Wharton released an interesting article this week called "Can Lean Co-Exist with Innovation?"

In essence, the article walks through how Lean and Innovation play contributing roles in the complete product development lifecycle.  Overall, it is a fantastic article, but there are a few key points in it that I think we should explore and discuss further:

"There is intense pressure to cut costs, and companies waste a lot of money on product development because the processes for accelerating the best ideas and terminating low-value ideas are often weak or non-existent"

There is indeed intense pressure to cut costs.  No question about that.  But once you pick the "low hanging fruit," the cost/benefit of lean process improvement declines rapidly as the effort required to gain the same amount of cost savings increases.  So, in order to increase the bottom line, growth strategies (new sales, increased profit, increased market share, etc.) must be pursued.  Additionally, the reference to companies "wasting" a lot of money on product development is misleading.  Organizations that not only accept, but embrace failure do not view it as "waste."  Instead, they see it as a learning experience in the pursuit of new products and services.  A learning experience that their competitors do not currently have. 

"Most people focus on ideas but not necessarily on what it takes to bring those ideas to market, and which ideas will make money"

I agree with this statement 100%.  There is too much focus on hanging onto ideas that will never turn into "innovations" because they cannot be sold or do not provide a useful purpose.  In the "back-end" of the innovation process, where manufacturing and commercialization take place, I believe that Lean/SixSig has great benefit.  But what Lean/SixSig proponents always discount is the importance of that "focus on ideas."  Without the idea, you don't have anything to improve.  Also, don't forget that just because an idea doesn't solve a problem today...that doesn't mean it won't solve a problem tomorrow.  Keep all of those ideas handy and searchable!

"Lean is a natural fit for process innovation.  Lean rarely comes into play in the first stage of product innovation and really begins its journey when an organization attempts to hear the voice of the customer."

Can we just stop pretending that "voice of the customer", as defined by our friends in the Lean/SixSig camp, works in the idea/innovation management construct?  I think this horse has been beaten enough.  VOC just doesn't apply to early stage or even middle stage innovation efforts and only leads to incremental innovations like line extensions.  Want real customer insight?  Research the growing field of customer ethnography.  Incremental innovation aside, Lean also has dubious connections to process "innovation" but is, as I have said before, my preferred tool set for process "improvement."

The article specifically references 3M prior to this statement, "Six Sigma clearly has its role in an organization, but excessive adherence to it will kill innovation; people are not going to deviate from the norm and you won't have innovation."

Here's an interesting conversation that our Innovation Influencers group had with our gracious 3M hosts related to this topic.  Jeffrey Phillips from OVO asked about the impact that former 3M CEO Jim McNerney's introduction of the GE SixSigma playbook had on the organization.  3M Foundation Chairman Alex Cirillo admitted that the R&D organization tried to protect itself and continue as normal, but the singular process methodology focus did have a negative impact.  What I found to be even more enlightening, however, was the comment from Mr. Cirillo that, without Lean and SixSigma principles in place on the manufacturing side, they wouldn't have been able to grow as fast and put more of the ideas coming out of R&D into the market.

Can Lean/SixSig and Innovation Co-Exist in the same organization?  Absolutely.  They can and should. 

Can Lean/SixSig and Innovation Co-Exist in the same product development process?  Only if you mean "co-exist" in the sense that front-end innovation activities like future scanning, idea generation, early stage prototyping, idea combinations, market push/pull opportunities and customer ethnography should employ idea/innovation management process tools and NOT include Lean/SixSig rigidity, while back-end innovation activities like manufacturing, marketing, commercialization, product testing, voice of the customer, line extensions and end-of-life planning should be held to strict Lean/SixSig tolerances to ensure efficient and effective execution.