Why quitting is key for innovation.
We love starting things. But we find it hard to stop things, because it feels like failure. The key is in how you frame it before you start.
Organizations face the same challenge. Their portfolio grows and grows, until they realize that they are spreading themselves to thinly. That’s when they get consultants in to do a portfolio assessment and help them decide what to cut.
But you don’t need to hire a consultant to keep a lean innovation portfolio.
Simply apply the following practices.
DEFINE KILL CRITERIA BEFORE YOU START
One of the things I do as an innovator is to create new services. Before we start the exploration for a new service, I define with the discovery team in advance WHEN and HOW we will decide whether to continue or to stop or pivot the idea. This sets clear checkpoints for the future, but also creates a sense of urgency
When we don’t do it, and try to later start that conversation it is hard. It makes people who run the initiative feel as though they have done something wrong, they will get defensive. (I learned that one the hard way.) And then it makes it hard to stop things. And things run ineffective for a long time.
MEASURE HOW MUCH YOU QUIT
Additionally, I measured the proportion of started and stopped ideas in our innovation discovery portfolio. This would enable the following learnings: If we didn’t stop anything, we either were not ambitious enough in taking risks OR we were not honest with ourselves about the value and signals of this idea and continued because we were in love with the idea.
MORE TIPS ON QUITTING
There is a great book about quitting that you should read: “Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away” by Annie Duke (2022)
FINALLY…
We can only discover valuable innovation, by trying things out and by knowing when to quit. But quitting is not a failure. It is a valuable insights about what we should and should not spend our time on. This learning is valuable. Every time we quit, it is also a success we should celebrate.
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