Are you currently working on an innovation? Check your project against these five common assumptions that kill innovation. The key to assumptions is to first identify them and then test them.

1. Assume people will want your innovation. Sometimes people just don’t want help. Other times they already have something that works for them.

2. Assume your innovation doesn’t affect anything else. Any time you intervene you change things. You must know what is going to be affected by your innovation. Installing a surveillance camera may reduce crime on one block, but it will increase it on another block.

3. Assume your innovation adds more benefit then it takes away. You may have a cool gizmo that organizes ones life, but it may take twice as long to use as a traditional day timer.

4. Assume something that worked in another application will transfer seamlessly into your innovation. Sometimes a wheel isn’t the best choice. A ski or a skate can be more efficient in certain circumstances.

5. Assume you innovation meets the needs of a specific culture or subculture. No matter how much you think you know about a culture or subculture, never assume your innovation will be accepted or adopted by them.

These are just some common assumptions. Your project will also have assumptions that are specific to it. Try to list as many of them as you can and then test all of your assumptions. Assumptions do help speed the process, but you still need to “check your logic”.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 9:55 pm and is filed under Innovation Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.