Been The First Mile Mile by Scott Anthony … a practical book re: how to ID practical innovations and launch them.
Anthony characterizes an innovation as having a combination of a deep customer need, a compelling solution, and a powerful economic model.
He argues that the first 2 items – a deep need and a compelling solution – are often overstated … and that the 3rd – the economic model – is often completely ignored.
So, as everybody know, most innovations fail in the marketplace.
To increase the odds of a innovation’s success (think new product or start-up company) he proposes a a process that borrows from the classical scientific method, discovery driven planning and the trendy “lean start-ups”.
Anthony acronyms his process DEFT: document, evaluate, focus, (test & adjust)
The first step in the DEFT process is to document the essence of an initiative … not voluminously, but insightfully … with an eye to separating facts from assumptions … and then concentrating on the assumptions that are least certain and most impactful.
Specifically, Anthony offers up 27 specific questions to answer when documenting an innovation …
The Homa Files 