Product Innovation for Product Managers

with Karen Holst

Innovation Guide: Your Innovation Ecosystem

PRODUCT INNOVATION INNOVATION
PORTFOLIO INFLUENCERS
YOUR INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
Where do your company’s Who are the influencers
The Innovation Guide provides the framework for you to capture
products fall in the Innovation in your company who could
and share your learning throughout the course. Each worksheet
Ambition Matrix? How might guide, assist, or mentor
corresponds to the sections in the Product Innovation for Product
you diversify the portfolio? you through your
Managers course. Write in your thoughts or questions to refer to
innovation process?
later, or share with your team, to work on together.

YOUR COMPANY’S THE COMPANY’S INNOVATION ORG

PROCESS
What process(es) at your
company do teams utilize
to execute on innovation
strategies or to launch
new products?
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
When you do a financial,
development, and competitive
analysis, what do you think
is your company’s appetite
for incremental or
radical innovation?
STRUCTURE
What organizational structure
does your company follow?
What pros and cons can
you identify?

Product Innovation for Product Managers with Karen Holst | www.start-within.com

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PREPARATION AND DISCOVERY PHASE
COMMON INNOVATION IDENTIFY
The Preparation and Discovery Phase will provide a
PROCESSES INNOVATION PHASES
plan, process, and focus on solving the right problem.
What innovation process will Look at your innovation
This groundwork will allow you and your team to have the
you and your team follow? process and identify the
ability to align strategies with timelines. Once completed,
discovering, creating ideas,
you can revisit throughout your innovation process, to make
testing, and scaling phases.
adjustments for future efforts.

TOOLS FOR GETTING IDENTIFY THE RIGHT HUMAN CENTERED AND

ORGANIZED
What tools and resources
will you use to track key
performance metrics and the
phases of product innovation?
PROBLEM
What is a recent problem
your users or customers have
faced? Using the 5 Whys tool,
what was the cause(s)?
DATA CENTERED
Which of the human and
data-centered innovation
approaches does your team
do well, and need to improve?

Product Innovation for Product Managers with Karen Holst | www.start-within.com

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CREATING IDEAS PHASE
COMMON INNOVATION HUMOR TO
The Creating Ideas or Ideation Phase is focused on generating
PROCESSES UNLOCK CREATIVITY
and selecting the best ideas for innovation. Build core innovation
How do you plan to develop How might you bring humor
competencies and harness humor and psychological safety to
the innovation competencies and fun to the work you and
unlock creative problem-solving. Leverage open innovation
in yourself and your team? your team are doing?
methods to create and identify the ideas that have the potential
for the highest value.

IDENTIFYING IMPROVING IDEA GENERATION

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
How do you plan to assess the
psychological safety that your
team currently feels?
PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
What activities might you
engage in to improve (or
support) psychological safety
on your team?
AND SELECTION
What open innovation
methods can you test in your
company to improve the idea
generation and selection?

Product Innovation for Product Managers with Karen Holst | www.start-within.com

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TESTING AND PROTOTYPING PHASE
YOUR STAKEHOLDER MAP VARIOUS PROTOTYPES
The Testing and Prototyping Phase is made up of socializing
List and map the internal/ What type of prototype
ideas with internal stakeholders, prototyping solutions, and
external people with control could you and your team
testing and learning from customer interactions. Inspire teams for
over resourcing, supporting, consider building to test
effective prototyping and identify the balance of divergence and
or killing your innovation. innovation ideas?
convergence of ideas.

PROTOTYPE EXERCISE FRONT-LOAD EFFORT DIVERGENCE AND

What real or ctional product
could you or your team
prototype in the General Store
Prototype Generator?
What real or fictional product
could you or your team
workshop to test the team’s
ability to front-load effort?
CONVERGENCE
In divergence or convergence,
which does your team execute
best and where could you
improve balance?

Product Innovation for Product Managers with Karen Holst | www.start-within.com

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LAUNCHING AND SCALING PHASE
INNOVATION FAILURES BUSINESS MODEL
The Launch and Scale phase is a complex process that involves FOR SCALE
How would you plan to handle
implementing the market launch plan and operations plan.
an innovation that goes Who could you include in
Understanding innovation failures can help to better handle through pre- or post-launch kill the Business Model Canvas
different scenarios you and your team may face. or market failure? exercise to encourage
Evaluating the business model can helpto address changes that divergent thinking?
have occurred in technology or the marketplace.

INNOVATION METHODS OPEN INNOVATION IMPROVING

FOR SCALE
Considering changes in the
marketplace or technology,
how might you adjust the
business plan for scale
FOR SCALE
Which open innovation
tool could be useful to
your company to
experiment utilizing?
INNOVATION PROCESS
In looking at your entire
innovation process, how might
you improve your approach for
future innovation?

Product Innovation for Product Managers with Karen Holst | www.start-within.com

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