Steven Palmer

For quite some time now, the terms “Agile” and “Innovation” have been the “talk of the town.” Companies are asking “how can we get ahead and stay ahead of our competitors?” Government is asking how can we better serve our communities with reduced budgets?

These questions all too often lead to Agile transformations and innovation contests. But ensuring innovation success is more than just doing things faster or randomly trying new stuff. To really ensure innovation success, an organization must make innovation and proper project management a part of their very being.

This presentation will walk through the methods and techniques required to marry Agile and innovation to the fabric of an organization using some new and some seasoned project management practices. And we will highlight how management can stay engaged and set their organization’s direction, without stifling the creativity of their employees.

Success in life and in business all starts with a plan. Innovation is no different. Yet too many businesses don’t properly plan for innovation, instead viewing it as a serendipitous act delivered straight from the business gods into the unsuspecting laps of corporate executives.

This lack of planning is a scary proposition in a world where companies are now earning billion-dollar valuations in 16 months and the average corporate lifespan is one-third of what it once was.

This presentation talks through the major muscle movements involved in successful innovation planning, while identifying the necessary tools, tips, tricks, and techniques to implement it. We walk attendees through how an organization can identify areas ripe for innovation. And audience members receive a free copy of Ever Evolving’s proprietary Innovation ranking recipe designed to help executives identify what innovations to invest in.

Businesses are focusing more of their efforts on innovation than ever before. In 2017, worldwide spending on innovation went up by 3.2% and Amazon alone just spent over $22 BILLION on R&D efforts. However, increasingly more and more of that money is wasted as companies don't innovate effectively. A McKinsey & Company survey from 2016 showed that only 6% of corporate executives were happy with the performance of their R&D efforts.

The presentation will focus on the importance of innovation in the current business landscape. We will look at how successful companies are continuously looking for new products and process improvements, the leverage that that approach provides them, some of the common pitfalls companies experience while cultivating a culture of Innovation, and some tips and tricks on how to navigate those pitfalls.