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Vol 28 - No 07 - September 2002 24/7 Innovation: A blueprint for surviving and thriving in an age of change If you are looking for a highly readable, thought-provoking book on how to improve a business and sustain that improvement, which is always the difficult bit, then "24/7 Innovation" is the book for you. If you believe that in business, as in life, you have to evolve or die, then "24/7 Innovation" is certainly the book for you. Author: Stephen M. Shapiro Publisher: McGraw Hill 2002 Price: £21.99 In his new book, Steve Shapiro sets out a path that highlights the road to continuous innovation rather than the painful process that most companies endure when trying to be innovative. It shouldn't be painful and in following Steve's approach, it isn't. "24/7 Innovation" is the ability of an organisation to come up with new ideas as a matter of course without any special stimulation and without interruption. This is pervasive innovation, requiring a mindset that allows for continuous innovation rather than leaves it to chance. Steve starts by following the well-known path of process improvement, advocating the '7Rs' approach, which harks back to Currie's Method Study critical questions, a technique that is as valid now as it was then. He then argues that what is needed is to evolve these basic improvement steps into a culture of innovation, stressing that innovation is something we were all good at as children, but somehow over the years innovation gave way to expediency. His plea for bold leadership in this area will strike a chord with all who have to deal with risk averse management. Steve is not afraid to caution the reader with his own personal experiences of poor use of technology in the guise of innovation. His tale of being charged five times for one airline ticket bought over the internet shows how far we still have to go. This book contains a number if interesting models that will undoubtedly be useful to everyone involved in operations management to help to explain what we are trying to do in a more strategic context. Steve Shapiro is a leading process and innovation thinker from the USA who has spent the last few years in London and his book is sprinkled with European models of innovation excellence, rather than just relying on the normal US ones. This is an excellent book that will repay the reader to keep going back and dipping in to refresh their thinking. Nick Lawrence is currently giving a series of presentations at IOM branches on the subject of 'Process Innovation in an Age of Change'. These are based on the book "24/7 Innovation". Nick Lawrence, MIOM Page number: 5 Word count: 280 Related Topics: Continuous improvement
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