Litmus Test Version 2 (Work in Progress for Release in early April)

Dear all – the initial Litmus Test version at https://innovation-web.eu/litmus-test is now being refined for release in early April. Any thoughts and comments appreciated as we try to move to a quick and pragmatic tool that can help a wide variety of stakeholders with “skin in the game” for diffusing innovation rapidly from ideation to market saturation. The image shows the helicopter from the famous television series M*A*S*H to illustrate the underlying principles of urgency under difficult conditions.

Revised test:

The purpose of the test is to help you innovate successfully and rapidly from ideation to market saturation. This questionnaire is used to structure an interview with a qualified ENTOV-HVM facilitator. If you are taking it without guidance please review the following detailed instruction (to be defined). In order to use this tool effectively you should have a good grasp on the “idea” you wish to explore. “Good” ideas are typically well-defined products / services or change projects.

Demographics

Please share the follow demographic information:

1. What industry are you in?
2. What is your role in the organization?
3. What is your role in diffusing this idea?
4. How many years professional experience you do have?
5. What country are you located in?
6. What is your age?

Level 1: Is Your Idea “Conscious and Breathing”? (PASS/FAIL)

For any idea to have a “fighting chance” of diffusing rapidly into its market, the critical roles of the innovation web MUST first be populated with UNIQUE individuals. This is “binary” – either the roles are populated or not. More information about the roles and the innovation web are available HERE.

First Aid Question - Does your idea have at least one of each (Make sure to write down the NAME OF AN INDIVIDUAL for each question):

1. Core participants

a. A KEY USER who will use the idea in their daily activities.

b. An INVENTOR (Researcher) who will create a proof of concept.

c. A PRODUCT OWNER (Innovator) who develops the proof of concept to a robust product.

d. A BUSINESS SPONSOR (Seller) who champions the value proposition.

2. Accelerators

a. An INVESTOR who provides robust funding and resources.

b. An INFLUENCER (Marketeer) who shares the value proposition.

c. A SUPER USER (Thought Leader) who will guide based on their experience in the field.

d. A MODERATOR facilitating the relationship between the core participants and accelerators.

IF you cannot put a name behind each role, STOP and focus on filling in that name in before proceeding to the next question set.

IF you can put an individual´s name behind EACH of the roles, THEN your idea is at least conscious and breathing. You can now explore not only the motivation and competency of the participants, but also begin to examine their interaction.

Level 2: Is Your Idea Ready to Accelerate Deeply into the Market? (Maturity Level)

Having all roles populated is the non-negotiable starting point for accelerating your idea deeply into the market. Once this is accomplished you need to take a closer look at the participants and the idea. The following questions give an opportunity to assess and improve the “maturity” of the participant-idea-system relationship. The more mature, the faster the idea can accelerate and the faster the innovation diffusion can achieve “escape velocity” from its constraints. (Case study based scoring scheme pending).

Before starting on the Level 2 questions please repeat the Level 1 questions (esp. the description of the idea).

1. Participants

a. Do all participants share the urgency of diffusing the idea? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

b. Are all participants motivated? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

c. Are all participants competent? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

d. Are all participants collaborative? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

e. Is the participant group diverse? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

f. Have participants known each other for a long time? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

g. Do all participants place high priority on their role? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

2. Ideas

a. Is your idea ready for wide-spread use? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

b. Is your idea compatible with existing ways of work?How confident are you in your assessment of this?

c. Is your idea easy to use? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

d. Can your idea be easily tried out? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

e. Is the impact of the idea ease to observe? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

f. Is the idea urgently needed by users? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

g. Does your idea meet any relevant certification requirements? How confident are you in your assessment of this?

P.S. If you are interested in learning more please visit us at www.innovation-web.eu, our LinkedIn Group at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8779542/, our blog at https://www.innovation-web.eu/entov-hvm-blog, our Researchgate project page at https://www.researchgate.net/project/Open-European-Network-for-Enterprise-Innovation-in-High-Value-Manufacturing-ENTOV-HVM, our Sourceforge page at https://sourceforge.net/projects/entov-hvm/  and our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2014779865300180/. You can also follow us via Twitter: @owschwabe (#innovationweb) and the LinkedIn Group page https://www.linkedin.com/company/entov.