Dan Stark, Director of Product Strategy
I had an incredibly creative team that was always thinking of new ways to provide value to our members, but invariably, adapting our solutions to embrace these ideas was prohibitively expensive.
Instead, we would improvise, using our existing solutions, such as Access or Excel, to track our success. Of course, when it came time to bring all the information together to paint a picture of our overall progress toward organizational goals, we had to jump through all sorts of hoops.
Beyond technology, there are other aspects of startup companies that would benefit associations as they think about innovation. One is the development of a Minimum Viable Product. This is a concept used broadly in software development that allows companies to bring products to market that meet customer needs, and then continually improve them over time, based on feedback.
Another is the development of personas and user stories to help understand how what you are trying to build will anticipate the needs of your members. Adopting these two strategies will help your team members immensely as they try to figure out how to bring new products to market.
Regardless of the processes you put in place, if your technology fails to support the innovative ideas your team brings to the table, you will not be able to fully realize their potential. In Part 2 of our eBook series, “Transcending the Traditional,” we discuss how your technology solutions should support your efforts to adopt a more innovative culture.
