Recently in Innovation Category

I had a boss once who was constantly telling me to "think outside the box" and to "push the envelope." It made me want to scream. Seriously.

I'm not doubting the importance of innovation. Indeed, it's the best way to for companies to break out of a slump. But there's something about the subject that makes people talk in a constant stream of mind-numbing and hazy clichés.

So it was with slight trepidation that we started in on the October issue of PM Network®, completely devoted to innovation.

What we found, though, is a lot of companies--and project managers working at those companies--with solid examples of projects and processes that are truly cutting-edge.

In our Case by Case section, we take a deep dive into four projects to show how innovation can take many forms. Sure, IBM's 3-D avatars were the kind of super cool, whiz-bang technology that screams innovation.  But the team also backed it up with truly innovative processes.

Let's face it, some people think all of the processes that go along with project management just get in the way of innovation. But it can actually facilitate it.

"The crux of the issue is how do you right-size project management without squashing the innovative process. It's a delicate balance that exists between the two extremes," says Andy Bowen, who's working on a submarine project and was featured in the magazine's The End Result column.

And in our Voices on Project Management PM Network column, David Gardner from Facebook talks about the need to for clear communications and sophisticated scheduling. But he also acknowledges the need to have a little fun--even as you roll out a bleeding-edge technology.

Tell us what you think.

In the book Thinkertoys, author Michael Michalko says: "To get original ideas, you need to be able to look at the same information everyone else does and organize it into a new and different pattern. This is active thinking."

What can a project manager do when he or she needs to generate new problem-solving--or any really--ideas? Try SCAMPER, which Mr. Michalko calls "a checklist of idea-spurring questions":

•    Substitute some part, activity, or operation.
•    Combine the product/process/service with something else.
•    Adapt something to it.
•    Modify or Magnify it.
•    Put in to some other use.
•    Eliminate something.
•    Reverse or Rearrange it.

Consider a meeting I had with customers who posed the challenge: "How can we improve the existing document release process?" First, we went through and identified all of the sub-processes (request change, review request, create/modify document, verify/validate document, upload document to asset library and publish document.)

Using the "create/modify document" sub-process as an example, let's use SCAMPER to ask the following:

•    What activities can we substitute within the existing sub-process?
•    How can we combine "create/modify document" with some other sub-process to improve efficiency and accuracy?
•    What can we adapt or reuse from another "create/modify document" sub-process used by other business units?
•    How can we modify the way "create/modify document" sub-process is conducted?
•    What can we magnify or add to the "create/modify document" sub-process?
•    How can we put "create/modify document" process to other uses?
•    What can we eliminate from the way we "create/modify document?"
•    What is the reverse of "create/modify document" sub-process?

With more ideas generated, a project manager has more options to explore. That is why I am always looking for tools. How do you generate your ideas?

Even in these tough economic times, it's important to remember that organizations can still improve. Not everything has to be about cutbacks and budgets. (I mean, some things do, but not everything.)
    I came across this great whitepaper by @task called Driving High-Performance Projects Despite Shrinking Budgets: Three Keys to Increasing Productivity and Reducing Costs Across the Enterprise. It seems to sum things up pretty well:
    "There are many corporations getting ready for hibernation. They've already resigned themselves to crawl into a cave and wait things out. Organizations may need to reevaluate the way they do business in today's market, but there's no need to hide and let potential profits evaporate like the snow in spring. ... Project managers challenged by shrinking budgets can still drive high-performance projects."
    The whitepaper gives three keys for increasing productivity and reducing costs across the organization:

1. Make sure your organization has access to accurate information.
2. Focus on bottom-line activities.
3. Make the organization's vision accessible to everyone.
   
What do you think? Is your organization hibernating or rising to the challenge?

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is putting IT and technology on the national stage--literally. He relied heavily on the use of the Internet and social media tools like Facebook, Flickr and text messaging throughout his campaign.
    And now he plans to appoint the country's first chief technology officer (CTO), a cabinet-level position aimed squarely at bringing technology in the public sector up to par with private industries.
    There is a lot of speculation centered on who will fill the trailblazing position. Names supposedly on the shortlist Shane Robinson of HP and Edward Felten of Princeton University.
    Never has a U.S. president recognized the importance of IT and technological innovation like Obama. And this is sure to be good for industry projects down the road. In fact, two of Obama's three technology pillars on his website indicate increased project activity.

1. Barack Obama will protect the openness of the Internet:
Obama and [Vice President-elect Joe] Biden strongly support the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet.
2. Deploy a modern communications infrastructure:
Obama and Biden believe we can get true broadband to every community in America.
3. Improve America's competitiveness:
Obama and Biden will ensure our goods and services are treated fairly in foreign markets, invest in the sciences, and will provide new research grants to the most outstanding early career researchers in the country.

Well, it's official, as of Monday the United States is in a recession. That's following the announcement earlier this month that many European countries had entered a recession. Two of Europe's biggest economies--Germany and Italy--fell by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2008, after a 0.4 percent drop in the second.
    And the numbers only get worse from there. Here is just a taste of more bad economic news, from CNNMoney.com:

• The Institute for Supply Management said its November (U.S.) manufacturing index fell to a 26-year low of 36.2 from 38.9 in October. That was worse than what economists were expecting, according to a survey from briefing.com.
•  October U.S. construction spending fell 1.2% versus a flat reading in the previous month. Economists thought spending would drop 1%.

    And all of this is clearly taking its toll on projects--even in once booming markets like Dubai, United Arab Emirates. On Monday, construction and engineering giant Murray & Roberts (M&R) said its Trump Towers project in Dubai would be suspended by the developer, Nakheel, until the global economic system stabilized.
    Is there anything that can slow this downward spiral? Public works projects maybe? That is the path many countries are starting to go down as the situation grows worse.
    The European Union called for member countries to spend $258 billion to spur growth. Britain and Spain are leading the way with plans ranging from $14 billion and $30 billion already announced, according to washingtonpost.com.
    And it doesn't stop there. China is increasing its nuclear power plant projects and said it would spend 4 trillion yuan renminbi on an economic stimulus package that includes projects to address low-income housing, sustainability, technological innovation and post-disaster rebuilding, among other things.
    Over in Italy, the first-ever bridge linking the country to Sicily is now expected to get the green light. And South Africa is planning on increasing its public spending programs over the next 5 years to reduce poverty and cut unemployment, which currently sits at about 23%.
    The influx in these types of project may be a good thing for the economy, infrastructure, social responsibility ... the list goes on. But what are the implications for project management and project managers? What does it take to succeed on public works projects? Can anyone do it? Is this a career option for project managers who may be facing cuts in struggling industries?

There are a lot of great projects going on in the world. Many of them are doing good for the world one deliverable at time while meeting the strategic needs of the organization. There's one in particular I want to highlight, because honestly, I just thought it was cool. I'm going to call it the "accident waiting to happen" project--and I mean that in a good way.
    European researchers are working together to build an automotive system that takes information from several sources to predict hazardous situations on roads--or accidents waiting to happen. Sounds like an expensive venture, right? The project team, however, is using low-cost technology, some of which already exists, to build the entire system. Andrea Migliavacca, the project's coordinator, told ScienceDaily.com:
    "We did not try to reinvent the wheel. It there was another European project working on a system we could use, we took that."
    These types of projects--ones that improve everyday life--are my favorite to learn about. We write a lot about them in PM Network--some people say too much. But I just think these types of project highlight the importance of the profession. Because without it, ventures like these would not be possible--or at least not very successful.

The growing global financial crisis is having a negative effect on a lot of things. Stock markets. Unemployment rates. Banks.
    And now, IT budgets and projects.
    According to an October survey by CIO magazine, 40 percent of CIOs around the world plan to cut their budgets from last year. The survey of 243 technology leaders also revealed that 72 percent have postponed or are planning to postpone discretionary IT projects.
    And it gets worse. Twenty-three percent of those surveyed had already let go of employees, while another 11 percent planned to do so in the future.
    A scary thought for an industry whose reputation (warranted or not) for delivering projects on time and on budget has never really been stellar. In fact, I found an August 2007 survey by Dynamic Markets Ltd. that said 63 percent of IT projects failed. And during my regular reading of project management materials over the last few days I came across four separate stories about specific IT project that were either in trouble (over budget, falling way off schedule, etc.) or had failed altogether.
    The worst of those stories was about the U.K. National Health Service's "Connecting for Health" project. The £12 billion (yes, billion) project is four years late and racking up a lot of criticism. From the nation's Daily Telegraph:
     "The Government's IT programmes fail on cost, reliability and security grounds because Whitehall ignores the best practice in the private sector when designing systems."
    So while I can see the reason behind these cutbacks and freezes, I can only imagine at what cost they will come to the industry as a whole. Will quality really endure if money and people don't as well?
    This sounds bad, right? But, there is a silver lining: Innovation. PMI president and CEO Gregory Balestrero discussed the importance of "innovating our way out" of these tough times. And it seems as if the IT industry is trying.
    Bill Synder, an ex-contributor to PCWorld.com who covered tech stocks for TheStreet.com, says conversations with heads of technology powerhouses like Sun Microsystems and IBM are putting a postive spin (albeit a small one) on the present situation--and they are doing it with innovation.
    Initiatives like cloud computing that aren't afraid to break new ground are attracting major dollars.
    "Major firms are already planning a $1 bullion and $2 billion cloud initiatives...," Mr. Synder says.
   

Increased innovation keeps popping up in discussions on the intangible benefits uncovered in the preliminary results of PMI's Researching the Value of Project Management study.

It's a topic that's covered often in PM Network--just check out "A Closer Look: Film Riot" from January 2008 or "The Big Payoff" from the February 2008 issue. And it's a topic that the business world at large is paying attention to. CIOs--that's chief innovation officers--are more and more becoming a part of the team. Citi, The Chicago Tribune, Humana, YMCA of the USA and Innovolt have all brought them to the table.

Innovation and project management go hand-in-hand when it comes to driving the overall strategy of an organization. Project professionals have a big role in this--they will be the ones developing, organizing and executing these innovative new projects. Just look at Apple's iPhone or Masdar City--a $22 billion portfolio of mega-projects aimed at building the world's greenest city in Abu Dhabi. There's no telling what project leaders will come up with next.