Managing Innovation vs. Managing Operations

 

 

 

"Manager's confidence is built by mastering operations.
Entrepreneur's confidence is built by experimenting with opportunities."

 

 

 

Operating

Innovating

Creating today's revenue

Creating tomorrow's revenue

Managers are in charge

Leaders are in change

Following rules

Breaking rules

Steps are mostly linear

Steps are mostly non-linear

Single route and result

Multiple routes and results

Driven by functional teams

Driven by cross-functional teams

Failures are punished

Noble failures are permitted

Reworking is waste

Reworking is a part of learning and moving forward

Clear, shared goals

Unclear, often conflicting goals

Clear front end

Fuzzy front end

Easy to measure

Tough to measure

Rich historical data

Poor historical data

Scientific forecasting possible

Scientific forecasting impossible,

simulation games are used instead

Short cycle time

Long cycle time

Many common causes

Many special causes

Traditional players & roles

New players & roles

Doing things right

Doing right things