To start... the “cRAb sQuat”

Les stresses are limitations or restrictions. You know it: they are part of any business or innovation project.

To easily remember the six main categories of project constraints, consider:

cRab sQuat
Cost — Risk — Benefits — Scope — Quality — Time

So the real question is:

How to play with constraints to innovate even better?

PHASE 1: Identify the real constraints

1. Go back to the origin

Who sets the constraint?
Why does it exist?
In what context?
How can it be reformulated?

2. Formulate them in writing

A constraint is expressed in binary mode.
You have to be able to answer it with a yes or no answer.

For example:

• Project cost under 40
• Work completed before September

3. Beware of false constraints

If you can't formulate the item in binary mode, it's probably not a constraint.

Maybe it's just a purpose Or of a evaluation criterion, like:

• Increase sales
• Reduce deadlines
• Improving brand image

4. Summing up the constraints

Is the objective of the project achievable?

Yes? Let's go.
No? We are negotiating.

Again:

How to play with constraints to innovate more?

PHASE 2: Respect the constraints

In improvisational theater, which I have practiced for a long time, the constraints given to actors are in fact a gift.

For example:

• Speak with a particular accent
• Play a trailer
• Start each sentence with A, then B, then C

Constraints offer a structuring framework.

In an innovation process, it's exactly the same thing.
Adapting to constraints is a great source of innovation.

Example 1: a social business in Bangladesh

The challenge:
How do you provide additional income to women?

Two constraints:

• No way to invest in hardware
• Impossible to leave home

Innovation:
In several villages, almost all women embroider Taqiyah, headgear sold at the market and worn at the mosque.

Thread and needles are supplied by a local contractor.
Once a week, he collects the production and pays them.

A simple innovation, integrated into local life.

Example 2: a social business in Cambodia

The challenge:
How to provide additional income to rural families near Siem Reap?

Constraint:
No resources to invest in equipment.

Innovation:
A local entrepreneur installs a small mill and a cooking tank allowing families to transform their rice into Rice pasta.

Two hours of work per day are enough to increase the value of their production by 40%.

Innovation under constraint, fully integrated into the community.
One natural social business.

PHASE 3: Work hard to remove constraints

Freeing others from their constraints

It is one of the secrets ofSharing economy.

Carpooling or VTCs allow you to free yourself from time and use constraints.

Liberating yourself through innovation

THEOpen innovation consists in outsourcing part of the innovation efforts to external R&D.

It makes it possible to overcome internal constraints such as:

• The budget
• Deadlines
• The return on investment

It also promotescollaborative innovation.

Let's take a moment to think:

• Should we respect the constraints or try to remove them?
• Do I have to ask for permission to delete one?
• The corporate hacker Is he a collaborator, a resistance fighter, or both?

One day someone said to me:
“I expect you to be a scratch dog.”

What a great mission.

PHASE 4: Going even further without constraints

Working under duress strengthens individuals and organizations. That makes them more robust and resilient.

But lifting a constraint can cause a real burst of innovation.

Blind people develop other senses.

A nearsighted person who puts on his first glasses suddenly sees with new precision.

Athletes train at altitude. As you go down, the effort seems easier.

In business, it's the same.

In a factory subject to severe space constraints, we discover exceptional know-how.

Across organizations, some voices are seldom heard. Often experienced employees who are not members of the management committee.

Go listen to them.

You might be surprised.

Now, make a list of your constraints.
Ask yourself how long they have existed.
And how you can turn them into opportunities.

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