How To Foster Innovation In Engineering Projects

HOW TO CREATE SAFE SPACES FOR UNSAFE IDEAS You hire brilliant people and tell them to innovate. Then you make it impossible for them to do so. Most companies develop an immune system that rejects new ideas like they're some kind of virus. Here are the five innovation killers you need to spot and eliminate: KILLER #1: DEMANDING CRYSTAL BALL ACCURACY You want detailed business cases for projects that are inherently uncertain. The fix: Create different approval processes for exploration vs. execution. Exploration projects get smaller budgets and you measure success by what you learn, not what you earn. KILLER #2: BEING SCARED OF EVERYTHING Your processes are designed to avoid any downside risk, which also kills any upside potential. The fix: Separate "experiments you can't afford to mess up" from "experiments you can't afford not to try." Different projects, different comfort levels with risk. KILLER #3: MAKING INNOVATION FIGHT FOR SCRAPS Innovation projects have to compete with your proven money-makers for resources. The fix: Set aside dedicated innovation resources. 10% of engineering time, 5% of budget, just for projects where you don't know what'll happen. KILLER #4: JUDGING EVERYTHING ON QUARTERLY RESULTS You evaluate innovation projects on the same timelines as your day-to-day operations. The fix: Innovation gets measured by learning cycles, not calendar quarters. Success is about insights you gain, not deadlines you hit. KILLER #5: THINKING FAILURE MEANS SOMEONE SCREWED UP You define success as "execute the original plan perfectly." The fix: Success becomes "figure out what works as fast as possible." Changing direction gets celebrated, not punished. The framework that can transform your innovation culture: EXPLORE → EXPERIMENT → EXECUTE EXPLORE PHASE: Small budget, big questions. Win = quality insights. EXPERIMENT PHASE: Medium budget, specific hunches. Win = fast validation (or fast failure). EXECUTE PHASE: Full budget, proven concept. Win = flawless delivery. Different phases, different rules, different ways to win. Companies don't lack innovative ideas. They lack innovative environments. QUESTIONS TO DIAGNOSE YOUR INNOVATION IMMUNE SYSTEM: ❓How many good ideas die in approval meetings instead of real-world tests? ❓What percentage of your "failed" projects actually teach you something valuable? ❓How long does it take to get approval for a $10K experiment vs. a $10K efficiency upgrade? ❓Do your best people feel comfortable pitching risky ideas? If your best employee came to you tomorrow with a risky but potentially game-changing idea, would they feel safe pitching it? *** I’m Jennifer Kamara, founder of Kamara Life Design. Enjoy this? Repost to share with your network, and follow me for actionable strategies to design businesses and lives with meaning. Want to go from good to world-class? Join our community of subscribers today: https://lnkd.in/d6TT6fX5 

I've scaled AI and cloud across industries. Yet the real lever? Shaping a culture where innovation is instinctive, not an initiative. Here’s how I do it Tech alone doesn't drive change. It's the human element that sparks true innovation. Here's what I've learned about fostering a culture of innovation: 1. Embrace curiosity at all levels Encourage questions, exploration, and continuous learning 2. Reframe failure as feedback Create safe spaces for experimentation and iteration 3. Cultivate diverse perspectives Innovation thrives when different viewpoints collide 4. Empower decision-making Trust your team to take calculated risks 5. Celebrate small wins Recognize progress to maintain momentum 6. Connect tech to purpose Help everyone see how innovation impacts the bigger picture 7. Foster cross-functional collaboration Break down silos to spark unexpected ideas 8. Lead by Pizza Model the innovative mindset you want to see and award teams with Pizza parties. Remember: The most powerful tool in your tech stack is the collective mindset of your team. Shift your focus from just implementing new tech to nurturing the innovative spirit of your people.

I am constantly thinking about how to foster innovation in my product organization. Building teams that are experts at execution is the easy part—when there’s a clear problem, product orgs are great at coming up with smart solutions. But it’s impossible to optimize your way into innovation. You can’t only rely on incremental improvement to keep growing. You need to come up with new problem spaces, rather than just finding better solutions to the same old problems. So, how do we come up with those new spaces? Here are a few things I’m trying at Duolingo: 1. Innovation needs a high-energy environment, and a slow process will kill a great idea. So I always ask myself: Can we remove some of the organizational barriers here? Do managers from seven different teams really need to say yes on every project? Seeking consensus across the company—rather than just keeping everyone informed—can be a major deterrent to innovation. 2. Similarly, beware of defaulting to “following up.” If product meetings are on a weekly cadence, every time you do this, you are allocating seven days to a task that might only need two. We try to avoid this and promote a sense of urgency, which is essential for innovative ideas to turn into successes. 3. Figure out the right incentive. Most product orgs reward team members whose ideas have measurable business impact, which works in most contexts. But once you’ve found product-market fit, it is often easiest to generate impact through smaller wins. So, naturally, if your org tends to only reward impact, you have effectively incentivized constant optimization of existing features instead of innovation. In the short term things will look great, but over time your product becomes stale. I try to show my teams that we value and reward bigger ideas. If someone sticks their neck out on a new concept, we should highlight that—even if it didn’t pan out. Big swings should be celebrated, even if we didn’t win, because there are valuable learnings there. 4. Look for innovative thinkers with a history of zero-to-one feature work. There are lots of amazing product managers out there, but not many focus on new problem domains. If a PM has created something new from scratch and done it well, that’s a good sign. An even better sign: if they show excitement about and gravitate toward that kind of work. If that sounds like you—if you’re a product manager who wants to think big picture and try out big ideas in a fast-paced environment with a stellar mission—we want you on our team. We’re hiring a Director of Product Management: https://lnkd.in/dQnWqmDZ #productthoughts #innovation #productmanagement #zerotoone

In “The Venture Mindset”, we explore how successful companies foster innovation by prioritizing people over rigid processes. However, placing people over process does not mean that there is no process at all.     Chaos doesn't necessarily translate into innovation; moreover, it can easily destroy ideas. The design should facilitate cutting through quite a bit of the internal bureaucracy and keeping the development team small, independent, fluid, and protected from internal politics. Let's examine two examples of this principle in action: Case Study 1: Gmail at Google Google's approach to Gmail is a textbook example of the power of trusting talented individuals: 1. The project started with a single engineer, Paul Buchheit.  2. Leaders provided a vague directive: "Build some type of email or personalization product."  3. There were no strict feature lists or rigid processes.  4. Google executives supported the project and bet on its potential. Result: Gmail revolutionized email services and became one of Google's most successful products.    Case Study 2: The Happy Meal at McDonald's The Happy Meal's success shows how intrapreneurship can thrive even in traditional corporate environments: 1. Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño, a McDonald's franchisee in Guatemala, developed the concept.  2. She created a children's menu without approval from headquarters.  3. McDonald's world conventions allowed for idea exchange.  4. Executives recognized the potential and scaled the idea globally.  Result: The Happy Meal became a worldwide success and a staple of McDonald's offerings.    Here is what you can do to support the employees in your company:  1. Trust your talent: Give motivated individuals the freedom to pursue their ideas.  2. Provide resources: Offer support and necessary tools without micromanagement.  3. Create "racetracks": Design systems that allow for rapid development and testing of new ideas, with clear funding mechanisms, simple rules, guardrails, and milestones.  4. Embrace calculated risks: Be willing to bet on promising projects, even if they're unconventional.  5. Scale successes: When local innovations show promise, be ready to implement them more broadly.    How does your organization balance structure and freedom to foster innovation? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments! #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #founders #venturemindset 

When your team has better ideas than you As a leader, there's nothing quite like the humbling experience of having your ideas gently (or not so gently) dismantled by your team. I encourage my team to challenge the status quo—even if it means questioning my ideas (which they enjoy a bit too much!). But hey, who doesn't love a good reality check over their morning coffee? For years, leadership was associated with being the person in the room with all the answers. But let's be honest—no one has all the answers, not even the person who swears they know the secret ingredient in their grandmother's legendary chili (it's cinnamon, by the way). Leadership expert Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, emphasizes the importance of "Level 5 Leaders" who display humility & empower others to contribute. Research by Anita Woolley at CMU suggests that collective intelligence—a group's ability to perform a wide variety of tasks—is not determined by the smartest individual but by how well the group works together. In other words, a team that communicates effectively & values everyone's input can outperform groups that don't. Allowing your team to question you isn't just about humility (though it does keep the ego in check). It fosters innovation. Google's famous "20% time" policy encourages employees to spend a portion of their time on projects they are passionate about, leading to products like Gmail & AdSense. Sure, it stings a little when your team pokes holes in your plan, but consider this: Would you rather find out the flaws now or after your project has taken a nosedive? Encouraging open dialogue creates a safety net where ideas can be tested & improved upon. Plus, watching your team gleefully deconstruct your proposal can be oddly entertaining—like watching a pack of wolves tackle a particularly feisty piece of meat. How do you cultivate a team that challenges you? • Create a safe environment: Make it clear that all ideas are welcome, even those that contradict yours. Maybe avoid doing this before your second cup of coffee. • Ask open-ended questions: Instead of "Do you agree?" try "What are your thoughts on this proposal?" This opens the floor for discussion rather than simple yes-or-no answers. • Embrace the "yes, &..." approach: This technique from improv comedy encourages building on ideas rather than shutting them down. It also makes meetings feel more like a fun game than a tedious obligation. • Celebrate the challengers: Recognize & reward those who dare to speak up. This reinforces the behavior & makes others more likely to join in. Just don't let it go to their heads—they might start challenging you on your choice of tie. By fostering an environment where challenging the status quo is not just allowed but encouraged, you unlock the full potential of your team's collective intelligence. Plus, you get the added bonus of keeping yourself humble—& isn't that what leadership is all about? #Leadership #Management #Ideas #Teamwork

Ever found yourself facing a team that might not naturally be considered "creative," but you know deep down there's untapped potential waiting to be ignited? That's where the real magic happens – when you transform a group of individuals into a powerhouse of innovation! Here are a few strategies to nurture creativity in even the most unexpected places: 1️⃣ Diverse Perspectives: Embrace the beauty of diversity within your team. Different backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets can create a melting pot of ideas that spark innovation. 2️⃣ Encourage Curiosity: Cultivate a culture of questioning and curiosity. Challenge your team to explore the "what ifs" and "whys" to uncover new solutions. 3️⃣ Collaborative Storming: Gather your team for brainstorming sessions. Fostering an environment where no idea is too outrageous encourages free thinking and inspires unique concepts. 4️⃣ Cross-Pollination: Encourage your team to draw inspiration from unrelated fields. Sometimes, the most innovative solutions come from connecting seemingly unrelated dots. 5️⃣ Empower Ownership: Give individuals ownership of projects and allow them to take creative risks. When people feel their ideas matter, they're more likely to contribute their creative juices. 6️⃣ Learning from "Fails": Embrace failure as a stepping stone to success. Encourage your team to share their failures and lessons learned – these experiences often lead to innovative breakthroughs. 7️⃣ Structured Creativity: Implement frameworks like Design Thinking or Ideation Workshops. These structured approaches can guide your team to think creatively within a defined framework. 8️⃣ Celebrating Small Wins: Recognize and celebrate every small burst of creativity. This positive reinforcement encourages more innovative thinking. 9️⃣ Mentorship and Learning: Pair up team members with differing strengths. Learning from each other's expertise can lead to cross-pollination of ideas. 🔟 Lead by Example: Show your own passion for creativity. When your team sees your enthusiasm for innovation, it's contagious! Remember, creativity is not exclusive to certain roles or industries – it's a mindset that can be nurtured and cultivated. So, let's harness the potential within our teams, empower individuals to think outside the box, and watch as innovation unfolds before our eyes! #InnovationAtWork #whatinspiresme #culture #teamwork #CreativeThinking #TeamCreativity #LeadershipMindset #bestweekever

Innovation is the output of repeatable behaviors, reinforced every day. When those behaviors are designed intentionally, innovation becomes predictable. Here are five that matter. 1. Make curiosity non-negotiable. Curiosity is a leadership trait, and in innovative organizations, questions are valued as much as answers. People are encouraged to notice misalignment, challenge assumptions, and ask why things exist the way they do. When curiosity is rewarded, stagnation has nowhere to hide. 2. Normalize experimentation at a small scale. Breakthroughs come from disciplined tests: clear hypotheses, limited scope, fast feedback. When experimentation becomes routine, teams stop protecting ideas and start validating them. Risk goes down because learning speeds up. 3. Treat past innovation as data. Most companies either celebrate the wins or bury the losses. Innovative ones do neither. ↳ They look closely at what worked. ↳ They’re honest about what didn’t. ↳ They pull patterns from both, without rewriting the story. That’s how judgement gets built. And over time, judgement grows faster than creativity ever will. 4. Tighten feedback loops relentlessly. Innovation dies when teams operate in isolation. Strong leaders keep ideas close to reality. Fast feedback prevents wasted effort and forces ideas to evolve or be abandoned early. Learning velocity matters more than idea originality. 5. Engineer diversity of thought. Homogeneous teams refine what already exists, and diverse teams rethink the problem itself. When ideas are challenged from different angles, unseen risks show up sooner, and opportunities surface earlier. This is an operational advantage. Innovation becomes predictable when leaders stop waiting for inspiration and start building systems that generate insight. Innovation requires discipline. And the organizations that understand this build environments where breakthroughs are inevitable.

An exec asked me how to fire up innovative activity in a high-compliance corporate culture. I answered that behavior always has a structural component. In addition to saying good words, you also have to change the environment in a material way: Provide rewards for the behavior you want, and stop rewarding performative over-compliance. Let individuals participate in the upside of patents they help generate. Add innovation into the job description. Promote people risk-takers as long as they generate valuable learning. In short, show, as well as tell, people that you're serious. There's one more really important element: Convenience! Make innovation the easiest thing people do all day! Make it easy to talk to customers, make it easy and pleasing to dig into prototyping materials, make it easy to get leader eyes on a regular basis for feedback, connections and resource needs. Make innovation a habit.

Engineering Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast: Lessons from the Trenches Early in my career, I led engineering teams facing seemingly impossible deadlines on mission-critical projects. I also lead a sports team from underdog status to multiple championships. What I learned in both worlds is that success hinges on building a strong team culture. When we create a culture of trust, collaboration, and psychological safety, incredible things happen. Team members feel empowered to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and even make mistakes – all essential ingredients for innovation. This was the secret sauce that helped my teams overcome challenges and consistently exceed expectations. Here are the key takeaways: 💡Open Communication is Key: Create a space where everyone feels heard and respected. 💡Celebrate Effort, Not Just Outcomes: Acknowledged hard work and the lessons learned from both successes and failures. 💡Invest in Growth: Prioritize professional development and empower your team. 💡Lead with Empathy & Trust: Empower your team members to take ownership and make decisions. Remember, a thriving team isn't just about having the smartest people in the room. It's about creating an environment where everyone feels valued, supported, and inspired to do their best work. What are your experiences with building high-performing teams? Share your insights, and let's learn from each other! #engineeringculture #leadership #innovation #collaboration #psychologicalsafety #teamwork

I recently caught up with someone who works in innovation, and we dove deep into what separates projects that soar from those that crash and burn. Two patterns kept emerging from every success story: Dedicated Innovation Leadership Successful innovation projects consistently have a committed individual responsible for driving, leading, and tracking progress. Not a committee. Not a part-time role. One person who wakes up thinking about it and goes to bed planning the next move. Phased Strategic Execution The most impactful projects are structured into clear, incremental phases. Each with well-defined goals and a strategic "first win" that justifies continued investment and unlocks the next stage. The projects that fail? They try to boil the ocean. No clear owner. No phases. Just a massive transformation promise that dies in PowerPoint. But here's what really matters... In aerospace, where a single project can span years and millions, these two factors aren't nice-to-haves. They're the difference between innovation theater and actual transformation. Your move: Look at your innovation initiatives. Do they have a dedicated person who is responsible for the outcome? Is there a clear first win within 90 days? What patterns have you seen separate successful innovation projects from the rest? #Innovation #Aerospace #Leadership #ProjectManagement #Manufacturing