The October issue of Smart Business magazine features an extensive interview with John Nottingham and John Spirk on taking ideas “from mind to market.”
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“Innovation needs to be constant and relentless,” says John Nottingham, co-founder and co-president of the open innovation and product development firm Nottingham Spirk. “That’s why we created our complete ‘vertical innovation’ system to provide a consistent flow and to break down barriers all along the development process.”
Nottingham, along with John Spirk, co-founder and co-president, keep the organization flat and organic to drive consistent communication throughout.
Nottingham says the company has group creative sessions between the company’s teams and client partners, and the ground rules are unambiguous.
“First, there are no bad ideas and everyone builds on the concepts generated,” he says. … “If you have the right process, and I really do feel we have the right process, you can be successful in almost any venture you want to pursue if you have the commitment and the right team.”
The article goes on to cite various Nottingham Spirk successes, and one idea we passed on that not only made it to market, but took an industry by storm. (Spirk: “There are so many of those ideas, and I stopped beating myself up many years ago.”) Read the entire article.
You can also read more about some of the elements of the Vertical Innovation process that Nottingham described: hiring and managing for creativity and fostering a culture of freedom and responsibility.
