A team member's innovation is delaying projects. How can you ensure deadlines and quality are met?
Innovation is key to growth, but when it delays projects, it's important to find a balance that ensures deadlines and quality are met. Here's how you can manage this:
- Set clear priorities: Define which innovative ideas are mission-critical and which can wait until the next phase.
- Implement checkpoints: Regularly review progress with the innovator to ensure alignment with project timelines.
- Encourage collaboration: Have the innovator work closely with the team to integrate ideas without disrupting workflow.
How do you handle project delays due to innovation? Share your strategies.
A team member's innovation is delaying projects. How can you ensure deadlines and quality are met?
Innovation is key to growth, but when it delays projects, it's important to find a balance that ensures deadlines and quality are met. Here's how you can manage this:
- Set clear priorities: Define which innovative ideas are mission-critical and which can wait until the next phase.
- Implement checkpoints: Regularly review progress with the innovator to ensure alignment with project timelines.
- Encourage collaboration: Have the innovator work closely with the team to integrate ideas without disrupting workflow.
How do you handle project delays due to innovation? Share your strategies.
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To handle this situation there could be multiple strategies that can apply. Stage-Gate Approach: Implement a structured process where innovative ideas are evaluated at different stages. This helps decide whether to continue, pivot, or park certain concepts without affecting the entire project timeline. Time-Boxing Experiments: Allocate specific time frames for trying out new ideas. If the innovation doesn’t show promise within the set period, it’s either scaled down or deferred to avoid delaying the project. Apart from above two strategies, we can also try, if we can allocate more resources, making deadlines flexible without impacting the business etc.
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In the following situations, innovation can have a negative effect on a project: -Innovation with unclear goals -Innovation that does not improve project features -Innovative research without a specific deadline Innovation is important, but it’s even more important to consider how innovation skills can positively impact the project. When innovation is used without clear goals, it can waste time and resources. If innovation doesn’t bring benefits to project features, it may not be worth the effort. Also, without a set deadline, innovative research can take too long and delay the project. To make the best use of innovation, always think about how it can improve the project or bring value.
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Ah, the classic 'poor time-to-market' situation )) 1. If the team has already started on "innovation" and is facing delays, it’s my job to provide the business with a proof of concept that shows why these "innovations" matter and secure additional time if needed 2. Assist the team member in setting priorities for their ideas and tasks 3. Try to keep them motivated by recognizing their contributions and supporting their progress. Pizza and Mountain Dew is way to go 4. I conduct regular progress reviews but with ease so that there’s no pressure on the team member
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In a project to develop a new mobile app, a team member's innovative idea for a machine learning-based feature was delaying the project. We allocated a 2-week timebox for the innovation, created a PoC, and worked collaboratively to integrate the feature, meeting the project deadline and exceeding quality standards.
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make the right combination in the team with also older and experienced team members or involve them into the project. So "make use" of old mistakes which will lead to avoid them
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