Make space for creativity and innovation
It's essential to leave space for innovation - and no, that doesn't mean that week in September, if the project goes well, it means every week.
meeting notes
Make space for innovation and creativity
I do a lot of work with Enterprise sized companies, or certainly very large companies.
There’s a bias towards control and organisation - and delivery. And of course cost. And of course control. More control. Even more control. Did I mention control?
This article first appeared in the Meeting Notes newsletter.
It’s all about delivery. And controlled delivery.
But, we must leave gaps, space, slack, air, capacity, elbow room for innovation and creativity.
I’m not talking about a dedicated week in a year long delivery cycle (although that is better than nothing). I am talking about weaving in creativity and innovation to the very delivery cycle itself.
We can’t force creativity into a three day fire break half-way through the year - when everyone is knackered and those creative ideas have long since gone.
We can’t realistically improve the business by deferring all creative and innovative work to two days in September.
Creativity and innovation should be part of our work - baked into the very fabric of how we work.
When we see something that needs improving - there should be space for creative problem solving.
When we see a gap in the market, we should have time to explore how we could fill it. When we see a chance to create an innovative product, we should have some down-time to create mini experiments.
Sure, innovation weeks, hack-a-thons and creative play weeks are better than nothing, but what can we do to make space for creativity and innovation every week? Every day? As part of our work?
Two tactics I deploy and weave into all the work I do are flow, and frequent creative sessions.
Flow (and slack)
The first is to ensure we're not filling the delivery “capacity” to full.
Not only will work grind to halt if you focus on "filling capacity" but there will also be no space for problems, emerging work, break in work or sickness.
It’s much better to have work flowing, than it is to overload the team’s ability to deliver.
In the UK we have a motorway called the M25. It circles London, and anyone who has been on it knows it can be total carnage, or a fast way to get around London. The goal is to operate it based on the flow idea. It doesn’t always work.
When the M25 is running at capacity (and usually over), nobody is getting anywhere. It grinds to a halt. Accidents, breakdowns, erratic driving, number of cars - they all contribute to the capacity of cars being reached either across the whole system (number of cars), or in isolated areas (accident for example) - and it pretty much stops.
However, there is an ability to limit speeds dynamically, which allows controllers to slow down traffic a few miles behind a slow down, or accident, to try and allow everyone to flow (albeit slower than usual).
There are traffic lights on joining slip roads, allowing controllers to allow in clusters of cars to aid with flow and not overload if traffic levels are high - small batches of cars designed not to overload. Sounds like Kanban 😄
These mechanisms (and plenty more too) are designed to allow cars to flow - rather than reach the motorway's capacity and everybody grind to a halt.
They are also designed to allow police and other emergency responders to deal with issues, breakdowns and accidents - whilst keeping them safe but also trying to allow cars to flow.
It doesn’t always work due to the sheer number of cars exceeding the capacity - but the idea is sound.
How can you adapt some of these strategies (Kanban working limits, pull model of work etc) into your delivery model?
What can you do to give people slack, space and time for creative problem solving and innovation when it’s needed - or deal with issues that pop up, or improvements that are spotted and could be dealt with there and then, or simply just to create a more compelling workplace to drive higher engagement and meaning?
Have a time and space for creativity
Another idea that works well is to ensure a very frequent and focused time for creativity and innovation.
When I run a team we always have a weekly 2 hour slot for creative problem solving. Every week. It’s baked into our agenda, calendars and delivery cadence.
Every week, in the same place, we do creative work. I’ve already written about the power of having a place for certain work.
Instead of having a week in September, or a half-yearly creative sprint, or an innovation week, how can you bring that idea to a business as usual model - a frequent, regular space to innovate and create?
People are naturally creative and innovative - they just need space, time and sometimes, permission, to be creative.