Corporate Innovation Department System
An innovation team exploring new product and feature ideas and handing the promising ones to product teams.
A clear innovation funnel: from raw idea to validation, prototype, and testing — then a documented adoption decision.
No credit card required — your project is set up with the full system in under a minute
This is the system board as you'll receive it: workflow columns and starter cards showing the first steps
How does work flow in this system?
Any employee plants a card in “Idea”, describing the problem and the opportunity with no completeness required. The innovation manager reviews it periodically and moves the promising ones to “Validation”: is the problem real? Who suffers from it? What does it cost? — through quick interviews and preliminary market numbers. Whatever passes validation gets a “Prototype” built as cheaply as possible: a simulation, a landing page, or a manual service behind an automated facade. Then “Testing” with real users against defined success criteria; and it is ruled on in “Decision”: adopt, adjust, or a gracious stop. What is adopted moves to “Product Handoff”, delivered to the product team with a complete file; and it closes in “Lessons”, documenting what the journey taught us, whether it succeeded or stopped.
The Forum is the open innovation hall: ideas are presented for constructive critique before validation, and prototype results are shared transparently — a documented failure saves the company from repeating it. Dues manages the exploration budget: each prototype’s cost and tools, and rewards for adopted ideas — a clear cap per stage that stops an idea from becoming an uncapped project before it is proven.
The innovation manager guards the funnel: reviewing “Idea”, approving stage transitions, and owning the “Decision” recommendation to management. Experiment teams — temporary pairs and trios — run validation, build prototypes, and test them in weeks, not months. The idea’s author stays involved and is recognized on adoption, and the executive sponsor receives “Decision” files and allocates what adopted ideas need. The usual rhythm: a weekly idea review, and at least one experiment closed every month.
Who does what?
The operational roles in this system and each role's responsibility in daily work — assign them to your team as-is or adapt them to your reality.
Innovation Manager
Runs the idea funnel and approves stage transitions, allocates prototype budgets from Dues, and raises “Decision” recommendations to management.
Experiment Team Members
Run field validation, build prototypes by the cheapest means, conduct user tests, and document their results.
Executive Innovation Sponsor
Receives “Decision” files and rules on adoption, easing the handover of adopted ideas to product teams and removing obstacles in their way.
What's prepared for you from day one?
System units
- Tasks — A kanban board with workflow columns and execution cards
- Forum — Documented discussions in organized sections — decisions and knowledge that never get lost
- Dues — Internal money with strict privacy — dues, advances, and expenses
Forum sections (4)
- Idea HallPresenting new ideas for open discussion before validation — early enrichment and vetting without prejudgment.
- Prototype & Test ResultsWhat we built and what users said, success and failure alike — knowledge belongs to everyone.
- Stopped Ideas & Their LessonsDocumenting halted ideas and the reasons for stopping, so no one restarts them from zero a year later.
- Exploration MethodologiesValidation tools and rapid prototyping techniques, and lessons from applying them in our environment.
«Working Rules for This System» — Pinned in the forum
1) An idea is written as a problem and an opportunity — no disguised solutions looking for a problem. 2) No prototype before passing “Validation” with field evidence, not internal opinions. 3) Every prototype has a budget cap and a duration recorded in Dues and on the card. 4) Test results are published in the Forum in full — a documented failure is an intellectual success. 5) The adopt-or-stop decision is explicit and documented, and what is adopted is handed to the product team with a complete file.
Systems similar to this one
Ready? Your first project is two minutes away
Create your free workspace now, and invite your team before the day is over.