Oh, it was hot here over weeks now…up to 39 C. When I was in Finland I thought I'll swim a lot in its great water world. But the weather and water was quite chilly so I hiked a lot…returned, I thought I'll hike through the woods of the rolling hills north of Linz, but I swam instead…
However, among other exciting projects, I went into the lab again and reviewed The Innovation Mesh
The Five Leaf Type Clover
What's the first thing that I do, when I asses an innovation…and what's the first thing I recommend an innovator to do? Find out what types the innovation is (is going to be). The types classify the innovation in order to manage the expectations of actors and clients. It's done for books, theaters, films, shows...many years. It's called genres and it's what marketers and promoters put at covers, trailers…
But there's more…innovation types control conventions, obligatory tasks, points of view, needs…and finally methods and technologies.
The Time Type tells you how fast the innovation works related to a real behavior and how well it is synchronized with it,
The Reality Type tells you how far the innovation disrupts our believes. Do they refer to facts, real world behavior, support the problem solving process itself, or provide insights into a virtual, speculative world?
The Style Types classifies the appeal of an innovation…are they documentary, literary, graphical or even theatrical?
The Structure Type tells us how the innovation is going to change our lives…do they represent how single or multiple objects/agents flow through single or multiple processes, or do they represent interacting (intelligent) objects/agents?
The Matter Type describes the innovation energy…It's divided into Purpose Type - what is the innovation for and what are it's drivers...and Realization Type - how the innovation works and how it is built.
I've selected quantitative innovations, because they're difficult and thrilling and I know them better…I concentrate on them when going deeper;
The Macro Innovation
Having a clear understanding of the types of a quant innovation, I create what I call The Quant Innovation Mesh a one-page scheme to figure out the objectives of the innovation but much more important: how they are achieved. It represents the macro point of view.
It's my strong believe that most quant innovation need Preprocessing, Processing and Postprocessing and I try to identify the constructors, progressive problems and solutions in each of this steps.
This is my first attempt when walking through a quant innovation. They're important…from the user point of view the constructors act as a kind of a beginning hook, the management of the progressive problems, the middle build and the solutions the end payoff. The management of progressive problems is the tricky part. This is where users may get hung up.
Then I look into the Big Wants and Needs, Point of View, Obligatory Tasks…and finally Conventions and Core Technologies,
On that one-page scheme I get the entire outline of the innovation…and I recommend that innovators do it if they want to self assess their quant innovation.
The Micro Innovation
I've have got the macro view of the innovation. I understand the innovation is working in steps from the begin to the end. It's meeting conventions and obligatory tasks. Can I help to make it better…a classic of the future?
To do that I need the micro view…and the the most important tool is The Quant Innovation Spreadsheet - it goes through the tasks and its columns include Events, Changes, Points of View, Timing, Actors, Worldview and Realization. In The Quant Innovation Spreadsheet I've filled a rough scheme in for UnRisk CM for better readability…but it's usually much more comprehensive.
So why am I tracking the events, points of view, timing…from task to task? Because I want to know whether or not the innovation helps the actors to make the required changes to improve a quality, make a system more productive, flexible…or solve a problem...
Quant innovations have life cycles and come in releases…so it's an iterative work and the schemes help finding changes and even turning points required to stretch and expand market segments for the innovation.
The Big Flow
I've now the The Quant Innovation Mesh and The Quant Innovation Spreadsheet. Sometimes it may help to put them together by creating an info-graphic. Especially when actors need to work against dangerous events, bad actions or the clock…
Then I describe the required changes (external and internal values) across a task-axis. The upper part of the graph connotes the "positive" below the "negative". The info-graphic may show fluctuations and help showing whether the flows are logically sound, the timing and synchronization points are sound…I see possible break points that may sabotage the innovation.
Visualizing the entire quant innovation is fun…but there are other ways combining the Macro and Micro getting the Big Picture.