Routine or innovation ? Or both !

Everybody talks about innovation (preferably “breakthrough”) and doing today what you have done in the past sounds so boring. Yet operations, meaning turning out products and services in a reliable and repeatable way every day is what brings in the revenue. There is often tension between the concept of innovating and the need for routine and consistency.

The “cycling worlds” model that Jonne Ceserani develops in his book “Big Ideas” is a good visualization of how operations and innovation are connected.

The operational cycle is at the left of the model. In this world, adherence to plans and conformity to product or service specifications requires routines, procedures and rules. This is the world of "write what you do and do what you write". Don’t change anything, no exceptions, no interpretations. Creativity is limited to applying simple techniques like PDCA to solve the operational issues that can pop up.

On the right hand of the model, we have the wheel of innovation. Here we speculate, we invent, experiment, fail or succeed. There are obviously no rules or procedures, there are no limits.

The essence of this model is of course in how these two very distinct and impossible-to-mix wheels are connected. And, more than that, the fact that one wheel cannot remain in motion without the other one. From the operational cycle, we once in a while need to "jump away" from the world that is controlled and subject to routine to the cycle of innovation. If we don’t do that, we will basically remain turning in our operational cycle for ever. The mentality of "don't repair it if it's not broke" will lead to being surpassed by higher efficiencies or innovations created by others. By jumping out towards the innovation wheel, intentionally (and not when it's too late), an organization can open up for reinvention. But once a successful innovation, improvement or breakthrough is found, the organization absolutely needs to move back from the innovation cycle onto the operational cycle, and update the routines and procedures with this innovation implemented. And keep on producing quality and reliability customers will pay for. 

There is no mind-shattering breakthrough in this model but it explains in a simple way how both cycles are necessary and valuable.