8 Oct 2008

HTC Innovation Method

Found this great interview with mobile phone maker HTC's CMO, John Wang. In it he discussed the structure HTC put around innovation. You can read the article, but the structure breaks down like this:
  1. Separate Group - HTC created an independent group of 60 "magicians" called "Magic Labs". Magic Labs is different from other product groups in that they do not have specific delivery dates for products. Makes complete sense - it is easy and necessary to have targeted delivery dates for v2, v3 and so on of your product. You can't really say make X product by Y date. I do think you can supplement this with miny target dates for certain prototypes.
  2. Diverse Experiences - HTC populates Magic Labs with skills across functions (mechanical, software, UI, graphic design) and backgrounds (they even have a jewelry designer). This follows a case from 3M where they brought in focus groups of experts from diverse areas to stimulate creativity for a new sterile wrapping product (like a make up expert to shed a new perspective on cleaning wounds). Different perspectives bring about different ideas. I was surprised Wang did not reference marketing as I feel it is important to bring someone trained to deliver the voice of the consumer - and I am not referencing just asking what the consumer wants, I mean skilled at understanding their true needs and emotions.
  3. An Oganization Designed to Fail - I love this! Yes, you read it correctly - an organization designed to fail! Exploration of new ideas requires alot of ideas that go nowhere to fuel success. As Wang puts it, "You want to be able to generate ideas very fast, very cheaply and fail very often but at very low cost." The cross functional nature of the teams builds a organizational competency at quickly building prototypes and tests to validate assumptions and risks of the promising ideas. This helps HTC to quickly, and cheaply, identify the best ideas to invest greater resources.
  4. Support the Winners - When Magic Labs finds a great opportunity, the whole company supports it. This is show in their Touch Flo screen technology that is laid over Windows Mobile to make a better user experience. All of HTC's Windows Mobile phones quickly incorporated the technology into their product lines.
That's HTC's recipe for success. I like the structure, but I just hope that they also are building a marketing competency in that group. Any other thoughts?