint Analysis, I tracked down the market research tool master Brian Ottum, who has 30 years experience in new product development.

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down and have a chat with Will Sherlin of 3PillarGlobal about my latest book Charting Change on The Innovation Engine podcast. In this conversation we focused on how to make change efforts stick within any organization. Among the topics we discuss are how non-software companies can still benefit from Agile methodologies, how to ...

Not knowing which road to take may be enjoyable for a spirited spontaneous road trip with friends, motoring to unexpected destinations. While this may be the makings of an exciting weekend, it is an unsettling notion when applied to innovation, product management, and business in general.

Research and development is tightly coupled with product management and innovation. To learn how an R&D person thinks about innovation, I talked with Dana A. Oliver, who has 30 impressive years of experience in R&D groups. He now focuses on writing and coaching, after leaving Medtronic, the medical device company, where he was the Senior Director of R&D. He has ...

I had the opportunity recently to interview fellow Innovation author Gijs van Wulfen to talk with him about his new book The Innovation Maze, which is a follow-up to his great first book The Innovation Expedition. 1. In the book you cite a study saying companies reported a drop in breakthrough ideas between the mid 1990’s ...

I enjoyed watching Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life” when it was released in 1998 and have more recently re-watched it with my kids. I was amazed at the character animation and quickly pulled into the story line when I first saw it. What I didn’t expect was the reflective advice it would provide on leadership and management, including Hopper’s statement… “first rule ...

Stéphane Bernard published with Olivier Pujol ‘Pleasure to innovate‘, finding out the idea, and executing it. He kindly accepted to answer our questions on innovation learnings. 1) NB: You share the exemplary innovation story of Mathieu Dombale in this video, sorting out some key principles for innovation success (listening to and observing users with empathy, transversality, pilot phase, open source, ...

How can your products solve customers’ needs… as fast as customers need them? Try Design Thinking coupled with Action Learning. Design Thinking is a method of problem solving centered around the end user. Action Learning is a collaborative process that defines a problem and focuses on the desired outcome. Using these two processes together provides innovative solutions fast enough to ...

Ascertaining your customers’ wants and needs might compare to assembling a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing. It requires a multi-layered process that includes both qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as a structure that prioritizes customer wants and needs. The Voice of the Customer (VOC) is such a process.

Manuel Kaiser interview Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph about his new book, and how innovative firms generate new ideas and develop successful business models.