5 Tips to Manage Innovation Projects From Jake Carter at Digital PM Summit

On October 21, Credera’s Chief Innovation Officer Jake Carter spoke at the 2020 Digital PM Summit hosted by the Bureau of Digital. This virtual summit brought digital project management professionals together to learn from one another through presentations from industry experts.

Carter shared five tips on how to manage innovation projects. He drew on his experience as Credera’s chief innovation officer and wide-ranging client work, which includes Hilton Worldwide, Essilor of America, 7 Eleven, and many others. At Credera, Jake and his team work with leading companies to improve their innovation efforts and results. His work has been featured in Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and others.

During his presentation, Carter argued that innovation projects cannot be managed like any other project. If project managers fail to treat innovation projects differently, they could actually stifle innovation or miss the intended results.

“Traditional projects look like straight lines. They are relatively predictable, tend to have clear goals, and are typically plan-driven,” Carter explained. “Innovation projects, on the other hand, are unpredictable, highly ambiguous, and often hypothesis or experiment-driven. Because of that, you have to think about them differently.”

Through his presentation, Carter outlined five tips to manage innovation projects more effectively:

1. Know how innovation projects differ from more traditional projects.

2. Set expectations as to how the project will operate differently.

3. Apply the right degree of structure to unlock creativity, not suffocate it.

4. Stay laser-focused on what matters given the stage of the innovation at hand.

5. Measure the full value of the project, not just direct impacts.

Download the full presentation by completing the form below. If you’re interested in learning more about managing projects or how to drive innovation at your organization, reach out to Credera at findoutmore@credera.com.

• Innovation Acceleration
• Innovation
• Innovation Strategy
• Innovation Center
• Innovation Projects