Leatherman had a thwarted innovation process to be generous. With a throw it at the wall and see if it sticks mentality, I laid out fresh system, that used planned steps and was based in design thinking as the glue for the system.  Generally multiple SME’s were involved in the team that went through this system and  consisted of advanced engineers, a product manager, a materials scientist, a designer and a researcher.

To be fair the backbone was influenced by many existing design thinking and human innovation design but this is integrated into a corporate structure that allowed for a formal review system, this system afforded some discipline and department collaboration in an otherwise random system. This thought and work was kicked off by a manifesto, that aligned and set the expectation of an internal group focused on developing the future of products. The biggest thing not captured here is human behavior and change, the process only goes so far and requires a culture of collaboration and balance. Building relationships and constantly educating and advocating for better ways of thinking toward a common goal. The process created a clear path that many respected.

Manifesto PDF File here:  innovation-7

A core concept throughout the i-phases was this triple triangle idea of DFV – Desirable ? Feasible ? Viable?. The balance of DFV could vary depending on exactly where in the process we were. But a consideration of DFV was needed to keep grounded when appropriate and keep momentum in the projects. The manifesto above talks about DFV.

Below are clips from the stagegate reviews and a process map

At Leatherman, we called the stages “i reviews” , there were 4 basic reviews with different focus.