Why?

The purpose of the Innovate phase (Figure 17.1) is to make the process(es) within the scope of the project as efficient and effective as possible, to meet stakeholders current and future expectations. This phase also provides a unique opportunity to quantify further, in a more rigorous manner, the benefits outlined in the original business case.

Figure 17.1: Innovate phase.

Why are we doing this Innovate phase, and to what degree of innovation? is a fundamental question that must be answered before you can commence. According to Paul O Neill, Chairman of Alcoa 1991, in a worldwide letter to Alcoa staff in November 1991:

Continuous improvement is exactly the right idea if you are the world leader in everything you do. It is a terrible idea if you are lagging the world leadership benchmark. It is probably a disastrous idea if you are far behind the world standard in which case you may need rapid quantum-leap improvement.

Should the project consider automation as part of this phase? There is also a great comment attributable to Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, in relation to automation:

The first rule of any technology is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Getting the processes right before automation should definitely be a goal, and this was discussed in Chapter 3.

Setting the directions and goals for the Innovate phase is a critical step, and one that needs to...