How to achieve lightning fast innovation

From time to time, I like to write about my experiences (as inspired by some amazing founders out there!). In this article, I am covering a short list of things that you/your company can do to make decisions more quickly, how to find your customer's pain points, and how to make their lives easier. Read on!

Don't be scared to re-evaluate past design choices in every area and aspect of the business.

As times change, technology improves and people's thinking and mindset evolves, designs can become outdated. It is important to document design choices and all the considerations that went into them so you have something to look back at later and make incremental or wholesale improvements. We document all design decisions across all parts of the company in RFCs (Request For Comment). What started as a software process was adopted across the organization.

The customer might know what they want, but not how it should be accomplished.

Innovation is required, and once a customer is exposed to new technology, it may change how they think about it. To quote Henry Ford: "If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses" <- but what they really wanted is faster, more comfortable rides any time of day or night. This also leads to the fact that when we do user feedback studies, we should ask them about the outcomes they want. 

Think about every interaction with your product - is it necessary? Can it be avoided? Can it be automated?

Sometimes the answer might be it is possible but it is too difficult. These are still worth pursuing and digging deeper into. "If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." - Einstein

When the user has the ability to choose from multiple options, always make the default option the one with the highest take rate or the option that you want to guide your users towards.

For example, based on data collected from the vehicle, if you know that users generally engage the electric park brake after going into Park, then it should be the default automatic behavior.

Reduce the overall number of decisions that a customer has to take. Customers have limited time and mental capacity to evaluate and choose different options. They are busy and have a lot on their minds. They expect the manufacturer of any product to have data about how their products are typically being used and remove/reduce any unused features. In short, they expect the company to do the heavy lifting and deep thinking.

For example, a company called Away makes suitcases. They have a very limited line of suitcases - small, medium, and large and they all come with standard features that everyone wants - but no more. You can choose different colors, but that is about it. As a consumer, it really helps to not have to evaluate a hundred different features and choose a suitcase based on that.

Have your team set no more than 3 goals per year, quarter, month, week and day.

This helps force prioritization and deep thinking on what is actually important. Goals (i.e. Objectives) should be accompanied with Evaluation Metrics (Key Results) that are quantifiable and measurable. Key Results should not be confused with activities required to make the objective a success. Key results should be very specific and measurable. 

Analysis Paralysis - decision making should be quick. Lack of a decision is the most frustrating thing, and it reduces team morale and is generally very discouraging. 

Decision making should be based on the impact of the decision and how long it would take to choose a different path. In general, it is better to make a decision (whether right or wrong) than to not make a decision at all. If a wrong decision is made, the team can quickly learn what they did incorrectly and correct course. 

If the decision can be reversed in a day, then no more than an hour of combined team time should be used. If the decision can be reversed in a week, then no more than half a day of combined team time should be used.

Generally speaking, making the decision should not take more than 10% of the time required to change direction if the wrong path was chosen..

Team members should not have to wait for long chains of approval to get their daily work done.

Effort should be taken to reduce the number of approvals required, and the process for approval should be heavily scrutinized and optimized. If a team member's feedback is not being heard, he or she should feel free to go up the management chain to voice concerns. They should not be penalized for doing this but rather rewarded for being proactive and caring about the company. 

Create a safe environment to fail

Innovation will require multiple attempts and different approaches. Even at the end, the outcome may not be successful but that is okay. The learnings from the research will apply to other areas and might become useful at a later time in the future. Win big or learn big.