Innovation and Project Management - Part 3 of 3

This is a continuation of Part 2, and shows how Tom Kelley's The Ten Faces of Innovation is living proof that innovation and project management are not mutually-exclusive, and in fact, must coexist for true success.

In Part 1, we talked about the Learning Personas described in Kelley's book (the Anthropologist, the Experimenter, and the Cross-Pollinator). In Part 2, we discussed the Organizing Personas (the Hurdler, the Collaborator, and the Director). Now we'll examine the final batch of personas, The Building Personas. Again, these are all adapted from Tom Kelley's book, which offers much more details and many real-life stories to illustrate these personas in action (and no, I don't get commission).

The Building Personas

7) The Experience Architect – Designs the customer experience, beyond just the functionality of a product. Comes up with new and creative ways to awe the customer, yet with the same basic product functionality. An example is Cold Stone Creamery, which creates an entertaining experience where the server mixes ice cream with any number of desired toppings on a slab of cold stone. The servers even put on shows. [my added comment is that The Experience Architect can learn from observing others, even in other genres, and as such can gain from the “Cross-Pollinator” and “Anthropologist” personas.]

8) The Set Designer – Creates a fun and vibrant physical working environment that can spark creativity and collaboration. Allows employees great latitude in their personal work spaces. Avoids dull, repetitive spaces. Creates formal and informal public spaces where people can collaborate and brainstorm, with all the appropriate supplies and accommodations.

9) The Caregiver – Anticipates customer needs before, during, and after the engagement, and goes above and beyond normal expectations. Makes it easy for the customer to select the right services, provides useful and quick information when needed, insures easy accessibility by the customer, and builds lasting relationships with the customer.

10) The Storyteller – Builds internal morale and external awareness through compelling stories and case studies that reinforce key values or traits. Builds “corporate legends” that get passed around. Not “spin doctors,” the storytellers get their stories from first-hand accounts from customers or employees. Storytelling builds credibility, unleashes people’s emotions, helps teams bond, and generates lessons learned.

Well, that concludes my summary of Tom Kelley's The Ten Faces of Innovation, and its applicability to project management. As you can hopefully see, what project manager wouldn't benefit from these learning, organizing, and building personas that can lead to a better customer experience, a more satisfied team, and a memorable result?

Sure, we can (and should) still define the scope of the project, manage changes to the agreed-upon scope, and use project scheduling and budgeting techniques (we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater). But we can take our projects to the next level with a strong dose of innovation, and these personas are as good a way to do that as any.