A lot can be said about innovation. But no bridge has been build just by talking. We have to start walking. But how? And in which direction? At work we have the classical problem: the only time we are able to innovate is when something new is sold within a project. But new things are rarely sold because the sales people don't know what the techies are capable of.
As CTO I'm also responsible for technical innovation and this problem was a hard one for me to address. On one side I hear a lot of programmers with great ideas but no time. On the other side I hear the non-technical projectleaders and sales people that we can't keep up with the competition.
So how do we innovate? We have adopted the idea of technical innovation days. On these days we will have brainstorm sessions where programmers will present some great stuff they've been working on. This can range from just some basic idea on a whiteboard to a working prototype. These presentations will last 15 minutes max and then there is time for brainstorming and discussion.
The second thing we are doing is building an internal brainstorm site (like http://www.dellideastorm.com/) where everybody can post their ideas and comment on and "Buzz" other people's idea's. Those are just some basic steps, but like every journey innovation starts with the first step. Giving room and platform for ideas and creating a brainstorm buzz!
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