Use a Kanban approach to set up a steady stream of innovative ideas

How does an innovation lab build a pipeline for great ideas? Hear dozens of tips and tricks from Capital One Innovation Lab about how they use Kanban techniques to generate powerful ideas and build a culture of experimentation.

Learn what is so hard about innovating and the common mistakes businesses make when trying to become more innovative. The second part of the talk explains how incorporating a little structure can help the idea generation and testing processes thrive. The structure uses a Kanban style approach and highlights the need for real-time communication, transparency and prioritization. The final part of the talk explores how incorporating rituals can automate the process of generating and reviewing ideas, leading to a more consistent pipeline.

  1. Why Innovation Isn’t Easy - Exploring the pitfalls & common mistakes - Importance of creating a trusting environment where ideas can thrive - Resisting the urge to poke holes in an idea before it’s been fully explored - Balancing the need to let an idea grow vs. move on to new work - What an innovation portfolio normally looks like vs. what it should look like
  2. Structuring The Ambiguity - How providing a little structure can help to develop ideas - Building an Innovation Backlog using Kanban techniques - Choosing a system of record to track ideas (ex. Confluence or Jira) - Why it’s important to set the criteria for successful ideas - Nailing down your vocab - never saying “NO” - Getting transparent & well documented feedback from leadership (ex. Confluence or Jira) - Making it part of your weekly routine (1 hour per week devoted to reviewing ideas)
  3. Rituals Make It Happen - How to set up rituals that feed your Innovation Backlog - Using Hackathons as a time to bolster your Innovation Backlog & quickly generate new ideas in a short amount of time - How to conduct an Innovation Backlog Review - Exploring unique ways to incentivize idea generation (Ex. Patent Parties)
TAGS  innovation, upstream, experimentation

Sarah Cunningham

Sarah Cunningham is an Agile Program Manager at Capital One’s Innovation Lab in Washington, DC. Sarah specializes in testing and perfecting the processes that enable a corporate incubator to run successfully. As an Agile Coach, Sarah works with both software and hardware development teams to bring Agile methods to projects in all phases of product development.