Something Really New: Three Simple Steps to Creating Truly Innovative Products

Hauptly, an executive in new product development for Westlaw, the online legal research company, examines the process of identifying product innovation potential. In the world of product and service innovation, he asserts, utility is the driving force, and the key to successful product innovation is to enhance usefulness. Hauptly identifies three questions aimed at finding where customers are expending resources unnecessarily, allowing a manufacturer or service provider to help reduce those inefficiencies. These questions—“what tasks is the product really used for”; “when I know what a product is really used for, are there any steps that I can remove from the task”; and “what tasks are the very next tasks that the customer will want to perform after using my product”—get to the heart of driving innovation. In addition, he details how to navigate potential detours, such as finding the task beneath the function, putting everything together and dealing with the people challenges inherent in any organization. Hauptly's simple and straightforward approach will enable organizations to quickly and inexpensively create new products and services that have real value. (Nov.)