The Discovery and Innovation phase as many have mentioned is the part of the life cycle that identifies customer needs, market, and competitors the “Climbing the Hill” phase where we search for ideas, unmet needs and look at how we can do better than competitors. You need to have a target market, understand and segment the market. In this phase Quantitative Research (surveys to customers, questionnaires online, consensus data etc) and Qualitative Research (customer visits, speaking with KOL’s, brainstorming, focus groups etc) to search for needs. Ideas are only the beginning. Then you need to have a strategy and the strategy for the product must fill with the overall company strategy. Execution is when you are “Coming Down the other side of the Hill” . In an Innovation Project you need to have a Dedicated Team, Operations and Shared Staff. Every innovation needs a team with a custom organizational model and strategic plan. The key aspects of this phase include Develop Market Insight and Formulating Strategy as mentioned in lecture:
Developing Market Insight
1. Segment Markets
2. Define Customer Targets
3. Assess Customer Needs
4. Create Customer Personas
5. Detect Industry Trends
6. Evaluate Competitors
7. Compere Competitor Products

Formulating Strategy
1. Establish Strategic Baseline
2. Configure Product SWOT
3. Determine Lifecycle State
4. Uncover Opportunities
5. Integrate Product Relationships
6. Align Cross Functional Teams

Some important takeaways are brought to light when Dr. Simon mentions the 7 Common Mistakes for Partnership between Operations and Dedicated Team; 1. Having a bias for insiders 2. Adopting existing roles and responsibilities 3. Reinforcing regular performance engine power centers 4. Assessing performance with the usual metrics 5. Failing to create distinct culture 6. Using exiting processes and 7. Succumbing to tyranny and conformance. Overall Innovation is about learning and trying new methods and having the freedom to innovate. (Not having to follow company SOPs or include accounting dept etc).