Product-Lifecycle Management 2.0

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A Kaizen Approach to Market-Driven Innovation

Product-Lifecycle Management 2.0

GUEST POST from Dr. Matthew Heim

In today’s competitive business environment, companies are under constant pressure to innovate, streamline processes, and improve product quality. One powerful way to achieve these goals is by applying the principles of Kaizen—the Japanese concept of continuous improvement—to Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). By viewing PLM as a Kaizen loop, organizations can foster a culture of ongoing innovation and refinement, ensuring that products evolve in line with customer needs, technological advances, and market demands.

In this blog, we’ll explore how managing Product Lifecycle Management as a Kaizen loop can drive better results, improve efficiency, and lead to the creation of superior products that resonate with customers.

What is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)?

Before we dive into how PLM can benefit from a Kaizen approach, let’s define what PLM is.

Product Lifecycle Management is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from inception, through design and manufacturing, to service and disposal. It involves integrating people, processes, business systems, and information to streamline product development, reduce costs, enhance quality, and improve collaboration across the product’s life.

While PLM has traditionally been seen as a linear process—moving from concept to production and then to end-of-life—a Kaizen loop introduces a more fluid, iterative approach that can enhance every stage of the lifecycle.

What is Kaizen?

Kaizen is a Japanese term that translates to “continuous improvement.” It refers to the practice of making small, incremental improvements in processes, products, or services on a regular basis. Rather than focusing on large, disruptive changes, Kaizen promotes consistent, sustainable improvements through the involvement of all employees.

Incorporating Kaizen into PLM means shifting from a linear, static approach to a dynamic, feedback-driven system where every phase of the product’s life is optimized and refined continuously.

The Kaizen Loop in Product Lifecycle Management

A traditional PLM approach tends to follow a set sequence of stages: concept, design, manufacture, test, launch, and then end-of-life. However, when applying Kaizen, this cycle is treated as an ongoing loop, where each stage is continuously revisited and improved. Here’s how it works:

  1. Define the Initial Goal (Plan)
    The first step in the Kaizen loop is to define the goals for the product, based on customer needs, market research, and business objectives. Involving stakeholders from the Product, Sales and Marketing to ensure the plan’s success is the way to begin. Then, ensure that the product development process is aligned with the company’s strategic drivers. Unlike traditional planning, Kaizen planning doesn’t end here, it merely establishes a baseline for ongoing improvement. Each of the stakeholders involved should plan for feedback loops and potential adjustments early on.
  2. Develop the Product (Develop)
    The next phase involves the design and development of the product. However, under the Kaizen approach, development isn’t a one-time, isolated effort. Rather, it’s a continuous process of iteration. As prototypes are created, the design is continuously tested and refined. Feedback from customers, production teams, and stakeholders is used to make adjustments and enhancements during the development stage.
  3. Measure and Analyze Performance (Review)
    Once the product is in production, it is crucial to continuously monitor and analyze its performance. In a Kaizen-driven PLM environment, this doesn’t just happen at the end of the development cycle. Rather, measurement and analysis are built into every phase. Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as product quality, customer satisfaction, production efficiency, and cost control should be regularly reviewed. This ongoing feedback helps to identify areas for improvement, even after the product is launched.
  4. Implement Improvements (Revise)
    The beauty of Kaizen is its focus on action. Based on the insights gained from the measurement phase, teams are empowered to implement improvements quickly. If customers are experiencing issues, fixes are developed and rolled out rapidly. If new technologies become available that could improve the product, they are incorporated into future iterations. These incremental improvements are the driving force of the Kaizen loop, enabling the product to continuously evolve and stay competitive.
  5. Refinement Through Feedback (Iterate)
    The final step in the Kaizen loop is to integrate the improvements back into the product and into future development. The loop continues, with each cycle bringing new insights, innovations, and refinements to all of the teams involved. This feedback-driven model ensures that every product phase—whether it’s design, manufacturing, or customer feedback—is part of an ongoing process of improvement.

PLM Kaizen Infographic Ezassi

Key Benefits of Managing PLM as a Kaizen Loop

  1. Faster Time-to-Market
    Because Kaizen encourages rapid feedback and iteration, product improvements can be made in real-time. This reduces delays and accelerates the development process, enabling companies to bring products to market more quickly.
  2. Increased Product Quality
    Continuous improvement ensures that the product is constantly evolving based on real-world data and user feedback. This approach leads to higher product quality, as the product is fine-tuned over time and refined based on actual performance.
  3. Better Collaboration and Communication
    Kaizen is inherently a team-driven approach, where everyone from engineers to salespeople to customers has input into the product’s development. This fosters a culture of collaboration and ensures that all perspectives are considered, leading to a more well-rounded and successful product.
  4. Lower Costs
    By focusing on small, incremental improvements, Kaizen minimizes the risk of costly mistakes. Rather than investing large sums in a single, big change, incremental changes allow teams to make improvements more affordably and with fewer risks. Moreover, early identification of inefficiencies during production or design stages helps to avoid costly fixes down the line.
  5. Improved Customer Satisfaction
    Since customer feedback is central to the Kaizen approach, PLM that incorporates Kaizen ensures that products are always aligned with customer needs. This ongoing dialogue with customers leads to higher satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.

Overcoming Challenges in Implementing Kaizen in PLM

While applying Kaizen principles to PLM offers immense benefits, there are some challenges companies may face:

  • Cultural Shift: Employees need to embrace a mindset of continuous improvement, which can require significant cultural change, especially in traditional, hierarchical organizations.
  • Resource Constraints: Regular feedback and iterative improvements require resources, including time and manpower, which can be stretched thin in high-pressure environments.
  • Technology Integration: To enable real-time feedback and iteration, companies must leverage advanced PLM tools, which may require investment in software systems and employee training.

However, the long-term benefits of adopting a Kaizen-driven PLM system often outweigh these challenges. Companies that successfully integrate Kaizen into their PLM processes can look forward to better products, more satisfied customers, enhanced enterprise collaboration and increased profitability.

Conclusion

Product Lifecycle Management, when managed as a Kaizen loop, transforms the traditional product development approach into a dynamic, continuous improvement system. By focusing on incremental, data-driven improvements at every stage of the product’s lifecycle, organizations can produce better products, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction.

In an age of fast-changing technology and evolving customer expectations, adopting a Kaizen mindset for PLM can ensure that a company stays ahead of the competition, continually innovating and refining its products to meet the needs of tomorrow.

By embracing Kaizen, PLM becomes not just a process but a philosophy—one that fosters growth, adaptability, and success for the long term.

Ready to implement Kaizen in your PLM process?  Contact Ezassi to learn more about how to put these principles into action.

Image credits: Ezassi

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Automation Success More About Trust Than Technology

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Automation Success More About Trust Than Technology

GUEST POST from Robyn Bolton

We’ve all seen the apocalyptic headlines about robots coming for our jobs. The AI revolution has companies throwing money at shiny new tech while workers polish their résumés, bracing for the inevitable pink slip. But what if we have it completely, totally, and utterly backward?  What if the real drivers of automation success have nothing to do with the technology itself?

That’s precisely what an MIT study of 9,000+ workers across nine countries asserts.  While the doomsayers have predicted the end of human workers since the introduction of the assembly line, those very workers are challenging everything we think we know about automation in the workplace.

The Secret Ingredient for Technology ROI

MIT surveyed workers across the manufacturing industry—50% of whom reported frequently performing routine tasks—and found that the majority ultimately welcome automation. But only when one critical condition is present. And it’s one that most executives completely miss while they’re busy signing purchase orders for the latest AI and automation systems.

Trust.

Read that again because while you’re focused on selecting the perfect technology, your actual return depends more on whether your team feels valued and believes you are invested in their safety and professional growth.

Workers Who Trust, Automate

This trust dynamic explains why identical technologies succeed in some organizations and fail in others. According to MIT’s research:

  • Job satisfaction is the second strongest indicator of technology acceptance, with a 10% improvement that researchers identified as consistently significant across all analytical models
  • Feeling valued by their employer shows a highly significant 9% increase in positive attitudes toward automation
  • Trust also consistently predicts automation acceptance, as workers scoring higher on trust measures are significantly more likely to view new technologies positively.

For example, Sam Sayer, an employee at a New Hampshire cutting tool manufacturer, has become an automation champion because his employer helped him experience how factory-floor robots could free him from routine tasks and allow him to focus on more complex problem-solving. “I worked in factories for years before I ever saw a robot. Now I’m teaching my colleagues on the factory floor how to use them.”

This contrasts with an aerospace manufacturer in Ohio that hired a third party to integrate a robot into its warehouse processes. Despite the company’s efforts to position the robot as a teammate, even giving it a name, workers resisted the technology because they didn’t trust the implementation process or see clear personal benefits.

These patterns hold across industries and countries: When workers perceive their employer as invested in their development and well-being, automation initiatives succeed. When that foundation is missing, even the most sophisticated technologies falter.

Four Steps to Convert Resistors to Champions

Whether it’s for the factory floor or the office laptop, if you want ROI and revenue growth from your automation investments, start with your people:

  1. Design roles that connect workers to outcomes: When people see how their input shapes results, they become natural technology allies.
  2. Create visible growth pathways. Workers motivated by career advancement are significantly more likely to embrace new technologies.
  3. Align financial incentives with implementation goals. When workers see the personal benefits of adoption, resistance evaporates faster than free donuts in the break room.
  4. Make safety improvements the leading edge of your technology story. It’s the most universally appreciated benefit of automation.

A Provocative Challenge

Ask yourself this (potentially) uncomfortable question: Are you investing as much in trust as you are in technology?

Because if not, you might as well set fire to a portion of your automation budget right now. At least you’d get some heat from it.

The choice isn’t between technology and workers—it’s between implementations that honor human relationships and those that don’t. The former generates returns; the latter generates résumé updates.

What are you choosing?

Image credit: misterinnovation.com (1 of 850+ free quote slides for download)

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Top 10 Irish Innovations

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Top 10 Irish Innovations

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

As we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, it’s the perfect occasion to shine a spotlight on the influential contributions Ireland has made to the world of innovation. From literary advances to technological marvels, Ireland’s creative spirit is visible across various domains. Here, we celebrate the top 10 Irish innovations that have left a lasting impact on the world – which you may notice doesn’t include the pictured green Guinness.

1. The Hypodermic Syringe

Invented in 1844 by Francis Rynd, the hypodermic syringe revolutionized medicine by enabling the effective delivery of medication directly into the bloodstream. Rynd, a Dublin-based doctor, initially used it to treat neuralgia, setting the stage for modern medical injections.

2. The Submarine

Born in County Clare, John Philip Holland was a visionary engineer who developed the modern submarine. His designs attracted the attention of the U.S. Navy, cementing his role as a pioneer in underwater navigation and laying the groundwork for the submarines used today.

3. The Guided Torpedo

Largely attributed to Louis Brennan in 1874, the guided torpedo was a significant advancement in military technology. Brennan’s innovation allowed for precise control and improved the accuracy of naval operations, fundamentally changing maritime warfare.

4. Color Photography

John Joly, a geologist and physicist, introduced a pioneering method for color photography in 1894. By developing a technique that layered multiple transparent images, Joly’s work paved the way for future color photographic advancements and transformed visual documentation.

5. The Portable Defibrillator

In 1965, Frank Pantridge introduced the portable defibrillator, a pivotal invention in the medical field. This breakthrough allowed for immediate cardiac care outside of hospital settings, significantly increasing survival rates in emergencies and becoming a staple in ambulances and public spaces worldwide.

6. The Modern Tractor

Harry Ferguson, hailing from County Down, invented the modern-day tractor and the three-point linkage system. This innovation mechanized agriculture and greatly increased farming efficiency, transforming agricultural practices worldwide.

7. The Induction Coil

Nicholas Callan, a priest and scientist, invented the induction coil in the 1830s, a crucial component in the development of wireless communication and electronics. It laid the foundation for radio technology and countless other electronic applications.

8. Boole’s Algebra

George Boole, with significant contributions made during his time in Cork, developed Boolean algebra, a mathematical framework critical to computer science and digital electronics. This innovation forms the basis of computer logic systems and programming.

9. Flavored Crisps

Joseph ‘Spud’ Murphy, founder of Tayto, invented the first flavored crisps in 1954. This innovation added a new dimension to snacks, giving rise to a whole industry of flavored snacks enjoyed globally.

10. The Ejection Seat

Designed by James Martin, the ejection seat has saved countless lives in aviation emergencies. His innovative design provided pilots with a life-saving escape option and is an essential safety feature in modern aircraft.

In conclusion, Irish innovations have made substantial contributions to different fields, enhancing lives and propelling technological progress. As we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, it’s important to honor these achievements and reflect on the inventive spirit that continues to drive Ireland forward.

Image credit: Dall-E via Microsoft CoPilot

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Leveraging Storytelling for Innovation

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Leveraging Storytelling for Innovation

GUEST POST from Greg Satell

Some years back I was invited to visit the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Over the years many of the world’s greatest minds have taken up residence there. It was where Einstein worked till his death in 1955. It is a place, for me at least, in which stories permeate from every corner and crevice.

There is a common room in the main building, Fuld Hall, where tea is served every afternoon and, if you know the stories, you can almost hear the din of legends arguing, cajoling and discussing pathbreaking ideas when you enter. That is the power of story. It can imbue even inanimate objects with meaning.

Look at great leaders throughout history, from General George Patton to Martin Luther King Jr. to Steve Jobs, and they all used the power of story to anchor an enterprise with a sense of mission and destiny. It was undoubtedly a big part of their success. We need to learn to tell better stories, if we are to give meaning to others and build faith in a common endeavor.

The Structure Of A Story

The first element of any story is its exposition, which is the world you build around the story and includes the setting, the characters and other background information. This often comes at the beginning of the story, but it doesn’t have to. Sometimes, elements of the setting or details about the characters are leaked out as the plot develops.

The most important aspect of any story is the tension or conflict to be resolved. That’s what keeps the audience’s interest. Will the hero survive? Does the boy end up with the girl? Will justice prevail? It is the uncertainty surrounding the tension that makes a story interesting. A preordained story is a bore.

Finally, the conflict needs to be resolved in some way that is satisfying. That doesn’t mean that the characters in the story end up happy—in fact, often it’s exactly the opposite—but if the main conflict is never resolved the audience will feel cheated. So however the story ends, with a lesson learned, a triumphant hero or a tragic loss, it has to resolve the conflict.

These are the essential elements of a story: exposition, conflict, and resolution. They don’t need to be told in order. In fact, master storytellers often put the conflict first, before we know much about the setting, and then let things develop over time. In a TV streaming environment writers have months or even years to resolve the tension, which allows for greater exploration and deeper storytelling.

Identifying A Meaningful Problem

The key to telling a good story is to identify a source of conflict that your audience cares about. That’s easier said than done. Just because a story is meaningful to you, doesn’t mean it will hit home for others. Yet just because a story doesn’t resonate immediately doesn’t mean you should give up on it. Even finding the right narrative is often trial and error even for the best storytellers.

Ed Catmull, CEO of Pixar, insists that “early on, all of our movies suck.” In Creativity Inc, he wrote that his company’s initial ideas are “ugly babies” that are “awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete.” “Originality is fragile,” he continues. “Our job is to protect our babies from being judged too quickly. Our job is to protect the new.”

The reason new stories need protecting is that we experience them differently than our audience. They immediately make sense to us because they are ours. We often lose sight of the fact that others don’t share our particular context. Often, even a slight change in how we shape the details can make a big difference.

The only way to refine a story is by telling it, seeing which parts the audience reacts to and experimenting with different methods of delivery. That’s why big-time comedians spend time in small comedy clubs trying out new material. When I’m writing a book or working on a new conference talk, I always try out different versions in blog posts to see what resonates.

The bottom line is that just because a problem is meaningful to you doesn’t mean it’s meaningful to everyone else. It takes work to identify a story—or an aspect of a story—that connects.

Charting The Hero’s Journey

There are many ways to tell a story. But one of the most common is the hero’s journey. Which involves different variations of a departure, an initiation, and a return. Usually the hero is transformed by the journey in some way, but sometimes the hero transforms the world around him, for better or for worse.

For example, in the original Star Wars, we met Luke Skywalker as a restless boy on Tatooine. The hologram he unlocked in R2D2 kicked off his departure onto the journey, during which he was initiated in the ways of “The Force.” After Luke uses The Force to aim the shot that destroys the Death Star, he and his friends return to the rebel base to a hero’s welcome.

What makes the hero’s journey compelling is not so much the sequence of events, but how the characters are tested and revealed. David Mitchell, author of bestsellers like Cloud Atlas, points out that we find enigmatic characters, like Darth Vader, more interesting than one dimensional caricatures because they lack moral clarity.

It is the uncertainty about how the story will end that keeps the audience interested in it, which is why coming up with interesting tension is so important. It is also what opens up the possibility of leveraging a story into a strategic narrative.

Unlocking The Strategic Narrative

Stories have the power to unite us because their themes are universal. We can all relate to a hero, identify with their struggle and then revel in their triumph or, as is sometimes the case, learn a lesson from their tragedy. By telling a familiar story in an unfamiliar context, we can also gain insight and understanding into the hopes and fears of others.

The only problem with stories, as John Hagel has pointed out, is that they are self-contained—they have a beginning, a middle and an end. Narratives, like Darth Vader, are less clear cut. They are open ended and still to be determined. In other words, a narrative is a story that is still in progress and that we can still participate in and influence.

Narratives can become strategic when they give meaning to a mission. Southwest’s strategic narrative to be “THE low cost airline,” helped it rocket past the competition. Steve Jobs’ insistence on creating products that were “insanely great” helped make Apple the most valuable company on the planet. General Stanley McChrystal’s revelation that “to defeat a network you need to become a network,” turned things around for the US military in Iraq.

That’s what makes the art of storytelling so powerful and so important. When Shakespeare’s King Henry needed his soldiers to fight, he did not offer to raise their pay or threaten them with the stockade, but told a story to inspire them to go “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more…”

In the final analysis, we live our lives not for external rewards, but for intrinsic meaning and we determine meaning through the stories we tell, the narratives we adopt and the missions to which we dedicate the best of our talents and energies.

— Article courtesy of the Digital Tonto blog
— Image credits: Unsplash

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Better Decision Making at Speed

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Better Decision Making at Speed

GUEST POST from Mike Shipulski

If you want to go faster there are three things to focus on: decisions, decisions, and decisions.

First things first – define the decision criteria before the work starts. That’s right – before. This is unnatural and difficult because decision criteria are typically poorly defined, if not undefined, even when the work is almost complete. Don’t believe me? Try to find the agreed-upon decision criteria for an active project. If you can find them, they’ll be ambiguous and incomplete. If you can’t find them, well, there you go.

Decision criteria aren’t just categories -like sales revenue, speed, weight – they all must have a go-no-go threshold. Sales must be greater than X, speed must be greater than Y and weight must be less than Z. A decision criterion is a category with a threshold value.

Second, before the work starts, define the actions you’ll take if the threshold values are achieved and if they are not. If sales are greater than X, speed is greater than Y and weight is less than Z, we’ll invest A dollars a year for B years to scale the business. If one of X, Y or Z are less than their threshold value, we’ll scrap the project and distribute the team throughout the organization.

Lastly, before the work starts, define the decision-maker and how their decision will be documented and communicated. In practice, there is usually just one decision-maker. So, strive to write down just one person’s name as the decision-maker. But that person will be reluctant to sign up as the decision-maker because they don’t want to be mapped the decision if things flop. Instead, the real decision-maker will put together a committee to make the decision.

To tighten things down for the committee, define how the decision will be made. Will it be a simple majority vote, a super-majority, unanimous decision or the purposefully ambiguous consensus vote. My bet is on consensus, which allows the individual committee members to distance themselves from the decision if it goes badly. And, it allows the real decision-maker to influence the consensus and effectively make the decision without making it.

Formalizing the decision process creates speed. The decision categories help the team avoid the wrong work and the threshold values eliminate the time-wasting is-it-good-enough arguments. When the follow-on actions are predefined, there’s no waiting there’s just action. And defining upfront the decision-maker and the mechanism eliminates the time-sucking ambiguity that delays decisions.

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The Journey Shapes Customer Perception

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The Journey Shapes Customer Perception

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher, is often credited with saying, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” The idea is that the journey is just as important—maybe even more so—than arriving at the destination.

I recently attended a lecture by a magician who shared his “secrets” for creating a show that people want to come back and experience again and again.

The message was clear. No matter how amazing the tricks are, it’s the personality and patter (the words used throughout the show) that make people laugh and entertain them along the way—as in the journey created on the way to the end of a trick.

The concept of the “destination, not the journey,” not only applies in life and magic shows but also in customer service. Have you ever had a disagreement with someone in a company? (Of course, you have.) You knew you were right. You pleaded your case, asked to speak to a manager or supervisor, and after spending more time than necessary, the wrong was righted. The destination, as in the resolution, was what you wanted. The journey, as in what it took to get there, was a disaster.

Not all that long ago, I wrote an article about a parking lot that had open spaces. Everyone could see them, but the employee at the gate claimed there were none. He dug his heels into the ground and refused to let me park in one of the half-dozen spaces we could both see. I asked to speak to the manager. He made a call, and five minutes later—even though it seemed like more—he begrudgingly let me in. Did it have to be that hard? Of course, not!

The Journey Taints the Destination

Was this a fight where I won, and he lost? That’s what it felt like, but it shouldn’t have been like that. Too many times, a customer has an unnecessary “fight” with a customer service rep to resolve an issue. If the end result is what makes the customer happy, don’t make them fight to get there. That journey taints the destination, sometimes to the point where the customer, even if they get what they want, won’t come back.

In customer service, the journey is what truly shapes the customer’s perceptions. Businesses should strive to create a seamless, easy, and enjoyable experience at every touchpoint, just like a good magician’s show delights the audience from start to finish. By prioritizing the journey, companies can ensure that the resolution not only meets the expectations but also enhances the overall experience, encouraging repeat business and fostering trust and confidence, which leads to repeat business. Remember, it’s the memorable journey that will get your customers to say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credit: Unsplash

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The Role Platforms Play in Business Networks

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The Role Platforms Play in Business Networks

GUEST POST from Geoffrey A. Moore

A decade and a half ago, my colleague at TCG Advisors, Philip Lay, led a body of work with SAP around the topic of business network transformation. It was spurred by the unfolding transition from client-server architecture to a cloud-first, mobile-first world, and it explored the implications for managing both high-volume transactions as well as high-complexity relationships. Our hypothesis was that high-volume networks would be dominated by a small number of very powerful concentrators whereas the high-complexity networks would be orchestrated by a small number of very influential orchestrators.

The concentrator model has played out pretty much as expected, although the astounding success of Amazon in dominating retail is in itself a story for the ages. The key has been how IT platforms anchored in cloud and mobile, now supplemented with AI, have enabled transactional enterprises in multiple sectors of the economy to scale to levels previously unimaginable. And these same platforms, when opened to third parties, have proved equally valuable to the long tail of small entrepreneurial businesses, garnering them access to a mass-market distribution channel for their offerings, something well beyond their reach in the prior era.

The impact on the orchestrator model, by contrast, is harder to see, in part because so much of it plays out behind closed doors “in the room where it happens.” Enterprises like JP Morgan Chase, Accenture, Salesforce, Cisco, and SAP clearly extend their influence well beyond their borders. Their ability to orchestrate their value chains, however, has historically been grounded primarily in a network of personal relationships maintained through trustworthiness, experience, and intelligence, not technology. So, where does an IT platform fit into that kind of ecosystem?

Here it helps to bring in a distinction between core and context. Core is what differentiates your business; context is everything else you do. Unless you are yourself a major platform provider, the platform per se is always context, never core. So, all the talk about what is your platform strategy is frankly a bit overblown. Nonetheless, in both the business models under discussion, platforms can impinge upon the core, and that is where your attention does need to be focused.

In the case of the high-volume transaction model, where commoditization is an everyday fact of life, many vendors have sought to differentiate the customer experience, both during the buying process and over the useful life of the offer. This calls for deep engagement with the digital resources available, including accessing and managing multiple sources of data, applying sophisticated analytics, and programming real-time interactions. That said, such data-driven personalization is a tactic that has been pursued for well over a decade now, and the opportunities to differentiate have diminished considerably. The best of those remaining are in industries dominated by an oligopoly of Old Guard enterprises that are so encumbered with legacy systems that they cannot field a credible digital game. If you are playing elsewhere, you will likely fare better if you get back to innovating on the offering itself.

In the case of managing context in a high-complexity relationship model, it is friction that is the everyday fact of life worth worrying about. Most of it lies in the domain of transaction processing, the “paperwork” that tags along with every complex sale. Anything vendors can do to simplify transactional processes will pay off not only in higher customer satisfaction but also in faster order processing, better retention, and improved cross-sell and up-sell. It is not core, it does not differentiate, but it does make everyone breathe easier, including your own workforce. Here, given the remarkable recent advances in data management, machine learning, and generative AI, there is enormous opportunity to change the game, and very little downside risk for so doing. The challenge is to prioritize this effort, especially in established enterprises where the inertia of budget entitlement keeps resources trapped in the coffers of the prior era’s winning teams.

The key takeaway from all this is that for most of us platforms are not strategic so much as they are operational. That is, the risk is less that you might choose an unsuitable platform and more that you may insufficiently invest in exploiting whatever one you do choose. So, the sooner you get this issue off the board’s agenda and into your OKRs, the better.

That’s what I think. What do you think?

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of February 2025

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of February 2025Drum roll please…

At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?

But enough delay, here are February’s ten most popular innovation posts:

  1. Innovation is Dead. Now What? — by Robyn Bolton
  2. When Best Practices Become Old Practices — by Mike Shipulski
  3. 3 Keys to Improving Leadership Skills — by David Burkus
  4. Audacious – How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World — Exclusive Interview with Mark Schaefer
  5. Which Go to Market Playbook Should You Choose? — by Geoffrey A. Moore
  6. Turns Out the Tin Foil Hat People Were Right — by Braden Kelley
  7. Are You a Leader? — by Mike Shipulski
  8. Time to Stop These Ten Bad Customer Experience Habits — by Shep Hyken
  9. Beyond the AI Customer Experience Hype — by Shep Hyken
  10. A Tumultuous Decade of Generational Strife — by Greg Satell

BONUS – Here are five more strong articles published in January that continue to resonate with people:

If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!

SPECIAL BONUS: While supplies last, you can get the hardcover version of my first bestselling book Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire for 44% OFF until Amazon runs out of stock or changes the price. This deal won’t last long, so grab your copy while it lasts!

Build a Common Language of Innovation on your team

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Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.

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Getting Buy-In for Change Now That Innovation is Dead

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Getting Buy-In for Change Now That Innovation is Dead

GUEST POST from Robyn Bolton

Innovation is undergoing a metamorphosis, and while it may seem like the current goo-stage is the hard part (it’s certainly not easy!), our greatest challenge is still ahead. Because while we may emerge as beautiful butterflies, we still need to get buy-in for change from a colony of skeptical caterpillars who’ve grown weary of transformation talk.

The Old Playbook Is Dead, Too

Picture this: A butterfly lands, armed with PowerPoint slides about “The Future of Leaf-Eating” and projections showing “10x Nectar Collection Potential.” The caterpillars stare blankly, having seen this show before.

The old approach – big presentations, executive sponsorship, and promises of massive returns within 24 months – isn’t just ineffective. It’s harmful. Each failed transformation makes the next one harder, turning your caterpillars more cynical and more determined to cling to their leaves.

The Secret Most Change Experts Miss

Butterflies don’t convince caterpillars to transform by showing off their wings. They create conditions where transformation feels possible, necessary, and safe. Your job isn’t to sell the end state – it’s to help others see their own potential for change.

 Here’s how:

Start With the Hungriest Caterpillars

Find those who feel the limitations of their current state most acutely. They’re not satisfied with their current leaf, and they’re curious about what lies beyond. These early adopters become your first chrysalis cohort.

Make it About Their Problems, Not Your Vision

Instead of talking about transformation, focus on specific pain points. “Wouldn’t it be easier to reach that juicy leaf if you could fly?” is more compelling than “Flying represents a paradigm shift in leaf acquisition strategy.”

Build a Network of Proof

Every successful mini-transformation creates evidence that change is possible. When one caterpillar successfully navigates their chrysalis phase, others pay attention. Let your transformed allies tell their stories.

Set Realistic Expectations

Metamorphosis takes time and isn’t always pretty. Be honest about the goo phase – that messy middle where things fall apart before they come together. This builds trust and prepares people for the real journey, not the sanitized version.

Where to Start

  1. Identify your first chrysalis cohort – the people already feeling the limits of their current state
  2. Focus on solving immediate problems that showcase the benefits of change
  3. Document and share small victories, letting others tell their transformation stories
  4. Create realistic timelines that acknowledge both quick wins and longer-term metamorphosis

What’s your experience? Have you successfully guided a transformation without relying on buzzwords and fancy presentations? Drop your stories in the comments.

After all, we’re all just caterpillars and butterflies helping each other find our wings.

Image credit: misterinnovation.com

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Are You Preaching the Wrong Change Gospel?

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Are You Preaching the Wrong Change Gospel?

GUEST POST from Greg Satell

Today it’s become an article of faith that we live in a VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous). Business pundits tell us that we must “innovate or die.” These are taken as basic truths that are beyond questioning or reproach. Those who doubt the need for change risk being dismissed as out of touch.

This is the change gospel and it is worshiped with almost religious fervor. Yet the evidence suggests exactly the opposite. An even relatively casual examination of relevant data would reveal that, for incumbent businesses at least, the era we live in now is far more stable, less innovative and less productive.

In a nutshell, we are talking about change more, but doing it less. That’s a problem. Managers who want to be seen as change leaders launch too many initiatives. Employees, for their part, get jaded and wait for the newest idea to fail, just as the others before. The result is inevitably innovation theater, rather than meaningful change. We desperately need to fix this.

A VUCA World?

Let’s start with the basic premise that the business world has somehow become more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The term first arose in the aftermath of the Cold War, when a relatively stable conflict between two global superpowers fragmented into a multi-polar, multi-ethnic clash of civilizations.

In this new era of conflict, cultural, religious and ethnic identities replaced ideologies as previously subjugated groups sought to be recognized. The Soviet Union broke up, the Balkans disintegrated into war and strife. Despots around the world, now suddenly cut off from their superpower backers, had to confront internal rifts.

In stark contrast to the world of geopolitics, however, the sphere of business and economics moved solidly toward a new orthodoxy known as the Washington Consensus, which preached market fundamentalism and deregulation. Many of these reforms were sorely needed in many places, but policy soon became dogma decoupled from reality.

Today, in part because of lax antitrust enforcement over the past few decades, businesses have become less disruptive, less competitive and less dynamic, while our economy has become less innovative and less productive. The fact that the reality is in such stark contrast to the rhetoric, is more than worrying, it should be a flashing red light.

Disrupting People, Not Industries

Go to just about any industry conference these days and you will likely hear a version of the same story: Traditional firms are under siege. The forces of disruptive innovation, agile startups and technological advancement mean that organizations need to be in a state of perpetual transformation in order to keep up.

The data, however, tell a different story. A report from the OECD found that markets, especially in the United States, have become more concentrated and less competitive, with less churn among industry leaders. The number of young firms have decreased markedly as well, falling from roughly half of the total number of companies in 1982 to one third in 2013.

A comprehensive 2019 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found two correlated, but countervailing trends: the rise of “superstar” firms and the fall of labor’s share of GDP. Essentially, the typical industry has fewer, but larger players. Their increased bargaining power leads to more profits, but lower wages.

The truth is that we don’t really disrupt industries anymore. We disrupt people. Economic data shows that for most Americans, real wages have hardly budged since 1964. Income and wealth inequality remain at historic highs. Anxiety and depression, already at epidemic levels, worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Change Fatigue And The Great Resignation

It is through this prism of increasingly powerful companies and vulnerable employees that every change initiative should be viewed. While leaders often see change initiatives as energizing and exciting, to employees they can seem like just one more burden on top of many others from both inside and outside of the workplace.

Research undertaken by PwC before the pandemic bears this out. In a survey of more than 2,200 executives, managers, and employees located across the globe, it found that 65% of respondents cited change fatigue, and only about half felt their organization had the capabilities to deliver change successfully.

It gets worse. 44% of employees say they don’t understand the change they’re being asked to make, and 38% say they don’t agree with it. Perhaps not surprisingly, employees view new transformation initiatives suspiciously, taking a “wait and see” attitude undermining the momentum and leading to a”boomerang effect” in which early progress is reversed when leadership moves on to focus other priorities.

Covid has exacerbated these underlying pressures. Since February 2020, millions of Americans over the age of 55 have left the workforce, driving a major labor shortage. For the first time in decades, workers are seeing a significant increase in their bargaining power and they are leaving in droves. Should anyone be surprised?

Focusing On The Meaningful Problems That Matter

Clearly, every organization needs to drive meaningful change. However, too many initiatives can undermine genuine transformation, leading to change fatigue and innovation theater. We need to make better choices about the projects we pursue. We can’t evaluate each program in a vacuum, but must take into account employee and organizational health.

In Mapping Innovation, I made the point that innovation isn’t about coming with ideas, but solving problems and I think that’s a good place to start when evaluating a transformation project. If successful, would this project solve an important problem? Is there a general consensus that it’s a problem we need to solve? How would solving it impact our business?

One of the things I’ve noticed in helping organizations pursue transformation is that questions like these are rarely considered. In fact, executives are usually surprised when we bring them up at the very beginning of the process. All too often, change is seen as an end in itself, rather than as a means to an end.

We need to rethink the change gospel. There’s far too much talk and not nearly enough impact. Change should be an inspiration, not one more burden in an otherwise exhausted workplace. It’s time to refocus our efforts on change that matters. In most organizations, that will mean committing to fewer initiatives, but seeing them through.

— Article courtesy of the Digital Tonto blog
— Image credits: Unsplash

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