Remember to evaluate the constraints your business faces in implementing your next innovation and adjust the timing accordingly. The more firm you need your launch date to be the more flexibility you need in your critical path. Don’t let one late item throw off your whole schedule.

Here are a few constraints to consider.

1. Seasonal changes in your business. Is January a slow month for your business? Consider the impact of different seasons on your innovation launch.

2. Staffing needs. Does your new innovation change your staffing needs? Do you need to hire, train, or release employees? How will that change the timing of your innovation launch? If your launch is late, can you hire more staff or pay more overtime to make up the difference?

3. Multiphase implementation. Does your innovation launch all at once, or does it roll out over time?

4. Finances. Are you still raising capital? Does a secondary phase of the innovation require a certain level of sales from the first phase? Will changes in the currency market influence the launch date?

5. Competitors. What are your competitors doing? What new innovations are they launching? Does this require you to re-work your innovation before the launch?

6. External Parties. What external parties are you relying on? If they deliver late will your innovation be delayed?

Consider these constraints and others as you approach the implementation and launch of your next innovation.

Have you ever heard someone say that ideas are a dime a dozen? Well this statement couldn’t be truer. Everyone has ideas, and in fact most people have good ideas. However, there is no such thing as a successful idea. You can have a successful product or successful business, but not a successful idea. Ideas are a dime a dozen.

You need to take an idea from concept, to proof-of-concept, to investment, to business, to successful business. That isn’t the easiest process and usually you don’t end up where you thought you would, but that is the process. All ideas must be though through, tested, and adapted over and over again.

The idea doesn’t bring success. Everyone knows that you can buy a dozen ideas for a dime.