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Title: Experimentation Matters: Unlocking the Potential of New Technologies for Innovation by Stefan H. Thomke ISBN: 1-57851-750-8 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 12 June, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Innovation redefined
Comment: Observation, exploration and experimentation have been the three basic means of learning for scientists. Of these, experimentation calls for the highest levels of external intervention and as a topic by itself has always been of interest to statisticians who have developed powerful techniques to derive maximum information through the least possible number of experiments. Application of these statistical techniques has resulted in substantial reduction in research expenditure, quicker understanding of scientific principles and shorter time to convert ideas into useful products. On the other hand new technologies like simulation, CAD/CAE that harness the advances in computing have completely changed the experimental landscape by providing powerful techniques for rapid and economical experimentation on our desktops and servers. To cite one example discussed in this book, car maker BMW's crash simulation test progressed from 3000 to 700000 finite elements between 1982 to 2002 while simultaneously resulting in reduction of processing time from 3 months to 30 hours. Power of computing enables "front-loaded" innovation - understanding the phenomenon before committing resources into physical manufacturing.
But the lacuna is that experimentation has never been thought as a separate management discipline cutting across functional silos to bring innovative solutions into the marketplace. Experimentation as a strategic tool that needs management attention and involvement is the core theme of this book.
Management deals with producing results under uncertainty. Uncertainty can be broadly classified under technical, production, market and customer needs. Experimentation should tell us not only what will work, but also what does NOT work. The knowledge so derived should seamlessly flow across the Design-Build-Run-Analyze cycle that cuts across departmental boundaries in large organizations. This is analogous to the concept of ERP in business processes. Though this concepts looks simple, organizational barriers prevent the seamless sharing of information for innovation. Design, manufacturing , marketing and procurement functions fail to optimize on the organizational repository of knowledge that can put winning products into the marketplace. This book is an excellent study on how management can use experimentation as a unique strategy within and beyond organizational boundaries. Case studies are quite detailed and well illustrated.
Read this book. It is worth experimenting.
Rating: 5
Summary: This book matters!
Comment: The way to succeed is to double your failure rate. That comment by Thomas Watson, Sr. is not among the innovators' words of wisdom in Stefan Thomke's densely informative exploration of technologies and processes of experimentation but it perfectly fits the message. Central to Thomke's message in this book is the idea that iterated experimentation through the use of models, prototypes, and computer simulations is the key to learning and innovation. Getting the key to fit in the lock of increased organizational innovation capability, however, takes some jiggling and struggling. Experimentation Matters details the technologies that can transform innovation but place just as much emphasis on the changes that must be made to business processes, organization, culture, incentives, and management. Thomke provides plenty of detailed illustrations of companies wrestling with these issues, and offers six principles revolving to help companies experiment early and often and to organize for rapid iteration.
The first part of the book explains in depth the reasons why experimentation matters for learning and innovation, and how new technologies are affecting the development of both products and services. Thomke shows how the rate of learning is influenced by several factors that affect the process and how it is managed: fidelity, cost, iteration time, capacity, sequential and parallel strategies, signal-to-noise ratio, and type of experiment. Beneath the bewildering diversity of approaches to innovation in different industries, Thomke uncovers six principles that can improve how experimentation occurs: Anticipate and exploit early information through front-loaded innovation processes; Experiment frequently but do not overload your organization; Integrate new and traditional technologies to unlock performance; Organize for rapid experimentation; Fail early and often but avoid "mistakes"; and Manage projects as experiments.
In the final chapter, Thomke looks at how some companies are "shifting the locus of experimentation" to customers as a way to create new value. This approach, sometimes referred to as "co-creation", not only raises productivity but helps fundamentally change the sorts of products and services that can be created. Innovation toolkits given to customers need to enable them to iterate through the steps of experimentation, be user-friendly, contain libraries of useful, pretested and debugged components and modules, and they must contain information abut the capabilities and limitations of the production process. In addition to the development of a customer toolkit, Thomke adds four other steps for shifting experimentation and innovation to customers and, very importantly, notes how the creation and capture of value also shifts.
One great strength of Thomke's book is the attention given to the managerial and organizational challenges of implementing new technologies such as computer modeling and simulation and combinatorial and high-throughput testing. As other writers have repeatedly emphasized - but many managers have not yet understood - new technologies *must* be introduced only in concert with revised business processes, structures, and management approaches. Iterated experimentation helps learning by increasing the number of failures. But if incentives continue to punish failures, the new technologies will be underused or misused. Financial incentives, organizational culture, and management communications will have to change if experimenters are to feel free to fail at the most productive rate.
Thomke illustrates and details the crucial role of organization, process, and management in realizing the potential of experimentation technologies with a range of illuminating cases. He devotes a chapter to these effects in the integrated circuit industry, examines the challenges faced by Bank of America in its bold service experimentation efforts, and shows how managers at Eli Lilly struggled with non-technological aspects of high-powered experimentation in the drug discovery process. A study of experimentation in the auto industry, particularly at BMW, suggests several lessons regarding the reality of technology introduction: Technologies are limited by the processes and people that use them; organizational interfaces can get in the way of experimentation; and technologies change faster than behavior. Thomke also shows how managers can look at projects as experiments, reiterating, refining, and learning from them as they proceed through the stages of design, build, run, and analyze.
Rating: 5
Summary: Buy This Book!
Comment: Buy this book!! Thomke's important new book on innovation is the best that I have read. As a lecturer in product development, I would recommend it highly to anyone with an interest in innovation. In particular, it will be of benefit to company executives wishing to improve the efficacy and efficiency of new technology generation and product development within their firms and students of all levels in this area.
New technologies have allowed for experimentation to be conducted on a much larger scale and in a much more cost effective fashion than ever before. However, what most organisations do not realise is that merely employing new technologies is not sufficient to unlock their true value. The organisation itself must be structured to fully exploit their potential. In today's competitive environment, innovation is crucial and speed is the essence. How this can be done most effectively within organisations is the critical issue addressed in this book. Six simple yet practical principles have been promulgated by Thomke to help senior managers optimise value from experimentation.
The importance of experimentation in driving innovation is wonderfully highlighted and Thomke discusses important paradigms such as failing often to succeed sooner as well as contemporary issues thrown up by new technologies such as what to do with the opportunity to experiment more. He even delves into real-world issues of engineers not trusting computer simulations resulting in the seeming paradox of even more physical prototyping.
The book is written in a highly readable style which engages the reader. Particularly fascinating are the case study examples which illustrate vividly the importance of experimentation in driving innovation and the practical value of the principles which he advocates. These studies cover such diverse companies as Eli Lilly, BMW and there is even one on the design of yachts for the America's Cup! User-friendly boxes explaining important concepts such as computer simulation make the book accessible even to those unfamiliar to this field.
All in all, this is an excellent book and it is highly recommended. Five Stars!
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Title: The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor ISBN: 1578518520 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate by Andrew Hargadon, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt ISBN: 1578519047 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 05 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology by Henry William Chesbrough ISBN: 1578518377 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Slow Pace of Fast Change: Bringing Innovations to Market in a Connected World by Bhaskar Chakravorti ISBN: 157851780X Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 12 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Creativity Inc.: Building an Inventive Organization by Jeff Mauzy, Richard A. Harriman ISBN: 1578512077 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 16 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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