While establishing market differentiation can be accomplished by introducing innovative new products, maintaining that market differentiation may prove to be a bit more difficult. Here we have put together a ten-part series on how to generate higher returns from your innovation investments.

From our series of highly informational articles, companies will learn: how to treat innovation as a cross-functional business process, how to align innovation execution and business strategy; how to create sustainable innovation; how to train your senior executives to successfully execute innovation initiatives; how to effectively manage process and project management; how to measure performance of your processes; how to ensure broad stakeholder buy-in; how to understand the importance of product roadmaps; how to provide the tools necessary for successful product innovation; and finally, how to ensure that portfolio management coincides with process management.

Here is one of the ten practices that leading innovators use to increase the payback from innovation spending: Effectively Managing Process and Project Management.

Effectively Managing Process and Project Management

Many organizations make the mistake of equating innovation process management with project management. Innovation process management allows executives, portfolio managers, and process owners to take a global view of how product innovation is being strategically planned and systematically executed throughout the organization. In effect, process management provides the foundation for project management. Conversely, project management entails tracking and scheduling hundreds, if not thousands, of tasks related to creating a new product and bringing it to market.

For example, in the lifecycle of a new vehicle 80,000 or more tasks may be required to design, manufacture, market, and sell the car. However, the decision support needs of senior management center on only a few, high-level considerations, such as safety requirements, benefit to the customer, and the unique needs of particular geographical areas. A well-conceived innovation process allows senior managers to determine how these requirements and other external market, technological, and regulatory factors might impact the overall value of the car.

Though project management and process management serve dramatically different purposes within an organization, there is a symbiotic relationship between the two. For a company to get the most out of their investments in innovation, both are needed.

For more insight into the top practices that leading innovators use to increase their returns on innovation spending, look for the next article in this ten-part series: Measuring Performance of Your Processes.