Invention > Innovation > Implementation
Innovation is not about generating new ideas, it is about commercialising an idea that has already been generated, so it can be implemented.
There is always a lot of talk in the agile, product and data domains about innovation, but as with most things agile, product and data there are many different definitions on what the word Innovation actually means.
For me Innovation is not about inventing something new, it is about taking an idea that has been invented before and working out how to use it in anger.
Over the last decade I have constantly innovated with combining agile, product and data ways of work, but I have done little if any invention. I have generated very few, if any, unique ideas. My skill is recognising patterns in ideas invented by others and working with teams to see how we could use them to make our ways of working better. And then progressing those patterns to a level where I can articulate, teach, mentor and coach data teams to use them.