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Applied Product Management Leadership

~ A blending of Leadership and Product Management concepts.

Applied Product Management Leadership

Tag Archives: innovation

If you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will.

16 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by Patrick Howard in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amazon, APIs, cannibalize, data, digital transformation, innovation

In a former life working to help launch Apple Pay, I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know John Rethans, Global Digital Strategist with Apigee/Google.  Given the conversations I’ve had with him over the years, I wasn’t surprised to see his article recently in Forbes When Innovation Centers Don’t Innovate.

dilbert strategy

Interestingly, the theme of the article plays directly into a Dilbert cartoon a colleague left on my desk in December … both the article and the cartoon describe a concern I had when I took my Strategy role.  I’ve had experiences in the past where the Strategy or Innovation folks were disconnected from the organization.  To paraphrase a quote I’ve heard, they were were so heavenly focused (head in the clouds) they were no earthly good (no practical application).

Having read both The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen, as well as McKinsey’s new book Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick, I am fully aware innovation is an absolutely necessary part of what we do as Product Management Leaders.  The title to the post comes from Steve Job, who said it this way …

If you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will.

 

But the efforts must deliver value to the core business while at the same time not becoming a distraction to the core business.

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“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.”

18 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by Patrick Howard in Uncategorized

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Tags

consumer experience, courage, digital transformation, disruption, expectations, innovation, risk

The post title is a quote from Mario Andretti. I assume most know who Mario Andretti is, but for those who may not he is one of the most successful racing drivers in history (Formula One, Indy car, and NASCAR).  I’ve been in a NASCAR going 180 mph … I did not feel under control .. and I wasn’t even driving!  But we shouldn’t miss the point of the quote … success sometimes means making decisions that include risk and certainly may require courage.

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Continuing Thoughts on Innovation

22 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by Patrick Howard in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

breakthrough, disruption, domain expertise, innovation, innovator's dilemma, problem solving, sustaining

A few weeks ago, I published a post When Might it be OK to not Listen to the Customer with the inspiration coming from having just finished Innovator’s Dilemma by Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen.  To oversimplify the summary, it was about the distinction between sustaining and disruptive innovation.

Recently, I also came across an article on HBR titled The 4 Types of Innovation and the Problems They Solve, so it seemed appropriate to expand perspectives and dig into what the author had to say.

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S-curves, Innovation & Cash Cows

07 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by Patrick Howard in Uncategorized

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cannibalize, cash cow, innovation, s-curve

Despite the depressingly cyclical nature of products being common knowledge and in plain sight, it’s shocking how many companies refuse to see it and leave themselves ripe for disruption …The only path then, to build a lasting tech company, lies in successfully making the jump from one S-curve to another … the middle of the innovation curve lures companies into thinking that their mission is to protect their existing audience and market share — the most fatal mistake of all.

Stumbled across Why you should kill your cash cow the other day, and it has some insightful reminders all product management leaders should take to heart.

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Adopt, Adapt … but Focus on What Doesn’t Change

01 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by Patrick Howard in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amazon, API, bi-modal, differentiation, digital economy, engagement, innovation, Jeff Bezos, system of record

Digital Business is changing market paradigms and enterprise priorities at blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speeds – Gartner Group

My world intersected with the digital economy several years ago, and as a result I was introduced to the need to move at bi-modal speeds.  Mode 1 deals with the stable, mission critical systems which require conventional approaches.  For many of us who are with companies that have been around for awhile, these can be referred to as ‘systems of record’ … and they generally have been around for a long time.

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Innovation: Start By Doing What Is Necessary …

17 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by Patrick Howard in Uncategorized

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Tags

impossible, innovation

It’s been a couple of years since my post Innovation is a Funnel, Not a Pipe where I made the point not all ideas/products succeed.  But as this quote from Amos Bronson Alcott suggests, the process is a necessary one:

Our bravest and best lessons are not learned through success, but through misadventure.

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