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Workshop: How? Now? Wow!

The process of innovation is based on the following steps:  

  • Thinking – How to find more opportunities for invention? 

  • Analyzing – How do people react to my innovation?

  • Doing – How to find best solutions?

The how-now-wow matrix helps you categorize business ideas according to:

  • Ease of implementation: how easy or difficult are these ideas to be implemented within the current structure, assets, and capabilities of your organization? From a technical and organizational perspective, are these incremental or disruptive ideas?
  • Level of newness: are these ideas expected to disrupt the user experience of your final users? From a customer perspective, are these incremental or disruptive ideas?
With this matrix, you’ll be able to narrow down your ideas, categorize them, and select the WOW ones. Those ideas that are both innovative and easy-to-implement.

Click on the video and learn more about How?Now? Wow! Matrix

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STEP 1

Download the How-now-wow matrix.pdf and print it on an A2 sheet of paper. You can also draw the graph on a flipchart if you can’t print.

STEP 2

Grab all your post-its with ideas on them from a previous ideation exercise. Plot the ideas into the wow-now-wow matrix. 

STEP 3

Take 3 voting-dots for each person (or use a marker), and vote 3 favorite ideas.   After the voting session, select the 3 ideas which received the most votes.

STEP 4

Step back and analyze the results. In an ideal scenario, your “wow” and “how” fields should have the most ideas – and the most valuable ones. 

Homework 

Choose one problem from your local community and then answer the following questions by using the How-Now-Wow method. 

Remember, there is no problem without solutions! 

  • Who are the possible partners in my local community (Who)? 

  • What is the innovation about (What)?

  • Where does the innovation take place (Where)?

  • When does the innovation take place (When)?

  • Why is this innovation the best solution (Why)?