The secret sauce in high-tech product innovation. What’s actually in it?

There are lots of theories - and books - about high-tech product innovation. Each of them followed by ambitious businesses, keen to discover a recipe for the secret sauce that could make the difference between success and failure.

I’ve read much of this material but I’m sorry to say that, if such a recipe exists, it’s still a mystery to me.

However, I reckon I’ve found some items in the innovation kitchen’s store cupboard that should probably be on the list.

I should say that these don’t include agile, Lean or any other working process or framework. At best, in my view, these are simply tools in the kitchen drawer. Or, at worst, they can distract attention from what really matters: the core principles, attitudes and approaches that enable distinctively different products to emerge. To continue with the metaphor, they are ways of preparing the meal, not what makes the meal special.

None of my suggested ingredients are unique or proprietary and combining them will be an art in itself. To some, they may even seem quite basic or obvious. However, I am quietly confident that they have a value that may be overlooked.

Ingredient 1: Teams with extra spice.

In the innovation space, product innovation teams need to be empowered, stable and cross-functional. Quite simply, because the barriers to innovation will be hard to overcome.

They also need to step up and be accountable for their work, in the face of four core risks:

• The risk the consumer won’t find the solution valuable.

• The risk the customer won’t be able to use it.

• The risk the business won’t be able to build and maintain the product.

• The risk the product won’t be viable for the business.

These risks can’t be mitigated in a vacuum. For product teams to operate at optimal level, they need direct, unimpeded, frequent access to the customer, so that they can experiment with what could be possible.

All this means that Ingredient 1 needs to work well with the next one.

Ingredient 2: Concentrated strategic context.

This ingredient is actually made from a mixture of four:

• The product vision, which acts as a kind of beacon that the whole organisation can focus on and each team can see their relevance to.

• The product strategy, which guides everyone by articulating what will be concentrated on and what will be avoided.

• The high level architecture that subtly couples and aligns teams, without limiting their energy or flexibility.

• The technology strategy, which informs the teams in their discovery process.

The combination of teams with extra spice and this concentrated strategic context is already very powerful. Then, there is another ingredient to raise things to the next level.

Ingredient 3: Prescriptive processes with a generous helping of versatility.

As levels of complexity rises, which they invariably do during a programme of innovation, it’s very common for classically structured organisations to react with various attempts to seize control. The symptoms of this include more reporting structures, more detailed planning, more checklists - more governance.

This attempt to prescribe how processes should be designed in a VUCA environment is perfectly understandable but too much corporate parenting can dilute innovation or deprive it of oxygen. One possible alternative is to settle on a lighter touch, so that the scaffolding that defines the structure of the operation can bend, instead of breaking.

Finally - and this is more of a technique than a recipe - I recommend a small portion size when it comes to innovation initiatives.

Just as a chef tastes the food as ingredients and seasoning are added to the dish, so it can be best to add flavours sparingly, rather than all at once. In other words, go for the smaller bets - not the big ones - before committing resources.

Remember. This is the sauce. Not the main course.

A great sauce might delight the taste buds but it won’t rescue a poor dish. So, I would encourage anyone with an eye on this secret sauce to keep things into perspective.

This is still about technology, investment, leadership, strategy and, yes, even agile and Lean.

But, when all things are equal, and your competitors have similar key ingredients like these, your secret sauce could make all the difference.