We’ve proposed two axes to guide staffing / external resource decisions:
Innovating <---> Implementing - Are you learning something new or applying something that’s known?
Proprietary <---> Commodity - Is this special to your business, or something anyone could use?
Let’s look at the two quadrants where the technology in question is core to your business.
1) Innovating and Proprietary
3) Implementing and Proprietary
We’ve advised that for Quadrant 1, you should keep the work internal, but for Quadrant 3 it might be best to hire an expert.
Our question today is: How do I know the difference?
You may be learning something new, but unless you look outside your experience, you’ll never know if what you’re developing has already been figured out by someone else.
Here are a few:
Academic Research - Assuming you can find the right search terms, academic papers can be a gold mine for seeing what’s new and what’s not.
Trade Shows and Publications - If your idea is in a new industry, tapping into the community can give you a huge head start in understanding the state of the art.
Patent Searches - Investigating existing patents can reveal whether your "innovative" idea has already been developed and even help you avoid potential legal challenges.
Networking with Industry Experts - Engaging with experts who have worked in your field can help identify existing solutions or even refine your own ideas by drawing on their specialized knowledge.
Whatever you do, you’ll probably save yourself a lot of time if you seek out the opinions of others in your field!
-Brian Schoolcraft
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