Alan Baia and William DiPaolo founded Cogent Road here in San Diego - an innovative software company that provides enterprise-wide, web based software applications for the mortgage industry. Cogent Road has been named by Mortgage Technology magazine as one of the industry’s top service providers....

We are frequently asked if project management techniques are the same for innovations as for other, more tactical projects. The answer is both yes and no. Yes, you need to break the project down into the pieces and determine when each piece can or will be done. Yes, you need to assign the work to specific...

Ever been in a situation where someone had an idea and everyone jumped on it?  We are predisposed toward action and are often eager to implement a good idea to solve a nagging problem.  So what’s wrong with that?  An idea when “popped out” and not challenged may or may not actually be the best...

It may sound like an oxymoron but learning to focus your strategic thinking may be the difference between adequate and outstanding personal performance.   To excel as an innovator, start by looking at your own thinking. I recently read a short interview with Bill Gates in Fortune magazine where he...

Now apply the following criteria to determine if you can make a persuasive case for the innovation. 1. Compelling  Do you have a clear purpose and vision?  What will happen if you do not innovate? 2. Credible  Is your innovation based on solid data?  Do you have historical...

Balance has more to do with the words “both” and “blending” than with the words “either”/”or.” Competitiveness, unrealistic responsibilities, over structured lives, congestion - these all don’t make us unbalanced; only we can do that to ourselves....

Do an experiment; ask members of your team to write down the purpose of the team’s current innovation and see if everyone shares the same precise purpose. Is there a lot of agreement, or disparity? If you do not create a strong, viable purpose, your efforts will be scattered and undirected. Ask...

Team operating guidelines are simple statements about how the team wants to work together and treat one another. By their very nature, creativity and innovation can be abrasive and involve conflicting preferences and points of view. Without well-established and reinforced team guidelines, all this abrasion...