What follows below is my interpretation and application of Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and Einstein’s relativity theory to innovation management. It is meant as a philosophical thought provoking reading, and I hope you will enjoy it. Afterwards, please share your thoughts with us. Of course, now that I asked for comments, I have already impacted your ideas and conclusions, but I won’t say how.

In extreme simple terms, the uncertainty principle states that it is impossible to determine exactly both the position and the velocity of a particle at the same moment: the more accurately you try to measure one, the less accurate the other becomes. This principle had profound impacts on how we view the world, as we now have a non-deterministic model for the universe. On top of that, just the aspect of observing in the present state could change future events! This interesting paradox has been contemplated by Erwin Schrödinger with his Schrödinger’s cat experiement: is the cat dead or alive? With all that and more, we know have quantum mechanics theory, where instead of a definite single prediction for a given event, we have a number of different possible outcomes and likelyhoods.

Einstein’s theory of relativity basically states that there is no absolute or universal time that all clocks would measure. Instead, each observer has his own measure of time, as illustrated in the twins paradox. Furthermore, Stephen Hawking showed that the time would come to an end inside a black hole, where no light can escape.

So, we are living in a universe where nothing is deterministic, where the even the thought of measuring will likely change the outcome that is being measured, and even then, everyone has their own measures… Not to mention, with an ever expending universe, everything will eventually collapse on itself and become a black hole. Conceptually, I can’t imagine anything better that describes the challenges of innovation management and offers suggestions for coping.

Is the cat dead or alive? Now, ask the same question of your innovation or your new product that is about to be launched. As attractive as it is to have a ‘yes/no’ answer, the more appropriate approach is to measure the probability of various key outcomes. Think about it, how many times has a project been canceled because it didn’t meet a revenue projection plan, or a certain market size, or competitive foothold in the market place before the product even made it through the doors? Just like a quantum state, which is a combination of position and velocity, our project’s factors and likelihood of its success is a representation of a project’s quantum state. It is a combination of various key variables, usually specific to the given project, with their own set of measurement challenges, as it is impossible to accurately measure one variable without impacting others.

So, as the uncertainty principle states, your innovation doesn’t have a definite path, but more likely follows a probability distribution. How you measure and capture its progress and likely outcome of your innovation, as well as where in the life cycle you do it will certainly implicate the path that your innovation follows. The point here is not that this is good or bad, but more how do you get to a repeatable success story, I mean, probability distribution? At its core, this is the essence of innovation management.

Well, this is where your culture comes in. By embedding the needed aspects of innovation management and related measurement systems into your culture, you no longer introduce a random element into the system due to an observer interfering with the experiment and creating unintended entanglement. Rather, the process and its measurement is now a natural part of the system. In other words, you no longer need to worry about the cat. Now, the cat feeds itself and cares for itself until such time when the cat’s time comes to an end naturally or via a black hole where the concept of time no longer applies.

This brings us to the theory of relativity, which unfortunately also holds true for the innovation process. From experience, each stakeholder in the innovation system tends to have their own idea of success, priorities and objectives. Again, this is not good or bad, but just a fact. Through a good communication and an alignment process, it is quite possible to establish an agreed upon definitions for success, priorities and objectives. However, while this will hold true for a given point in time, it requires ongoing realignment in order to stay aligned.

Things do come to an end, eventually. Even for super products and innovations, where the product no longer generates necessary revenue to balance the force of its cost of maintenance. In the case of stars, they continue to shrink under pressure eventually becoming black holes, where light doesn’t escape and the concept of time no longer applies. Again, how is this different from products that are well past their useful life and should have been discontinued long ago? Where creativity, talent and other useful assets of the firm are shrinking away without any reasonable probability for creating a big bang? Yes, things do and should come to an end, eventually.

There is much we can learn and apply from theories that surround us. As I relearned recently, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Remember, early on I asked for comments. But, now that I asked, the probability of you actually doing that is next to nill. So, why don’t you surprise me anyhow.

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