In the last chapter, we dived deep into the innovation sandbox. A greatly important topic to any startup, which can be applied also in massive companies with a project-like-startup inside.
As usually, it’s not over. Innovation sandbox makes so much sense to startups that it would be a shame not to share more info about it. Here are some tips on how to make sure that the sandbox will work for you.
From phase to phase
When it comes to innovation sandbox, the biggest problem is that one team travels with the product to different phases. This team joins other teams in development, design, etc. That means many people with valuable time are being occupied when it’s not necessary. Result? Many good and creative managers or employees are wasting their time after their work should be done.
When the product leaves the hands of the design team, it should not go back and the team should start working on something else. Probably a completely new product or a feature. The problem is that many team members will get stuck in this cycle and so will the future development. That is dangerous.
Maybe this is the reason why many huge corporations have to take so much time to develop something? Or is it, because the employees are way more occupied with something but they could work on something more meaningful? Or both?
The cure
I guess you already know where I’m heading with this one. To put all the phases together (because that’s what you do when you move teams across the phases) is a nonsense. A better way to solve it is to create multifunctional teams which will focus only on their phase, on their work.
But, there is a huge exception. Whenever a company or a startup is so lucky as to have a really, really good manager who can see the bigger picture of the whole process, you can allow the teams move across the phases. But know this. There can be chaos! (no kidding)
For your information
Creating innovation sandbox means you have to be patient. You are creating a breathing ecosystem inside your company. The results will rarely come in a short time. Working in the sandbox is like creating another startup body. With a uniquely responsive system.
The key factor is the ability of the team to generate experience. If yes, everything is going the right way and there is no chance that they won’t generate scalable experiments. You simply have to get to know the sandbox environment first.
If the sandbox is growing and this results in the growth of innovations and company revenue, you have to start the cycle again. If the product inside the sandbox gets too big, there is a need to create new rules and mechanism important for critical operations.
New teams will need new sandboxes.
