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Of Incubator, Chook -n- Egg

One of the criticisms leveled at many of the Proof of Concept projects I have been involved with is that they do not produce robust products that are successful in the marketplace.  Until very recently, I have not been involved in any funded work that looks at incubation - hatching good ideas and nurturing them toward a desired end-state.

If the outcome of a successful Proof of Concept project is like a fertilised egg, what are the contitions required for the egg to hatch and for the tiny chick to grow into a strong healthy chook?



Step 1 - Define your Chook.

With software development projects there is often an implicit and rather naive assumption that with just a bit of extra ’spit and polish’ your custom solution will turn into a universally awaited package with a long line of eager buyers.  Anyone who has attempted to develop and sell packaged software knows that two things are true - it is a lot harder than you think to build, even harder to sell more than once.

Maybe there are more realistic ways to re-coup some of the significant investment in designing and building software.  Can services revenue be generated from the expertise gained by team members during the development? Would placing the software or web site in the public domain increase the potential for additional revenue generation? What about approaches such as open-sourcing the code and selling integration and maintenance services?

Whatever you decide, make sure you understand the nature of your ‘chook’ - the end product of a development cycle.

Step 2 - The Incubator.

Having defined your end product think about the ideal conditions in which to hatch the great idea from your Proof of Concept project and nurture it toward becoming a chook.  Chances are those conditions will be very different from the ideal conditions for generating creative ideas during the Proof of Concept.  Think about the roles of various team members - it is highly likely that the wizard programmer who worked through the night to perform miracles during a Proof of Concept is not the best candidate for on-site services work at a paying customer!

A chick needs a safe, warm environment in which to begin its life.  What are the equivalents to the cardboard box, straw, warm light and water for your project? 

I hope the notion of separating the conditions that suit the ‘laying of an egg’ from those that suit ‘hatching and initial growth’ is helpful in fostering innovation at your workplace.

Fang - Mike Seyfang

And thanks to BlueskyPol for granting permission to use the excellent Flickr image in this post.

This entry was posted Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 6:36 am and is filed under culture. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Of Incubator, Chook -n- Egg”

  1. Jerry’s work blog » on Innovation Says:
    October 25th, 2007 at 10:31 pm

    [...] interesting article on incubators, proof of concepts, innovation and ‘laying eggs’ on the ‘process of [...]

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