Innovation managers face many challenges.

1. Innovation managers face the difficult process of evaluating projects: which ones to fund, which ones to kill, even which ones to sell or license.  Read on to learn about how to implement an ongoing project portfolio management process. read more

2. Innovation managers need teams with skills quite different from the skills of teams delivering existing, on-going products.  Read further to learn about the types of skills an innovation organization must have to be effective. read more

3. Innovative organizations have to balance the needs of the present (on-going product development, revenue streams, efficiency) with the needs of the future (exploratory research into new technologies, long-term funding, flexibility).  Learn how leaders can create a balance between and appreciation of the value of each side of the organization. read more

4. What happens when an innovative project team learns that its project is no longer aligned with corporate objectives, and is about to be cut?  Learn about the options for the project’s future. read more

5. How can a new engineering manager make the right decisions in an innovative organization? read more

"The Human Side of Innovation," explains how each person can apply their unique skills and disposition to participate fully in an innovative organization.

This lecture/workshop is appropriate for conferences and organizational offsites. Request more information.

"Instilling an Innovative Mindset," a full-day workshop for individual contibutors. You will learn

• to promote and foster an environment where innovation flourishes,
• to step back, look at trends and the big picture, and analyze what the trends indicate
• to adapt, learn new things and grow
• to inspire others with your personal passion

For more information, request schedule

"Leading Innovation," a two-day workshop for engineering managers, delivered by Leslie Martinich. Participants will learn practices listed above as well as

• how to build an innovation ecosystem
• the role of relationships, networking and customers
• the skills required for participation in an innovation hub
• dealing with failure
• how to manage an innovation portfolio
• metrics to measure

For more information, request schedule

"Managing Innovation," a one-hour presentation for engineering organizations, Speaker: Leslie Martinich. request schedule

"Commercializing and Managing Innovations," Leslie Martinich, white paper 2004.

Radical Innovation: How Mature Companies Can Outsmart Upstarts

by Richard Leifer, Christopher M. McDermott , Gina Colarelli O'Connor , Lois S. Peters, Mark P. Rice, Robert W. Veryzer, Mark Rice
Harvard Business School Press, 2000

"Managing innovations, standards and organizational capabilities," L. Martinich, Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE International Engineering Management Conference.

Abstract
Innovations and new product development provide the fuel for economic growth and the source for competitive advantage. Managing software innovation requires one set of organizational capabilities at the innovative, entrepreneurial phase and another set at later phases. Some early phase capabilities, such as flexibility, inherently conflict with some later phase capabilities, such as repeatability. The capability to manage both discontinuous, disruptive innovations and continuous, incremental innovations provides a sustainable competitive advantage. Technology managers who understand the phases of innovation, the critical role of standards and the various and sometimes conflicting capabilities needed to manage both new and mature product development, can better compete in today's rapidly changing environment. This paper describes a capability framework for managing both innovations and mature technology, grounded in both the literature and in the experience of successful and unsuccessful practices in start-up and mature software companies.