Evaluating Innovation: A Data-Driven Approach

Most companies claim to be innovative, but few actually are. After two decades as a product designer working on groundbreaking projects at both startups and large companies, I think the biggest gap is in evaluating ideas rather than generating them.

Why Companies Struggle with Innovation
Companies typically fail at innovation for four key reasons:

1. Short-term Revenue Focus: Prioritizing immediate gains over long-term innovation

2. Fear of Failure: Misinterpreting learning opportunities as failures

3. Organizational Inertia: Losing agility as companies grow

4. Performance Metrics: Rewarding safe, incremental improvements over bold innovation

EVAL METHOD: A Framework for Evaluating Ideas

Innovation requires generating many ideas, but quantity alone isn’t enough. The critical step that many miss is systematic evaluation. Here’s my battle-tested framework for evaluating innovative ideas:

Step 1: Set Your Foundation
- Define your overarching goal
- Gather your team
- Establish evaluation criteria (3–7 criteria works best)

Step 2: Choose Your Criteria
Always include these two fundamental criteria:

1. Feasibility: Required effort, cost, and expertise
2. User Value: Direct benefit to users

Then add 1–3 specific criteria aligned with your goals. For example, when evaluating AI imaging applications, we used:
- Development effort
- Technology utilization
- User value
- Viral potential
- Novelty

Step 3: Score and Evaluate
- Use a simple 1–5 scale for each criterion
- Ensure all scores follow the same logic (5 = best, 1 = worst)
- Present ideas in a consistent format to reduce bias
- Add up scores to get directional guidance

BEST PRACTICES
- Keep It Simple: Don’t overcomplicate with weighted scores
- Maintain Consistency: Use the same format for presenting all ideas
- Enable Discussion: The team dialogue during scoring is as valuable as the final scores
- Stay Flexible: Use scores as guidance, not absolute truth

MOVING FORWARD
This evaluation framework brings data-driven decision-making to innovation. It helps teams:

- Make more objective decisions
- Create transparency in the selection process
- Focus discussions on concrete criteria
- Build alignment around chosen directions

Ready to move beyond “playing it safe”? Start by implementing this framework in your next innovation cycle. The key isn’t just having more ideas — it’s knowing how to evaluate them effectively.