Can you foster innovation by using a process, or are the concepts of "process" and "innovation" antithetical to each other? With innovation, you have to do a lot of thinking "outside the box," and processes can make thinking outside the box difficult or restrictive. The trick then is to define a process that helps move innovation along from idea to full implementation without being stifling. If you are struggling with getting your organization to accept innovative ideas or the concept of innovation driven by IT, it might be possible to get some buy-in by defining a process.

CIO magazine recently had an article about the innovation process used at Proctor & Gamble. P&G uses a process they call SIMPL which stands for Simplified Initiative Management and Product Launch (see chart). This process uses some of the concepts of the prototyping software development method where software is developed and implemented on an incremental and trial basis. Rather than spending a year on a new project developing requirements, planning the project, doing the work, and implementing the solution as a whole, the project is approached piecemeal.

In the SIMPL process, there are six main parts to the innovation process - Discover, Design, Qualify, Ready, Launch, and Leverage. These can be useful for any IT organization wanting to stay ahead of the curve rather than lagging behind the competition or their own IT peers. In the Discover stage, new opportunities and ideas are generated. At the same time, there might be some work to begin the creation of a pilot program to test out aspects of the idea. Developing and testing the pilot transitions the project from the Discover phase, through the Design phase, and into the Qualify phase. The Qualify phase is largely used to test out the pilot project to see whether it is actually capable of having an impact and whether it should be rolled out on a larger scale.

During every part of the project from Discovery to Qualification, the project may go back to a previous stage for more work, more idea development, or more testing. However, once the project has Qualified for being rolled out as a new initiative to the whole user base, it goes into the Ready phase. When the project is fully Ready, it goes into Launch mode on a larger scale. One key aspect for IT projects that the SIMPL method uses is Leveraging the project for other purposes. Especially with the growth of Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture, it becomes possible to Leverage the innovation into new opportunities or for other innovations.

In the real world, it is important to be able to talk the talk that business leaders want to hear. Asking business leaders to allow IT to play a role in an organization's innovation can be difficult if IT has a historical role of providing basic services to keep the lights on. By setting a process, business leaders can have something to see how IT can provide product and service innovations. Not only can a process like SIMPL or non-waterfall IT project approach help when dealing with business, it also helps IT avoid sinking lots of money into bad projects.