If an Innovation Team has been given an open charter, then one of the very first major tasks the Project Leader is to lead the team in is what?

An "open charter" provides an innovation team with autonomy but no predefined problem to solve. Therefore, the team's first essential task is to engage in discovery to identify a meaningful and valuable problem or opportunity. Needfinding is the systematic process of observing people to understand their needs, behaviors, and latent desires. This research is foundational for ensuring the team's subsequent efforts are directed at a problem that matters to customers and aligns with business strategy, preventing the development of a "solution in search of a problem." This aligns with the front-end of the innovation process.

B. Scientific research is too narrow; it presupposes a technology-push approach, which may not be the right path without first identifying a corresponding need.

C. A search for inefficiencies is a form of need-finding but is limited to internal, operational improvements rather than broader market or customer opportunities.

D. Technology research is a solution-first approach. Starting with technology before understanding a user need is a common cause of innovation failure.

1. Global Innovation Institute (GInI). (2020). Applied Innovation Master Book (AInMB) v2.2. Section 3.3: The GInI Strategic Innovation Roadmap

pp. 145-148. (Discusses the initial discovery and need-finding phases).

2. Stanford University d.school. (n.d.). An Introduction to Design Thinking PROCESS GUIDE. The "Empathize" mode

which is the first stage

is fundamentally about need-finding. Retrieved from https://web.stanford.edu/~mshanks/MichaelShanks/files/509554.pdf

3. Patnaik

D.

& Becker

R. (1999). Needfinding: The Why and How of Uncovering People's Needs. Design Management Journal (Former Series)

10(2)

37-43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1948-7169.1999.tb00250.x