Behind the Product: The Untold Story of Front to Back Innovation
Ok you may think I am being partial but truly Bonnie & Christin, are a great duo and did a brilliant presentation telling their quest story in pursuit of innovation, bringing it all the way from the front to the back end. Excellent job ladies!
Behind The Product: The Untold Story of Front to Back Innovation - Delivered by Bonnie L. Nichol & Christin Moran, 3M
It was really fun to start the afternoon with such an ebullient team. I think their story really resonates with all in the business of bringing new products forward. They captured the essence at the core of it: lots of fun and hard work, with one or two curve balls in between.
Housed within the ScotchTM division of 3M they were asked to bring forward a proposal in a compressed time frame for the next platform of innovations for the division.
They started with their customer profile and learned how they actually use the tape. From the many unexpected uses of it they zeroed in the workarounds, fit, function and repair for women’s wardrobes. And they made their initial business case.
Here are some of the lessons learned and takeaways they shared with us:
Success factors
Their team was 100% dedicated to the program.
They co-located to a space where they kept their work boards. Those served to gather and redistribute all the info and knowledge from their primary research. Everyone was quickly brought to the same page.
Doing their own research gave the team an added ownership.
Make it Real
To obtain the nod and move forward to the next stage, they had to communicate the value of their ideas to an audience that mostly, had not shared similar experiences. They were fixing common problems in many women’s wardrobe, but those were not as understood as traditional uses of ScotchTM tape.
Therefore, they did that, they explained it and got over the initial embarrassment because they knew they had a winner.
And it may not happen when you hoped but the cream rises to the top
As they were going to the feasibility gate the business got realigned and it took a few more years before a new team took it from where they left it and brought the products to market. When they look back, they credit this program with many valuable lessons, among those:
Start with the business model (use tools like “innovation canvas”); It helps by triggering new questions and forcing the conversations up-front.
What is next?
About the Author: Marga is a technology leader with an international background and a passion for innovation. During the last 20 years she has grown her expertise in research and business development, focused in industrial and manufacturing applications of polymer and materials science, bringing technologies to commercialization in multiple markets. She holds a PhD, is the inventor of several patents and a published author in technical, trade and conference proceedings.