Skip to main content

Here are the 3 Things Any Idea Needs to Survive


 

  1. Desirability
  2. Feasibility
  3. Viability

Simple right?

These three things are what make up the Balanced Breakthrough Model. The model highlights the core requirements to become a successful innovation.

Here is a quick breakdown of each element:

Desirability - Is there an actual need for this idea? What specifically is the problem you are solving for people?

Feasibility - Can you actually build / implement the solution? How hard is it with your current context?

Viability -  What is the investment required to create the solution? Is it really worth it? Can you derive long term value from the product or service you develop?


A lot of this may seem obvious, however so many people look to invent or innovate something and then start looking for the problem. Trying to create the context or need for your product to be required is never a good place to be in.

What gets interesting here is when you factor in timing, and this is something that A LOT of people miss. The three elements above are all needed, what happens though when the market isn't ready or the base requirements still are not cheap enough, or the market is not ready to adopt it.


This can lead to a situation where you try to push your innovation into the market too early, and it will fail. The concept of the correct timing is framed beautifully be Steven Johnson in his book "Where do Great Ideas Come From", if you haven't read it yet, I suggest you do.

Never lose sight of the fact that timing and context matter. Being the most visionary person on the planet will never help you sell a product to people who simply are not ready for it.


There are three roads that your innovation goes down as you test versus the Balanced Breakthrough model. Your idea and the market is ready, so it's time to get to work. Your idea is ready but it's too soon or the market is not ready for it, in this case you can try to force your play early (not recommended) or park it and wait until you see more maturity. Third is that your idea fails the test and doesn't have legs, you need to kill it and move on; don't fall in love with your product if no one needs it. 

  

 

 

 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Irony Of A World That Needs Big Leaps

While Promoting Nothing but Fear  The dream of previous generations was to find a good job, settle in, work hard, get promoted and retire. People were happy to be in one place, and for many of them, one place provided them everything they needed. The world has change. Business has changed. People have changed. I recently read the book Jump by Kim Perell. It's not exactly a business book, definitely geared towards taking big leaps - more framed for life in general. The core ideas are great. Nothing dramatically different than a lot of what you will find in other books in the self-help genre, however the presentation is on point and well structured. Kim sets up the three main buckets for why people need to take big leaps (or jumps) in their life. You have no choice (i.e. something has happened to you) You see an opportunity You're feeling stuck The book did connect for me on a personal level, however I found a lot of parallels for my professional life as well. I've spent the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Delicate Dichotomy of “The Right Choice”

  The Best Decision Isn’t Always as Obvious as It Seems Your success at work is correlated to the quality of your relationships. Easy right? It’s common sense. You might even be wondering who doesn’t already know this. The challenge isn’t about attitude though. You’re right, nobody likes the as%ho^e — Don’t be that person. The challenge comes when you have to choose between being right or making the right choice. The Problem My team and I had been working on a large project that had been pushed back multiple times over the years. The market finally got to a point where the problem in the field had to be addressed. We dusted off our files and started looking at the information we had built 3 years prior. We made our plans for what needed to be refreshed and how we would go about it. We cut through the project quickly. The team had matured a lot in that time and those roadblocks from the past were mere pebbles on the road this time around. Cue the problem. The fundamental assumptions...
Post a Comment
Read more

This 1 Thing Increases Your Career Capital More Than Anything Else

The Art of Better Decision Making Have you felt scared to make a decision? Maybe you get preoccupied with making the 'wrong' decision?  Did you know that 68% of people have admitted to not doing because they thought it would be harder than it actually is. Getting comfortable with making decisions is one of the biggest challenges new leaders face. You will be placed in situations where there isn't enough time to get all of the information. Or even harder, you will be placed in situations where you'll never get more information than what you have. The good news? Making better decisions is something that you can improve by being deliberate with your learning and how you choose to approach it. This is the approach I take to decision making. These have been test and is what I have used over my 15 year career to teach and develop teams. - Accept that you will make mistakes. There is rarely a perfect answer. Getting comfortable with ambiguity is a leadership muscle you need to...
2 comments
Read more