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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS which ‘front-loads’ creativity into the idea generation phase. Drawing in
part from NASA’s early project management techniques, the
conventional stage-gate model of innovation is shown in Figure 2.1.

Creative idea Preliminary Develop Product Product Full
generation investigation business development testing & production &
validation
case launch

Figure 2.1 The conventional stage-gate model of innovation

Under this model, each stage of activity has to report to a ‘review gate’
before it may proceed to the next stage with military precision. Each
review gate has the power of issuing a go/no-go decision. According to
this conventional model, creativity is restricted to the creative
specialists and once the creative moment has occurred, responsibility
for commercialising the idea is ‘thrown over the gate’ to the logical and
analytical implementers.

Not only does ‘front-loading’ creativity in this way downplay the
importance of logic and analysis in the idea generation step, it also
ignores the important role of intuition and imagination in the three
subsequent steps.

intuition and logic – equal partners It is increasingly

accepted that both intuition and logic have a part to play at every step
in the idea development process, albeit with different levels of
emphasis, and these are not just confined to specific steps of the
process.

both intuition and logic have a part to play
at every step in the idea development
process

At the step of seeking and shaping opportunities, for example, both
logic and intuition perform supporting roles. It was an inquisitive and
analytical salesman of milkshake machines who noticed that one of the
food outlets to which he sold the machines bought comparatively more
machines than the selling space and location seemed to warrant. Closer
investigation of the store revealed to the salesman that the proprietors
had set up a highly effective system to standardise the production of
their food, generating high turnover at good margins. The salesman had