One of the buzz-words in innovation these years is User Driven Innovation. In plain words user driven innovation is about developing things, that people need and like – and of course buy. The basic idea is to involve users in the innovations proces or observe them as preparation in order to get a deep and detailed understanding of the people, that we actually innovate for.

On Monday the 18th February we will take a closer look at different methods used in user driven innovation.

If you want to go a bit deeper in some of the methods, there is a brief description of 13 methods on Usability.gov. The descriptions is focused on testing web usability, but most of the methods can be applied in a lot of other contexts.

If you want to go really deep – more than necessary – you might want to read “Observing the user experience” by Mike Kuniavsky.

By the way, LEGO Mindstorms User Panel is a famous example of user involvement in the innovation proces.

Taking a big risk and investing millions in a great business opportunity is rarely the way entrepreneurs start their business. Most entrepreneurs start with at limited risk and often they only really identify the potential and opportunity once they are in the business.

A great introduction to the way entrepreneurs usually start new ventures is written by Saras Sarasvathy.

Download Sarasvathys article: What makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial (pdf)

Visit Sarasvathys webpage Effectuation