Placing Better Bets in Innovation’s Messy Middle
Innovation leaders must commit resources before they have complete information — but that doesn’t mean betting on an entire project all at once. In this webcast replay, you’ll learn how SmartOrg’s 6Vs framework for Incubation Management helps teams identify and prioritize critical learning, generate decision-relevant evidence, and make more confident Punt, Pivot, or Persevere decisions.
This engaging session focused on:
- Distinguishing Incubation from Discovery and Acceleration—and manage uncertain opportunities with a fit-for-purpose model;
- Directing resources toward the assumptions and experiments most worthy of the next investment; and
- Deciding whether emerging evidence warrants increasing the bet, changing direction, or walking away.
SmartOrg defines the “messy middle” of innovation as that uncertain stretch between discovering an idea and scaling it. SmartOrg CEO David Matheson argued that innovation rarely follows a straight line, while traditional stage-gate and project-management practices often assume it does. As a result, companies may overlook important signals and spend too long pursuing the wrong direction. A drug development example illustrated how early investigation of unexpected heart and kidney effects could have accelerated valuable treatments.
Doug Williams, Associate Director of Innovation at SmartOrg, described incubation as a distinct phase that needs a different approach from execution. Execution plans focus on delivering promised outcomes; learning plans focus on gathering evidence, testing assumptions, and deciding whether to continue, change course, or stop. Participants’ poll responses during the webcast reflected a common gap: incubation was seen as important, but organizations generally rated their effectiveness and efficiency in this work as low.
Matheson presented the 6V framework for guiding incubation: Vision, Vet, Value, Velocity, Venture, and Verdict. A case study about HP’s development of a photo printing kiosk showed how decisive experiments revealed that the “ATM of photo printing” concept was unlikely to succeed, but that retailers valued the printing technology for in-store mini labs — leading to a successful pivot. In the Q&A, Matheson emphasized setting clear expectations with executives, treating early experiments as investments in valuable information, and creating a culture where people can propose ambitious visions without being punished for changing direction.
You can watch the replay above, or download the slides below.
