Need help with my next entrepreneurial training class

In preparing for my next class in Project Management (innovation and using
chaos), I am looking for innovations that have changed the way we do things
over the past ten or fifteen years. Your input will be appreciated!

For example, at airports they are setting up small parking lots within 5
minutes of the terminals for people to wait in their cars, without paying a
fee, until they get a call from the passenger they will pick up on their
cell phones. I'd like to meet the person who had the idea and who pushed it
through the bureaucratic molasses because it must have been a real
challenge!

Ketchup bottles that are supposed to be stored upside down so the stuff is
readily squirtable upon picking it up. Revolutionary! And so obvious!

Payroll issued to the employees ATM bank.

Please help me with your observations!

Wayne--
http://home.att.net/~impresario/Index.htm - to see the older version of
Project Management.

For some inexplicable reasons, "Wayne Lundberg"
<Waynelund@worldnet.att.net> wrote:

:
:In preparing for my next class in Project Management (innovation and using
:chaos), I am looking for innovations that have changed the way we do things
:over the past ten or fifteen years. Your input will be appreciated!

For many businesses, it is catalogues on CD.

No, I'm not kidding. Updates that only come via a CD or online
have forced people who still wouldn't use a computer to get one and
use it.

--
Wendy Chatley Green
wcgreen@INVALID.lycos.com

"Wendy Chatley Green" <wcgreen@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:cn6gj103t@enews2.newsguy.com...
>
> For some inexplicable reasons, "Wayne Lundberg"
> <Waynelund@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
> :
> :In preparing for my next class in Project Management (innovation and
using
> :chaos), I am looking for innovations that have changed the way we do
things
> :over the past ten or fifteen years. Your input will be appreciated!
>
> For many businesses, it is catalogues on CD.
>
> No, I'm not kidding. Updates that only come via a CD or online
> have forced people who still wouldn't use a computer to get one and
> use it.
>
> --
> Wendy Chatley Green
> wcgreen@INVALID.lycos.com

Thank you Wendy... Good point. I've been using Thomas Registry online since
they went online. A huge step for them since they are a 'really old
fashioned' kind of company. But they bit the bullet. Same for McMaster Carr.

I'd like to meet the project champion for both of these transformations. I
bet he/she has gray hair now!

Wayne

>

15 years ago was 1990. While the world wide web existed, the big innovation
of the time was the ability to look at a picture over http. Very few
non-geeks used email professionally. Relational databases existed, but they
were not as ubiquitous and easy to program as they soon would be.

There was no such thing as RAD programming. Oh, it had been thought of, just
not adopted. Borland was still 4 years away from releasing OWL 2 (and
destroying a > 85% market share in compilers). However, in 1990 or so,
Borland C++ 1.0 shipped, the first mainstream C++ compiler for windows..

In 1990 Windows 3.0 shipped. This is the first version of Windows that
anybody really heard of.

This may seem obvious, but personal computers grew up during the 90s. I
can't think of anything that has changed the way more people work than that.

--
Patrick
www.covot.com
small business tools



"Wayne Lundberg" <Waynelund@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:cn6a5o02pp5@enews2.newsguy.com...
>
> In preparing for my next class in Project Management (innovation and using
> chaos), I am looking for innovations that have changed the way we do
> things
> over the past ten or fifteen years. Your input will be appreciated!
>
> For example, at airports they are setting up small parking lots within 5
> minutes of the terminals for people to wait in their cars, without paying
> a
> fee, until they get a call from the passenger they will pick up on their
> cell phones. I'd like to meet the person who had the idea and who pushed
> it
> through the bureaucratic molasses because it must have been a real
> challenge!
>
> Ketchup bottles that are supposed to be stored upside down so the stuff is
> readily squirtable upon picking it up. Revolutionary! And so obvious!
>
> Payroll issued to the employees ATM bank.
>
> Please help me with your observations!
>
> Wayne--
> http://home.att.net/~impresario/Index.htm - to see the older version of
> Project Management.
>
>

"covot" <no@reply.com> wrote in message
news:cn94fl01or@enews2.newsguy.com...
>
> 15 years ago was 1990. While the world wide web existed, the big
innovation
> of the time was the ability to look at a picture over http. Very few
> non-geeks used email professionally. Relational databases existed, but
they
> were not as ubiquitous and easy to program as they soon would be.
>
> There was no such thing as RAD programming. Oh, it had been thought of,
just
> not adopted. Borland was still 4 years away from releasing OWL 2 (and
> destroying a > 85% market share in compilers). However, in 1990 or so,
> Borland C++ 1.0 shipped, the first mainstream C++ compiler for windows..
>
> In 1990 Windows 3.0 shipped. This is the first version of Windows that
> anybody really heard of.
>
> This may seem obvious, but personal computers grew up during the 90s. I
> can't think of anything that has changed the way more people work than
that.
>
> --
> Patrick
> www.covot.com
> small business tools
>
Thank you. Which brings to mind all those thousands of projects launched to
stay on top of the power curve as company after company had to execute ideas
into market share. I think project management got a boost that still lingers
here and there in the more astute and innovative companies.

Wayne

"Wayne Lundberg" <Waynelund@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:<cn8dqs024is@enews1.newsguy.com>...
> "Wendy Chatley Green" <wcgreen@verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:cn6gj103t@enews2.newsguy.com...
>> >
> > :
> > :In preparing for my next class in Project Management (innovation and
> using
> > :chaos), I am looking for innovations that have changed the way we do
> things
> > :over the past ten or fifteen years. Your input will be appreciated!
> >
> > For many businesses, it is catalogues on CD.
> >

>
> Thank you Wendy... Good point. I've been using Thomas Registry online since
> they went online. A huge step for them since they are a 'really old
> fashioned' kind of company. But they bit the bullet. Same for McMaster Carr.
>
> I'd like to meet the project champion for both of these transformations. I
> bet he/she has gray hair now!
>
> Wayne
>
> >

This may be an interesting artifact: Around 1982 I was told that
Commerce Clearinghouse Inc, CCH, issued a product that came on a CD.
They overpriced the damn thing, and no one knew how to use it.

But I do remember one person working in the legal field who mentioned
it to me. I had once been an assistant editor for CCH and he wanted to
know what I knew about the technology. It came out after I left the
company.

> Thank you. Which brings to mind all those thousands of projects launched
> to
> stay on top of the power curve as company after company had to execute
> ideas
> into market share. I think project management got a boost that still
> lingers
> here and there in the more astute and innovative companies.
>
> Wayne
>
>

(I hate bottom posting ;-))

Project Management, IMO, has gotten a large boost from software assistance.
MS Project has the ability to do automatic PERT analysis, does critical path
analysis and more. While I will be the first one to say that software does
not define a process, nor does it manage people, it definitely makes that
job easier. I know I work much differently for having Excel and Project than
I would without those tools.


--
--
Patrick
www.covot.com
small business tools

[Moderators note: we appreciate the fact that you did bottom post.]

Wayne,

I have a few observations on this one.
Along with examples of innovative products/ services, it is important to
stress the necessity of leadership protecting corporate cohesiveness
when of dealing with the "ground zero level politics" of innovation -
and it's resultant fall out and effects.

Embracing Innovation can be rather like changing the physical location
of an existing building... you can double it's value just with one
move... but the integrity of the structure can be sacrificed on the
process.

I developed a paper on the criticality of, and a proposed tactical
blueprint for tasking innovation implementation. The concept was
enabling innovation for a company approaching rapid growth.

When a company is new, innovative conception and application may be as
simple as a post-it note on the computer screen or the wife/ husband
delivering a great idea with a cup of coffee through the small office
door with a smile and a kiss.

But as the company grows, so do it's stakes. Departments are "shaken up"
often and greater qualifications are often needed for personnel to
remain, leaving many nervous. Meanwhile the company must develop or
sustain research and development initiatives throughout this growth
process. But Innovations are powerful things, so how can these ideas,
which represent change... escape being seized upon, branded, labelled,
bartered, stolen, sabotaged, co-opted, or avoided in companies which are
experiencing the throes of rapid growth?
Who get's to innovate?
How can innovation be continuous when the work pool is not?

No one seems to have the perfect solution, but I draw some possibilities
forward for examination, using historic examples of not only
innovations, but the cultures which safely developing them along the
way.

Have a peek in my the next post...
If you can use some of it I'll gladly accommodate.

You're a good man.

~zion~

OK, Here it is!

An overview of some of the points in my "Accelerated Innovation
Matrixing" (AIM) paper...the detailed process of making sure you don't
outgrow your creative edge as a company.

You must insure that your innovation mechanisms expand -- not "pop" as
personnel become formal in communications and concerned with being
replaced during rapid growth/ recruitment.

An assessment of national corporate trends in the U.S. and of the
corporate environment over the past few years has shed light on the need
for better programs to maintain and safeguard some a companies most
valuable assets -- their personnel and the creativity and knowledge
which they possess.

POINT: Innovations are tangible commodities, capital which flows from
human minds and should Grow with the org. Or strangle it.


External and internal threats to these assets are implied ironically by
a natural evolution/ formalization/ stabilization of corporate culture
and the strength of thriving personnel growth rates among other factors.

To offset this dynamic, Management calls for the formulation of a
creativity forum which will formally build a synergistic communications
network between departments. It would also actively support a morale
capable of sustaining, improving and processing more creative ideas with
increased efficiency.

POINT: Innovation POLICY must be set in place to, and it must be
engineered into a framework of corporate communications.
These policies must be fully enacted by provisions in the vision and
mission statements, which likely need to be rewritten to accommodate
them, otherwise, a natural innovation life cycle will naturally
initialize and eventually choke out creativity.

An AIMS(tm) (Accelerated Innovations Management System) must be rapidly
developed and deployed if not pre-existing during critical growth phase
(explosive company growth). It consists of a broad database of various
levels and areas of ideation. It houses a number of specially designed ,
extranet hosted interactive websites with modular consoles/ polling/
research capabilities, project manager apps, electronic bulletin
boards, newsletters and weblogs, and hardcopy newsletter.

POINT: The rails on which innovation communication rides must be robust
enough to manage the data stream from the exploding personnel pool.

An innovations rewards committee must organize an ideas and rewards
point system, based on profitability and practicality of submitted
concepts. An innovation captain oversees the spectrographic flow of
ideas and facilitates collateral participation between departments. The
committee rotates from all departments.

POINT: Innovation clogs in pipelines if you do not have an active force
pushing it to the front, so put it in someones' job description.


Sense of cohesive interaction and corporate traction is soon met by the
trend to fractionalize due to such (needful?) things as enhanced
formality and it's resulting policies, product diversification, and
physical decentralization.
Add in such external influencers as national economic volatility, a
tough job market and its impact on employees security and energies, and
you have the makings of an innovative meltdown at ground zero right at
the point of critical mass.

POINT: "Jim, I haven't seen you at the water cooler lately, what
happened we used to really talk some shop!"
"Yes, Stan, been awhile...Well... you know they split my department
again".
"Oh"? "Yea, I'm now the one setting you up for early downsizing next
budget. I feel terrible about that... your a really good guy.... we just
can't do the water cooler thing any more".

Protecting the innovator from extinction, giving him partial title to
the innovation along the implementation and renumeration lines,
supporting intrepreneurship, battling a trend towards losing the
smooth, creative flow of information across departments is all vital to
sustaining an innovative culture. Thus AIM reverses this gradual,
damaging effect of growth induced innovation shock.

These concepts and more are given nuts and bolts in this paper.

These have been excerpted points from the papers introduction.

I hope this turns your wheels further on innovation culture. And just
let me know if you are wanting more details on these factors. It's also
chock with examples in places, both hall of fame and hall of shame..
which prove the concept that innovation only grows consistently out of
fertile soils of corporate support.

INNOVATION OF THE DAY:

Costco now retailing coffins in a display at their stores. The display
consists of a roughly 3 foot corner of each coffin model mounted out of
a wall. The see, you like, you buy. Pay $800.00 or so... Roughly the
price of about 15 tanks of gas... instead of the 2 grand the parlor man
wants. Save like $1,200.00 just by admitting you will one day push up
daisies.

MY FEELINGS ON THIS:
LOL... well...

GAINED A POINT: At least they didn't try to place mini show box sized
coffins with dolls in them in a meat type display case... don't think
that would have gone over very well!

LOST 2 POINTS: Also... they missed out on a grand opportunity to OWN a
word.. "PRETAILING". (Pre-Retailing - you buy now, but its not delivered
from the factory until you need it- even years from now). If they would
have thought to own that word, "Pretailing", they would have gained
"mindshare mileage" - or stronger sense of industry leadership in the
customers mind... whenever the word was used by the competitors.. which
are sure to follow -- the things are selling like hot cakes!

GAINED 7 POINTS!: They pre-empted a major competitors objection...they
anticipated the parlors saying that a box with no dirt to lay it in is
worthless, and we will just jack up your dirt and related prices.., if
you force a costco box on us... WRONG!

Costco was ready with an ace up the sleeve, they ran vertical product
integration by arranging to provide the dirt lots too, also at a
discount... LOL

1 simple idea... worth MILLIONS!


~zion~

"Tech 22 22" <projectteamiii@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cno1590154o@enews3.newsguy.com...
>
>
> OK, Here it is!
>
> An overview of some of the points in my "Accelerated Innovation
> Matrixing" (AIM) paper...the detailed process of making sure you don't
> outgrow your creative edge as a company.
>
--snip---

---snip--- (What has been snipped is must-read if you want to follow this
thread)

My favorite cartoon, of all cartoons, way before Dilbert, is a King
directing his forces in a great battle. Behind him, and pleading for his
attention are two 'minions', clerks if you will who want to introduce a
salesman to the king. The king is angered and the caption under the cartoon
is "Don't bother me with stupid ideas! Can't you see I'm in the middle of a
battle?" The kicker is that this salesman is trying to sell a machine gun
which in two seconds would end the war but the King, in his arrogance of
ignorance, will not look at the innovation.

When Hitler's airplanes struck Poland, the Polish Generals 'knew' their
cavalry would take care of things.

When the lab people in Switzerland showed the owners and managers the idea
of a quartz crystal... they were shunted out of the meeting and in their
infinite wisdom the managers and owners did not even bother to patent the
idea. One year later most were out of business.

Ideas are not welcome. Not by your wife, not by your supervisor, not by your
friend. Change is the most difficult of all human efforts.

Dr. Ramachandran at San Diego's famous Brain Research Center at UCSD Medical
School has discovered a biological valve which prevents the human brain from
'seeing' anything that does not agree with the person's paradigm - life
experience - rules of living - and thus is incapable of seeing beyond their
daily life and culture. In Australia, when they went to the 100 cent pound,
taking the shilling and six-pence from the equation, some people committed
suicide. When the Jews and Gypsies in Spain were offered life if they were
but to accept Christ, they chose to be burned at the stake.

When I teach my course in project management I start with the need to
identify problems and opportunities using a Pareto analysis. This way the
advocate of change will at least have some ammunition. But for real
innovation, there is no Pareto that can be used. It then becomes pure
passion because since it does not exist, then, it must not be of value....
after all... we, at K-Mart invented the variety store concept. (They never
saw Sam Walton and the theory of discount coming).

I enjoyed reading your paper and had to chuckle from time to time as you hit
the target square on. But I think you really missed a major point and that
is that innovation is almost always the result of one person, one person
with a passion, with the power of the inventor, who manages to get somebody
in the upper chain of command to give them the green light and some
protection, that change comes about.

A fellow in a back corner lab at Intel managed to get Andy Grover to give
him the freedom to explore an idea on integrated circuits and the Z-80 was
born. Think of the Kelly's Skunk Works and what's-his-name's at Boca Raton
where the IBM PC was brought to life. Far, far away from corporate!

Nuff said...

Thanks for your insight and input!

Wayne