Interesting enough, this posting on TRIZ (Teoriya Resheniya Izobreatatelskikh Zadatch, Russian for ‘Theory of Solving Inventive Problems’) on CTO Blog by Ron Tolido.

“We all seem in need of rediscovering the ‘how’ of innovation (…) you might tend to think that innovation is mainly a matter if chaos and free association (…) If you have a closer look, there’s more systematic to it than you would ever expect.”

Is TRIZ the answer? There are a lot of innovation techniques, see e.g. the entry on creativity techniques in Wikipedia.

Robert L. Stutton mentions in a Harvard Business Review the weird rules of creativity.

Managing for creativity, he says, means taking most of what we know abouj management and standing it on its head. It means  placing bets on ideas without much heed to their projected ROI.

• Decide to do something that will probably fail, then convince yourself and everyone else that success was certain.

• Reward success and failure, punish inaction.

• Seek out ways to avoid, distract and bore customers, critics and nayone who just wants to talke about money.

• Think of some ridiculous impractical things to do, and plan to do them.

• Find some happy people and get them to fight.

• Hire “slow learners” (of the organizational code), people who make you uncomfortable, even those you dislike, people you (probably) don’t need.

• Take your past successes and forget them!

• Use job interviews to get new ideas, not to screen candidates.

• Ignore people who have solved the exact problem you face.

• Encourage people to ignore and defy their bosses and peers.

Managers, analysts and other socalled experts do a poor job of judging new ideas and predicting which ones will succeed. 

His aim is not to convince your company to discard every routine it uses and devote all efforts to inventing new ways of thinking and acting. On the contrary, doing routine work with proven methods is the right thing to do most of the time. But if part of your mission is to explore new possibilities, then your goal must be to build a culture that supports constant mindfulness and experimentation.

Alex Osborn, founder of BBDO, came up with “SCAMPER”:

• S = Substitute

• C = Combine

• A = Adapt

• M = Magnify or Modify

• P = Put to other uses

• E = Eliminate

• R = Rearrange or Reverse

Try this to think innovatively about your products and services!

Kim T. Gordon talks about six ways to use brainstorming techniques:

Begin by choosing a facilitator to record the ideas on large, poster-size sheets of paper that can be stuck to a bulletin board or along the walls of the room.

Ground rules:

• 
  

  Suspend criticism.

• Postpone evaluation.

• Build on others’ ideas.

Proven methods to try:

• Pose an initial question.

• Use word association.

• Identify a challenge.

So while inspiration may come to you in the shower, a more structured approach to creative idea generation is often the best bet.

Merianne Liteman comes with eight principles to unlock creativity:

1. Principle 1. Generatie ideas without evaluating them directly. If you engage in both processes at once, you will not do either well.

2. Principle 2. Test your assumptions; ask questions. “The important thing,” Albert Einstein once said, “is to never stop questioning.”

3. Principle 3. Get fresh perspectives. Take inspiration from Renoir who said, “When I have arranged a bouquet for the purpose of painting it, I always turn to the side I did not plan.”

4. Principle 4. Do not fall into groupthink. Keep pushing for better and better ideas, even if others press you to go along.

5. Principle 5. Let yourself be a little silly. Play! Playing is critical to loosening up your thinking and releasing your innate ability to think creatively.

6. Principle 6. Minimize negativism. First say what you like about it; second, what you find interesting or intriguing; and last what you dislike.

7. Principle 7. Take prudent risks. Take a small risk and see what happens.

8. Principle 8. Be a skeptic, not a cynic.  Challenge assumptions and test hypotheses but don’t be a cynic.

   Nearly all of us have the ability to devise innovative solutions, in other words, to be creative.

Through an artikel on BNET Jeffrey A. Govendo talks about six steps to encourage employee creativity:

1. Create a safe haven for new thinking.

2. Employ a process for developing new ideas that have been offered.

3. Cross-pollinate ideation groups.

4. Have a neutral facilitator conduct ideation sessions.

5. Support employees for engaging in the process.

6. Assure follow-through, as quickly as possible.

The importance of creativity for innovation is obvious.