Managing the Unmanageable: 13 Tips for Building and Leading a Successful Innovation Team

Nearly all innovation is done by teams. And while there are many books about the innovation process, and also many about managing teams, the management of innovation teams has gone unaddressed.

This matters, because innovation teams are not like other teams. Most teams and their managers know where they are headed. They’ve probably been there and done it previously, more than once. Innovation is different. The problem objective has been outlined, but the journey and the destination are full of unknowns and untrieds. The team is tasked with going where none have gone before—with scaling a mountain whose height, form, and hidden passes are unknown, and doing so before a rival team from the other side of the mountain finds the summit.

There’s no simple formula to enable innovation team managers to accomplish this daunting task. But Jonathan Cagan and Peter Boatwright—Carnegie Mellon professors and practitioners with a combined 50+ years of experience in research, consulting, and hands-on innovation—have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t.

In Managing the Unmanageable, they offer 13 tips that can greatly improve the odds for success for any innovation team. Filled with eye-opening real-world examples, bolstered by groundbreaking research studies, and enlivened with illustrations by artist Kurt Hess, it’s a quick, fascinating read that any manager with a mandate to innovate will find irresistible—and essential.

“Consistently clear, straightforward, and upbeat, packed with excellent descriptions, logical explanations, and persuasive recommendations, presented with empathy and humor . . . An engaging collection of useful ideas for leading teams to tackle the unique challenges of innovation.”—Kirkus Reviews