Innovator

The Innovator is the committed owner of an idea who guides it through the Validation Phase and, when approved, through the Experimentation Phase(s). The Innovator, if needed and willing, may play a role in the Scaling Up phase and Embedding Phases of the innovation as well.

Details

An Innovator can be anyone within the organization who identifies a new technology, potential product or service which he/she believes has business value. Innovators are people who are determined to push their idea, with the help of Innovation Coaches, through the different phases of the Innovation Level. Regardless of their organizational function or role, Innovators are appointed as such by the Innovation Coaches at the moment when their idea is validated and accepted to enter the Portfolio Kanban. Being an Innovator is a temporary role and it is not an organizational function. After the Experimentation Phase, the role of the Innovator stops and is gradually transferred to the Business Owner. This transfer of ownership happens during the Scaling Phase.

Responsibilities

  • Working on the Innovative Idea
  • Validating the business value of this idea using Validation Methods
  • Determining biggest fail factors
  • Formulating testable hypotheses
  • Assessing the requirements for a short cycled experiment
  • Pitching the suggested experiment to the Continuous Innovation Board to get resources, budget and expert support
  • Testing hypotheses with the Innovation Team in a real-life environment
  • Presenting the results of experiments to relevant stakeholders