A Process Model for Early-Stage Experimentation to Accelerate Innovation

Innovation has become increasingly urgent for companies to maintain competitive advantage, yet deep uncertainty persists regarding the end results of their innovation efforts. Early-stage experimentation offers a risk management approach that can dramatically accelerate cost-effective innovation. Experimentation relies on scientific methods to craft and test hypotheses. Insufficient guidance exists regarding how to help managers harness experimentation in early-stage innovation projects. Based on our observations of experienced experimenters engaged in early-stage innovation projects in four distinct settings, we developed a process model that offers practitioners a structured and scalable approach to foster early-stage experimentation. Managers in all parts of the organization can apply the process model and operationalize experimentation. The article’s contribution is twofold: we articulate specific practices associated with choices around what is being tested, how it is being tested, and what is learned, and we offer a model designed to help build managerial literacy in early-stage experimentation.