Most explanations of innovation are derived from its effects not its foundations...

This article is not about rehashing the definitions, methodologies, or usefulness of innovation - it's about looking at the fundamental mechanisms involved in the definitions, methodologies and usefulness of innovation. It's not about the MBA-style of listing anecdotal situations to support the ideas herein - it's about discovering and analyzing the basic activities that lead to situations that people call innovation.

But, first!

"The term 'innovation' - along with its shopworn adjective, 'innovative' and its breathless verb, 'innovate!' - has become the rallying cry of every product manager, the pursuit of every design consultant, the autocomplete of every press release writer. The word's been wrapped around everything from the Apple iPod to a new template in Microsoft Word. So how can one term be used to describe such vastly
different things?"¹

This assertion certainly characterizes much of what is presented about innovation these days. It also seems as though innovation is predominantly portrayed as the new millennia's business salvation, where a large proportion of the discussion is directed to technology - per se - at the expense of other incarnations of innovation, which can be just as important.

Although the intended target of this article is the business of product development, the features outlined herein certainly can be applied to any business and non-business endeavors.