You're working on a new product innovation. How do you make sure everyone's voice is heard?

Structure your thoughts before you attempt to move forward. 1. What are your goals? 2. What assumptions are you making? 3. Who are your target users or customers? 4. What are their pain points / needs? Prioritise them? 5. Who are your competitors? 6. What are your inputs/suppliers? 7. What are your dependencies? Spend 90% of your time on 2, 3 & 4 above before you embark on solutions (via your product).

Indeed, it's crucial to work together to define the problem when venturing into new product innovation. One approach follows the effectuation method, prioritizing utilizing existing resources instead of getting fixated on predetermined goals. This aligns with the "Bird in Hand" concept, highlighting the significance of leveraging current resources, knowledge, and connections. Rather than mindlessly following trends, we strive to identify potential trends that complement our existing resources. We aim to have the right tools and seize the market early to stay ahead of excessive competition. It can be achieved by recognizing our strengths and comprehending what and who we know. Ultimately, It's about leveraging strengths and resources.

I love the quote by Ash Maurya: "The question is not can we build it, the question is should we build it." Be clear on your customer segment Be clear on the problem you're trying to solve Once you can answer the above questions, it's good practice to capture all of your assumptions about the customer and problems. Such as that your customers also see the problem that you see. Your customers are willing to pay to have this problem solved. Your customers have the ability to pay for your product. There are many more, but essentially, once you understand your assumptions, you can go on and turn these into testable hypotheses by running interviews or using other tools to help you find the answers.

Innovation is more about finding a solution than understanding the problem, especially in "market pull" markets. Even in "technology push" the problem statement can only be the starter to design the solution.

To ensure everyone's input in a new product innovation, define the problem clearly, encourage diverse perspectives, and conduct structured discussions. Utilize active listening, feedback mechanisms, and documentation to capture insights comprehensively. This inclusive approach fosters collaboration and leads to innovative solutions that address stakeholders' needs effectively.

In most cases diversify your team. Bring together individuals with varied backgrounds, expertise, and perspectives. Embrace diversity in gender, ethnicity, age, and experience to foster creativity and ensure a broad range of insights are considered during problem definition.

When moving from individual to team creativity, it's important to carefully think about who's on the team and how they work together. Groups with diverse backgrounds and experiences come up with more innovative ideas than teams where everyone is similar. However, having a diverse team can also bring challenges like people feeling self-conscious or facing pressure to conform. To tackle these challenges, teams must communicate well, build trust, and collaborate effectively. One way to overcome self-consciousness is for team members to brainstorm ideas independently before sharing them with the group. Also, starting brainstorming sessions individually before coming together as a group can minimize external pressure and encourage creativity.

very true, but indeed this needs to include roles and responsibilities. Project leaders are nominated (after appropriate training) and team member assigned to serve project objectives

Actively encourage ideation. Create a supportive environment where team members feel empowered to share their ideas freely. Implement brainstorming sessions, idea generation workshops, and open forums to stimulate creativity and capture a diverse range of perspectives and solutions.

To effectively facilitate cross-functional workshops for ideation, I've found it crucial to clearly define the problem statement beforehand. This ensures a focused discussion and efficient ideation process, as everyone involved has a shared understanding of the challenge we're trying to address.

It helps to get an understanding of the type of innovation wanted. Depending on that tools are available to either stimulate "compositional" or "improvisational" creativity.

A structured approach ensures everyone's voice is heard when working on a new product innovation. Start with individual brainstorming, dedicating the first third of the meeting to each member jotting down ideas. Then, move to small group discussions for refining concepts collaboratively. Next, reconvene as a larger group to share ideas, encouraging cross-pollination and diverse feedback. Introduce brainwriting to facilitate idea exchange and, after sharing, engage in open discussion to explore ideas, clarify questions, and identify synergies. Record any unaddressed thoughts in a "parking lot" for future consideration. Lastly, empower them to advocate for their ideas, promoting a culture of confidence and assertiveness.

In a past product innovation project, I implemented various strategies to ensure everyone's voice was heard. Firstly, I organized brainstorming sessions where team members from different departments, including marketing, engineering, and customer support, were encouraged to share their ideas and concerns. Additionally, I set up regular cross-functional meetings to provide updates on the project's progress and gather feedback from all stakeholders. I also utilized digital collaboration tools to allow team members to contribute their thoughts and ideas asynchronously. Furthermore, I conducted one-on-one meetings with team members who were more reserved in group settings to ensure their perspectives were captured.

To ensure all voices are heard in the product innovation, validate assumptions rigorously. Conduct market research, user interviews, and prototype testing to gather feedback and insights from diverse perspectives. By validating assumptions, you ensure that the product addresses real user needs and concerns, incorporating input from all stakeholders.

On a regular basis prioritize effective communication. Establish clear channels for sharing ideas, feedback, and updates among team members and stakeholders. Foster open dialogue, active listening, and transparency to ensure that everyone's perspectives and insights are considered throughout the innovation process.

Discuss how you intend to work with each other (cadence/how decisions will be made etc.), document it and get each function to sign off on it so there is complete alignment. The more time you spend getting to know your cross-functional peers as people first and then innovators, the less likely they'll be to misunderstand you throughout the course of your project because there will inherently be points of contention, discussion and debate.

Implement an open forum for team members to regularly share ideas, concerns, and feedback, ensuring every voice is recognized and valued. Foster a culture of appreciation by publicly acknowledging contributions, both big and small, to celebrate progress and milestones. Leverage collaborative tools and platforms that allow for transparent, real-time communication and idea-sharing across all levels of the organization. Organize regular team-building and brainstorming sessions focused on reflecting on successes, learning from setbacks, and empowering everyone to contribute to future innovations.

Finally Follow Up &take Action Follow up on ideas and feedback provided by team members and take action to incorporate them into the innovation process where appropriate. Communicate how their contributions are being implemented and recognize their impact on the final product.

In order to make sure that everyone has a say in product innovation, it's important to avoid these mistakes: - Avoid dismissing ideas too quickly. Give everyone's suggestions time to be fully explored and discussed before deciding on validity. - Avoid implicit biases that could cause you to tune out or discount input from certain team members. - Don't just listen to the loudest voices. Make sure to actively solicit a diversity of perspectives and feedback. - Don't limit discussions to formal meetings. Have open channels for team members to share ideas outside of rigid structures.

While you might want to make sure everyone's voice is heard, be sure that you don't try to design something that has everything that was requested. You must focus only on the concepts that the majority are asking for. Otherwise, you will build something for an audience of one or a few. Many companies fall into this trap, thinking they are addressing problems their users have. The irony is that unless the majority of your customers want a feature, you're really just adding clutter.

Consider a combination of open forums for group feedback, encouraging dialogue and transparency, as well as one-on-one conversations for trust-building and deeper insights gathering. When working on a new product innovation it's important to gather feedback in different ways to ensure inclusivity. Since we all have varying communication styles, you'll do best to meet people where they are by presenting opportunities for feedback that are varied and frequent.

Build a prototype and role it out for use to a selected set of audience. Collect feedback from the actual user of the product and improve upon the product features before a fully functional product is build.