About this project

what is this project and how it's structured?

This project explores a critical challenge related to innovation management, which I call - "The Innovators Drama."

The Innovators' Drama is the answer to the question of why, despite our growing understanding of the different types of innovation, widespread disruptions are rare, but companies are constantly disrupted. Why organizations struggle with innovation projects, and individual change agents and innovation leaders are getting stuck. How come, despite the understanding that innovation is critical to growth and performance, innovation is still a secondary task. So finally, why after a century of innovating, and decades of accelerating markets and transforming industries, innovation is still a highly inefficient business engagement.

The innovators' drama is the accumulation of tensions conflicts and debts among the innovation stakeholders, that distracts or disrupts the innovation process itself. The innovators' drama leads to shifts in attention and resources during the innovation process that threaten the progress, process efficacy, and outcome quality. The innovators' drama is mostly experienced by the feeling of being stuck when we desperately want to move forward.

Too much drama, too little drama, or mixed dramas in an innovation process, have severe effects on the outcome of the innovation process. If we want to expedite innovation processes and reduce their costs to scale them and diffuse them in more areas of our enterprises, we need to be able to identify and respond to the innovators' drama. A highly contextual and incredibly informing, yet, due to its inherent complexities, largely neglected aspect of the innovation process.

While I consider this project to be a book, it is presented in the form of an unbook. To make it more accessible and readable. This work is organized from the end to the beginning, (opposite from the traditional sequence of a book), it begins with the bottom line, and then allow the reader to explore the detailed narratives. To respond to the number of ideas that triggered this work, and to prevent the delays which they necessitate if I was to choose a traditional approach towards writing a book, this un-book is constructed through a mix of agile, lean, and design thinking approaches. This means that it's going to be a work in progress; it will be informed through collective intelligence to focus attention and preserve resources.

There are three main parts in the innovators' drama, which will allow you to decide what you want to read, and to what level you are curious to explore the practical tools and philosophical narratives. It seemed weird to choose a linear process of creation and presentation (A traditional book) regarding a nonlinear practice. So - you can read the conclusion first, Explore the practical approach, and dive into the historical and theoretical backbone of drama as a phenomenon, observational approach, and social instrument.

The innovators' drama - is the introduction and conclusion. This part presents, explains, and elaborates on the phenomenon of the innovators' drama, and the impact of acknowledging and addressing it

Things To Be Done - is a practical approach and methodology that helps identify and engage with the innovators' drama. This part will explain how to utilize this approach and how to integrate it with additional innovation development and management approaches.

Philosophical backbone - comprised of an ever-growing library of related ideas and approaches, and also, stories and observations that help understand the innovators' drama phenomenon at a broader historical, cultural, and philosophical context.

It also felt weird to write a big text and then publish it for discussion (like a traditional book). Trying to incorporate so many ideas without open feedback is precisely the opposite of any product development practices that we embrace these days, so the dialogue around these ideas will shape content - so feel free to introduce your own agreements or disagreements, in this project (As it should be with any project these days, the drama is welcomed!!!

As we explore the innovators' drama, how it evolves, and how we can resolve it, what ideas and themes are related to it, and how does it sit in a broader cultural context. The innovators' drama will transform from an innovation nuisance to an innovation lever and will gain its original role as a powerful tool for dealing with growing complexities, uncertainties, and lack of knowledge.

Post image - Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash