The biggest shift we’re seeing in the digital landscape is people’s increasing reliance on video conferencing. Like most innovation labs, we’re accustomed to collaborating together in the same space as we run our clients through discovery workshops and design sprints. But over the years, as we’ve expanded our client base from regional to national, we’ve also adopted remote processes to better collaborate with clients across the country. While the pandemic has forced many businesses to adjust their business models overnight, we’ve been able to make a seamless transition to being fully remote thanks to the tools and processes we’ve set up and fine-tuned over the years.

Coronavirus: How COVID-19 is changing the way we work

One of the most common questions our clients ask us is How can I smoothly transition my team to remote work? Aside from the standard responses provided by HR teams across the country, we asked our teams of designers and developers how they make remote work a success. Here are a few tips they’ve offered.

Don’t waste this time

Five ways to engage your team during quarantine

1. Invest in your people

These days, it’s easy for some of your team to feel sluggish and unmotivated. We’re going through a crisis after all. But as a leader, now is the time to encourage your team to learn new things. Due to our current state, many conferences and online learning platforms that were once very costly are now open to the public for discounted prices, or even at no charge. 

For example, our product team attended the free TSW Live, and our design team has been hard at work refining their skills by participating in Remote Design Week. They also plan on attending the Adobe 99U Conference in June. Check out conferences in your industry and see what’s out there. Linkedin Learning is now offering a full month free. If you’ve been putting off sending your team to a specific training, see if there is a remote offering. These small investments in your team members can help them feel valued.

To further stretch your teams’ skills and thinking, you can also suggest reading a book together. Each of our teams reads books that will help them think outside the box. Currently, our product team has been reading Nir Eyal’s Indistractible.

2. Video matters

One of the unofficial rules we set for ourselves from the get-go was to use our webcams whenever possible. We find that the ability to see our faces during stand-ups, meetings, and general team check-ins makes a huge impact. It makes the connection more personal, keeps everyone engaged, and helps team members virtually read the room. And let’s face it – it’s just nice to be able to see everyone you are talking with.

3. Intentional time to unwind

It may seem counterintuitive, but to keep productivity high, we have intentionally created downtime to connect and decompress.

One way we do this is through our new #mindfulness channel on Slack. Once or twice a week, we set aside 20 minutes to practice meditation breathing exercises and stretches that are created specifically to help each of us relax and connect. 

If you’re more of a Ron Swanson type, and not really into mindfulness, you could also join our team for biweekly “Lunch and Board Games” where the team can get their competitive juices flowing. Some good ol’ tomfoolery might be just what your team needs during this time.

4. Trust your team to control their hours

Whether some of your team members are struggling with loneliness, others may be juggling kids, spouses, dogs, or neighbors. One of the best things you can do during this time is to provide flexibility. 

Here at DS, we have a six-hour window where we ask everyone to work. This window of time is 10 am to 4 pm. During this time, we schedule necessary meetings and know that others will respond to our Slack messages as soon as they can. 

As for me, I am simultaneously working and running a daycare, albeit a very bad one, with my three children who are five years old and younger. The ability to start working around 7 am and end my work day at 4 pm (when they inevitably become stir-crazy animals that need to be released into the wild) has made my life manageable in an otherwise crazy situation. The same goes for those who may be struggling in other ways. Their social hours may be used for talking or gaming with friends during the late-night hours, but they have freedom in knowing they can sleep in until 9:55…when they can immediately jump out of bed and get right to work.

The point is that our flexibility at DS, which has been around long before this crisis hit, allows for people to choose the best hours that work for them.

5. Invest in your team’s next steps

One of the biggest mistakes that leaders can make during this time is to stop innovating and planning for your future. Yes, the world seems to be frozen in time, but trust us when we say your competitors are not standing in place. Due to the economic reality, planning for your company’s future is more important than ever. This is a great time to get out of your rut, and get your idea created and tested with a remote Design Sprint.

So, what is a Design Sprint?

Developed by Google Ventures, a Design Sprint is an intensive four- to five-day process that aligns your team around big challenges to create a new product or improve existing ones. This hands-on experience ends with the testing and validation of your concept with real users.
From there, we will help take your validated idea to market. Fast.

Want to learn more? Contact us today and let’s begin the conversation.

The post What’s happening at DS? appeared first on Digital Scientists.

We are proud to announce that Digital Scientists was just named to the Clutch 1000, a list of the top thousand B2B service firm on their platform. According to Clutch, “‘The accolade is reserved for companies that show a superior commitment to their clients.”  

Some of the specific categories on Clutch where we have been featured as a leader include mobile app development and IoT consulting. In addition to being featured as a top IoT developer (#31 of 100), our CEO, Bob Klein, also provided his expert analysis for Clutch research on the topic. You can read our blog post on the topic here.  We are committed to leveraging the latest frameworks, tools and technologies to improve the human experience.

We currently hold an impressive 4.8-star average on our client reviews. Check out an excerpt from one of a recent project for an airport parking app:

“Digital Scientists effectively implemented solutions that significantly improved our previous app. We’ve seen an increase in customer activity, downloads, and satisfaction overall. We’ve been very impressed with our project manager.

Their team is very proactive about taking thorough notes and documenting their work, checking in with us regularly.”

Clutch is the leader in mobile app development research and reviews. Their research can be found across the web on other leading platforms including The Manifest and Visual Objects. Our team is waiting to hear from you if you want to learn more about our award-winning services.

The post Digital Scientists achieves Global Leader Award appeared first on Digital Scientists.

Check out the graphic below showcasing 4 top security challenges for IoT and tips for resolving them.

The post Top security challenges for IoT appeared first on Digital Scientists.

Listen to the replay of the Innovation Leader Master Innovation + Technical Research Class, Collaboration and Partnerships with Outside Teams with Bob Klein that aired Thursday, November 15th.

Bob Klein, CEO & founder of Digital Scientists, explains how best to partner with outside teams and why they can become a vital part of your product development team. This Master Class explores partnerships with internal teams beyond the innovation department, working with other companies that specialize in specific services (e.g. hardware development or electrical engineering firms), or partnering with other companies on R&D efforts. Bob also explains how to facilitate a successful transfer and ensure longer relationships, as well as leveraging outside partners to accelerate speed to market while building your own team.

Why collaborate & partner with outside teams?

For organizations, surviving in the face of change requires their leaders to do two critical but contradictory things:

• Exploit existing assets and capabilities through continual incremental innovation and change 
• Explore new markets and technologies where their existing assets and capabilities can give them competitive advantage over new entrants

Free download
Collaboration & Partnerships with Outside Teams

This Master Class was open to both members of the Innovation Leader community and non-members.

Collaborator:

The post Master class: collaboration and partnerships with outside teams appeared first on Digital Scientists.

Digital Scientists CEO, Bob Klein, recently provided insight for new research report about how people use IoT devices published by Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews firm based in Washington, D.C.

Digital Scientists is currently ranked among the top Internet of Things developers.

Smart home appliances are how most consumers experience IoT technology.

People own and use smart home appliances the most among IoT devices, according to Clutch’s survey of over 500 people who own an IoT device. The survey found that two-thirds of people (67%) own a smart home appliance.

Despite the number of people who own an IoT device, most don’t depend on their devices to live their everyday lives.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) say they don’t need their devices to accomplish their daily activities.

For Klein, this indicates that consumers generally find that connected devices are useful, but not life-altering, especially compared to smartphones.

If you left your phone at home and drove off to work, how many people are going to go back and get it? And how will not having it impact their day?

More devices will include IoT technology in the future.

The report’s findings about consumers future IoT investment plans are concerning for brands and IoT developers, at least on the surface. Over half of people don’t plan to invest in a connected device over the next 12 months.

The choice in whether people own a connected device, however, may not actually be up to them, Klein posits in the report.

Many modern devices, particularly smart home appliances, come equipped with connected functionalities.

Connected functionality is going to be built into everything. It may be more of an issue of ‘How do I turn it off?’

Modern televisions, for example, are often equipped with connected functionalities – for example, the ability to sync with Netflix, Hulu, or HBO accounts through applications that can be accessed using a remote or voice command system.

For these devices, the actual concerns IoT companies may have is people adjusting their devices so that they can’t be connected.

In all likelihood, though, people will not intentionally disconnect these functionalities from their devices – they’ll use the connected functions if devices come equipped with them, the same way they currently fail to connect their IoT devices.

People still do not download the same applications on multiple connected devices: less than 10% connect IoT devices through applications, the survey found.

To create an ecosystem of connected devices (an “internet of things”) that people can use to control aspects of their lives, it’s often necessary to download applications to actually connect their devices.

The focus for IoT developers and companies, then, should be to convince people to connect devices to each other.

The more people use their devices, the more benefits they can receive from using connected devices, particularly smart home appliances.

For example, people can earn energy and cost savings from syncing IoT devices with each other.

Find verified reviews for Digital Scientists from former clients on Clutch and The Manifest.

Guest blog by Grayson Kemper, Senior Content Developer and Marketer at Clutch.

The post Digital Scientists CEO shares insights for new research about consumer IoT adoption. appeared first on Digital Scientists.

Stranger Things definitely happened at this year’s Halloween mixer!

Did you join us in the Upside Down as we celebrated all things IoT? Special thanks to the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and Tech Alpharetta for their participation.

In case you missed it, here’s a quick pictorial recap:

While a great time was had by all, we did highlight a few key learnings we’ve discovered from working on IoT products:

IoT development requires you to work with “stranger things” than in traditional software development:

• Raspberry Pi
• Bluetooth connectivity
• Battery life

There are many things to keep in mind with IoT:

• Hardware? You may need to work with hardware (and also electrical, engineering, etc) companies for IoT.
• Wifi may not work outside – how do you stay connected?
• The overall process can seem foreboding – how do you manage all aspects – development, testing, maintenance, updates, multiple partners

But in the end, after “controlling the stranger things,” it will really just become the internet.

See the entire Internet of Stranger Things presentation.

Interested in IoT?

Our team loves to create cool, connected IoT solutions and we’ve been doing so since 2013 when we built a beacon-based, mobile shopping rewards and loyalty program to help local stores attract and reward their repeat shoppers. We are design led, customer experience focused and we love it when we have the opportunity to connect software to physical devices to create a better user experience…and it’s just cool.

Want more information about the challenges of IoT?
Here you go:

How is developing an Internet of Things product different?

How to use voice technology now

An IoT smart padlock – BoxLock, Inc. 

A case story about a voice activated inventory management system

The post Internet of Stranger Things: Halloween mixer appeared first on Digital Scientists.

User research in its most basic definition is the process of understanding user behavior, needs, and motivations. 

User research places people (the end-user) at the center of the design process and your products. User research inspires your design and evaluates solutions. This is important for a few reasons. First, the team (everyone required in making the product: client, stakeholders, vendors, partners, etc) needs to be aligned on a clearly defined goal. Second, the team should define what success will look like and how it will be measured. Third, the team would be wise to validate existing assumptions about the problem and the users. For some reason, this last one always seems to be the trickiest for teams to put into practice, even though it is no less critical to the success of the product. Far too often, teams create products as if they were the user. 

TIP: If you want to be on the lookout for this behavior in your organization or team, it sounds like this: “I have a problem and I would solve it in this way. Let’s build a product that represents my solution and sell it to others with the same problem.”

This line of thinking isn’t necessarily wrong. It is absolutely limiting. You are not the user. And the biggest problem with thinking you are is that it introduces bias. To create the best product you need the best solution. Which means you’ll have to understand all the people who experience the problem you want to solve and be open to the solution being different (and often greater) than you imagined.

There are different methods and techniques teams use to discover user behavior, needs, and motivations. Which of these methods your team employees will largely depend on what you are trying to accomplish, what you have available, and where you are in the process. User research is a part of a cycle. It should never be one-and-done, and in theory it could go on forever, continuing to inform improvements to products already on the market. The cycle looks like this:

Research > Design > Build > Test

With testing being its own form of research that starts the cycle over again. 

Let’s bring this cycle to life with a recent case study from our design team here at Digital Scientists. We believe in working together with our clients to hypothesize, experiment, and analyze with the end goal of creating simplicity for our users.

We worked with our client to define the following:

• What is the problem to be solved? (opportunity)
• Who are the people affected by the problem? (users)
• What type of product should we build to solve the problem? (goal)

We began with a deep dive of the landscape this product would enter. We identified current products in the existing and adjacent landscapes and conducted a competitive analysis. This helped us identify patterns and gaps in what was currently being offered. 

Based on those findings, our team began iterating, designing, and refining several concept solutions for our client. Eventually we landed on three strong concepts that independently satisfied the goal we set out to achieve. Where the three concepts differed was how the users would approach decision making on their path to a specific end result.

• Would they prefer a product that provided the fastest path to the end result?
• Or a product that offered many options to determine the best path to the end result?
• Or perhaps a product that was somewhere in between?

We were missing key information about what motivates our users in their decision making processes. Therefore we were unable to determine which of these three concepts was the right solution. The only way to determine which concept provided the right solution was to run a test. 

We created a clickable prototype for each concept so we could run a concept test with live users and gather feedback to inform what the right solution was. We reached out to our network with a screening survey to find people who fit the profile of our users. We identified ten people and offered them an incentive to come into our office and test our three prototypes. We used an online service called Lookback to record the sessions so we could watch them again and share them internally and with our client. Video evidence is a powerful tool to deliver insights and hearing from the test users helps clients make decisions with more security. 

During the tests, we worked from a script containing necessary contextual information, a set of tasks for each concept prototype, and questions to investigate the behavior and approach around those tasks. We also added some deeper debriefing questions to really get to the core of what motivated these test users’ decisions on the path toward that defined end goal. Having a good script with the right questions is an integral part of the process. Poorly framed or leading questions return answers that limit and bias the research process and could ultimately lead to outcomes that don’t represent the user accurately.

After all the interviews had been conducted, it was time to sort through the data. We believe It is important to re-watch user interviews even if we conducted interviews in person. Watching things a second time and taking a second set of notes can help identify new things that might have been missed the first time. We jotted down interesting things, comments, questions, stated assumptions, etc. on Post-it Notes. Next, we dove into an affinitizing exercise looking for patterns and themes. This process turned our close to 150 Post-it Notes into four high level feedback themes and a clear concept winner. This type of exercise insures that all the feedback informs the recommendations and insights that follow.

To present these findings back to our client we created a highlight reel of all the interesting and positive things test users had said about the product. Then we announced the winning concept. Since we came away with plenty of other insights related to the four high level feedback themes, we created a deck of recommendations to address each of those themes. We were prepared to not only choose a concept for moving  forward, but also provide insights on ways to continually enhance the concept for an even better product.

We achieved our goal. We discovered that the right solution was the concept that offered many options to determine the best path to the end result. In the process, we learned why that was the right solution. It turns out that comparing options when making a decision was directly tied to the user’s level of confidence in their decision as they pursue that end result. This was a massive insight for both our design team and our client that we wouldn’t have known had we not run a test. 

INSIGHT: This debunked a key stakeholder assumption that users were going to prefer a product that provided the fastest path to the end result. The assumption might have been rooted in logic, but it was still an assumption. The concept test proved otherwise. 

Design is an iterative process. The insights informed almost an entirely new design for the product. We started out with the winner from the concept test then consolidated it with client approved recommendations from the high level feedback patterns. Additionally, we created features inside the product to accommodate the insight about users having a higher level of confidence in their decision after comparing options. Everyone was pleased with the new product design. What do we do next? We are now ready to build a functional prototype and conduct a usability test to validate the MVP design. 

This process left us wondering:

• What would have happened if we’d never asked the question that led to the concept test?
• What would have happened if we’d asked the question sooner?
• How might the product be affected in either case? 

We don’t have to live in a world of “what ifs” when we can use research to discover and validate user behavior, needs, and motivations. What we can do is continue to learn and improve just as the cycle suggests. If you or your team find yourselves facing “what ifs” on the road to creating a great product, know that the best next step is to test it. You’ll pass with flying colors. 

Want to learn more about how we approach to research at Digital Scientists? Or work with us to leverage insights on your product? Check this out.

The post The vital role of research in product design appeared first on Digital Scientists.

It also presents a huge opportunity for businesses in nearly every industry. InterQuest Group projects the global IoT market will top $660 billion by 2021. Companies would be wise to explore IoT as a means to reinvent their existing products, create new categories, and enter new markets. 

Recently at Digital Scientists, we’ve had the opportunity to be involved in several IoT projects.

The tad Smart Mobile Medication Dispenser from Intent Solutions not only dispenses medications as prescribed but is also helping to create better healthcare outcomes.

The BoxLock smart padlock addresses the growing problem of “porch pirates” stealing e-commerce deliveries and it can only be unlocked by the homeowner and the delivery driver.

Both products use internet connectivity and smart technology to solve specific user problems. But it’s not as simple as just adding some software to a physical product. Creating an IoT product is a complicated, expensive process, so it’s important for companies embarking on a project to know what they’re getting themselves into.

As a team of designers & developers, we’re always excited when we get to play with an actual, physical product. While we do a good bit of our work through our computer screens, we do take the time to get out and talk to people to ensure the end product is a useful and thoughtful experience. And, let’s be honest, working and playing with new technology brings out the kid in all of us.

And if we learn a thing or two in the process, that’s a nice bonus. Below are some of the key learnings we’ve taken from the development of these and other products, and that apply to just about every IoT project.

It’s a team effort

When we’re leading the development of a digital product, we can essentially own the entire process. It’s all software, so aside from working with our clients, there is little need to involve a third party.

But with an IoT product, everything changes. There are three or four main aspects of the product — the physical/mechanical workings, the physical design, the firmware, and the software. This doesn’t even include the manufacturing, IP, marketing and other crucial functions.

On the BoxLock project, we were one of four distinct teams, all working on the project nearly simultaneously. This presented a huge challenge in communication and coordination of timelines.

This means orchestrating the work and timelines of multiple groups: software developers and UX designers like us, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, industrial designers, to name a few. On top of those, you have timelines associated with manufacturing, legal, and even marketing (if the product has a specific launch date).

That means that all teams have to be willing to bend their processes and collaborate to deliver the product on time.

This is a difficult process, not only for coordinating timelines, but also for managing the inevitable problems that plague the development of any product. All of the different systems are interdependent, so it’s crucial that the various teams communicate effectively, and that the project timeline (and budget) is flexible enough to accommodate issues and changes.

Understand the customer and use case

Understanding the user, and the problem you’re trying to solve for them, is important in creating a digital product. It’s even more important in developing an IoT product.

This is where prototyping becomes an important part of the process. In the case of tad, Intent Solutions developed an initial prototype that was shared with pharmacists, physicians, and other potential customers. This allowed them to receive critical feedback, and make any necessary adjustments, before going into full production.

While prototyping is an important part of the product development process, there remains a certain permanence to creating a physical product out of plastic or metal. While software is built on an iterative process, with updates being a normal part of the process, you can’t do that with a physical product.

Firmware updates are possible, but once the product is out in the market, there’s no going back.

That’s why it’s so important to understand the user, who they are, how they’ll use the product, where they’ll use it, and much, much more. You have to be sure the product will truly add value for the user.

Not only how they’ll use it now, but also how they’ll use it in the future.

Plan ahead

Things change. Use cases for IoT products that may not exist now may become important in a year’s time. Rather than creating a new version of the product, requiring customers to buy new devices (which they may not want to do), companies should try to anticipate those future needs, and build the device accordingly

The device needs to be built with that future use in mind. That typically means including hardware to allow future functionality. 

During the development of BoxLock, the development teams and the client discussed several functions and features to be included in future versions of the product. As much as possible, we had to build in provisions for those features so they could be added later, without obsoleting the product.

There’s only so much you can anticipate, of course, but when companies plan for the first three versions of their product, it’s easier to add the new functions and features customers want without having to inconvenience them to buy a new device.

The best way to accomplish that is through a prototyping process that includes testing the device with real users. As with software, observing actual use scenarios, and obtaining feedback from users, is invaluable in perfecting the product.

Today, only about a quarter of all homes have a smart speaker, such as an Amazon Echo. Gartner predicts that number to rise to 75 percent by 2020. That will undoubtedly lead to an increased demand for IoT devices that connect to smart speakers.

It’s clear that IoT devices will soon be ubiquitous in our lives, and that represents a huge opportunity for companies looking to get ahead of the competition, or even just stay competitive.

Developing an IoT product is not easy. It’s a process fraught with the challenges of multiple teams working together in a quickly changing technological landscape. But for most companies, it’s an opportunity worth exploring, and understanding how the process is different from what they might be used to.

Learn how Digital Scientists can help your organization explore IoT.

The post How is developing an Internet of Things product different? appeared first on Digital Scientists.

Companies who carve out investment for focused innovation programs fear disruption or are already experiencing disruption in their current business. This disruption comes in many different forms, but often includes a mix of the following:

• New market entrants (e.g. startups)
• New product/service substitutes
• New business models
• Weakening of the brand as a driver of purchase
• Loss of share or revenue in established markets

This happens regardless of the company’s near term, financial focus. The innovation program is a reflex action to ensure the survival of the company and an indication of the company’s interest in ‘getting ahead of the learning curve.’ No one likes surprises.

The reason why it is so difficult for existing firms to capitalize on disruptive innovations is that their processes and their business model that make them good at the existing business actually make them bad at competing for the disruption.

Clayton Christensen _{author of The Innovator’s Dilemma}

Large firms have to address hurdles in a few key areas to leverage the impulses that drive innovation. These are the areas for initial focus in order to ‘think like a startup’ at Corporate:

• Invest in innovation – Put your money where your mouth is
• Adopt a user-centered mindset – Humility + empathy + user research
• Building a team of innovators – Move from talk to action
  • Engaging the internal network of innovators and change agents
  • Building a network of external partners
• Start learning –  Experiment – Measure – Learn – Repeat

Invest in innovation

Put your money where your mouth is

Good ideas aren’t exclusive to startups. Large firms are in a position to learn more about their customers and to deliver more, but often stop asking how to better solve customer problems. They are organized and incentivized to execute on known solutions and not to push the envelope on solving more of the customer’s Jobs To Be Done (JTBD).

While fear is a strong motivator to start an innovation program, the goal should be to develop a new muscle and set of skills to allow a company to develop, test and launch new ideas to the market – that may be disruptive to the current business. Innovation is sometimes stymied by the existing business protecting current product lines and market share.

As innovation may sometimes launch products that cannibalize the existing business, there needs to be an autonomous group that is carved out with the explicit permission to disrupt the existing business.  New products, new services, new business models all need room for experimentation. This may not always be popular with existing business units and divisions, but it is key to rapid learning about the marketplace with its threats and opportunities.

Corporate alignment and long-term investment are needed to send a signal that innovation isn’t a fad. Technological change is accelerating and innovation is key for survival.

Adopt a user-centered mindset

Humility + empathy + user research

With corporate aligned to support innovation, how do we begin changing the culture to support it? This is a change that needs to touch the entire company.

“Adopting a posture of humility and curiosity is how you develop empathy for your customer’s needs and desires, and when you’re in constant contact with the people you’re designing for, it creates a productive feedback loop.”  Tim Brown, designthinking.ideo.com.

Humility is needed because it translates into an openness to discovery or re-discovery around unmet needs and Jobs to Be Done. The trap for most companies lies in the arrogance when it comes to understanding the customers of today and tomorrow. Many companies stop asking user research questions because they believe that they already know all the answers. Empathy takes work, and user research is not the same as marketing research.

Communicating the importance of a user-centered mindset gives employees license and permission to establish or re-establish empathy with current and future customers. The user-centered mindset is necessary for focusing the efforts of the company’s innovation network.

Building a team of innovators

Move from talk to action

Engage the internal network

After laying the necessary groundwork, the company can work to identify the innovators and change agents within.  The previous steps give permission to employees to think differently about meeting customer needs. In some companies that translates into an ability to challenge the status quo.

One option to accelerate this creation of an innovators network is to create a shared internal platform (albeit an actual internal social network) where innovators and change agents can go to compare notes and learn. These can be built by leveraging internal innovation tools or enterprise social networks to establish these connections across business units, divisions and time zones.

These networks need to be seeded with internal content from participants (e.g. projects, interests, technologies, etc.) and with external content from thought leaders (inside and outside of your industry). It is also possible to support these internal innovators by helping them to connect to the relevant thought leaders in the industry. It is important that the company’s leading innovation thinkers be exposed to the change that can impact the company.

An internal social network around innovation topics is required to make connections across large, matrixed, global organizations. Building out this innovation network is crucial for identifying the employees and skill sets for ongoing innovations efforts.

Build an external network

Innovation leadership will need to tap external resources to round out the innovation network. This is aligned with the concept of ‘Open Innovation’ which asserts that ‘combining internal and external ideas as well as internal and external paths to market to advance the development of new technologies.’ (see chart below)

Startups have to embrace open innovation in order to facilitate access to expertise along with increased speed to market. These two things are usually necessary to drive the disruption.

Take the example of a new Atlanta startup company called BoxLock, Inc., maker of an IoT product by the same name that aims to secure package deliveries on your front porch.

The founder of BoxLock was able to contract and collaborate with multiple expert teams (design, mobile development, firmware development, mechanical engineering, etc.) while still asserting product ownership and driving the definition of the product. The focus on collaboration and a shared vision has supported short, iterative learning cycles to launch this innovative new product. The product continues to evolve and the team continues to learn.

Start learning

Experiment – Measure – Learn – Repeat

Innovation teams comprised of employees and internal partners must be enabled to run experiments. The internal team members should be tasked with ensuring empathy with clients and knowledge of the business context. External partners should bring user experience and technical chops as well as a unique view on the problem based on previous experience. These teams need permission to challenge the company’s status quo when it comes to products, categories, brands, and business models.

Establish the parameters for innovation and then align your new network of innovators to the challenge of the innovation program. They need to be enabled to follow these four steps: Run Experiments, Measure the Results, Learn (or Pivot!), and then Repeat.

Contributor

REPRINTED FROM INNOVATIVE LEADER’S JUNE 2018 EDITION OF POINTERS, BUILDING A NETWORK OF INNOVATION CHAMPIONS

The post Building a startup mentality at corporate appeared first on Digital Scientists.