The Innovation Handbook
Operations and Product · Nº 86
The Innovation Handbook
Design Thinking and Fast Idea Testing
Your notebook is full of ideas. So why does nothing new ever get tested?
24 tools and a spreadsheet to choose where to innovate, find better ideas, and test them cheaply with a criterion written in advance, worked through on one small factory for a full year.
You get 24 tools to sort your ideas, write the right challenge, use design thinking, run demand tests and small pilot runs, read results honestly, and release money in stages. Plus a spreadsheet with 6 working tabs, filled in with the example.
A book explains the method. This handbook puts it to work: the tool, a worked example, and a spreadsheet with your numbers.
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
Your best seller sells less than it did two years ago. Ideas aren't the problem. They're in your notebook, in the team's group chat, in that odd customer request you keep hearing. But none of them ever gets a real test. Either it dies in a meeting, or it turns into one big bet you make on gut feel: new molds, new inventory, a launch. Then it doesn't sell, and the cash it ate doesn't come back.
THE SPREADSHEET
Innovation spreadsheet
Use the completed example as a reference and enter your business data in the marked fields. Check the instructions and the calculations before you make a decision.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Three situations this handbook solves
The Monday meeting with too many ideas
Instead of arguing about whose idea is best, you sort the whole list by the size of the change. Improvements go to whoever runs the routine. The few real innovations get a challenge with a budget, a deadline, and what can't change.
You're about to order the molds
You stop and fill in a test card first: what has to be true, the cheapest test that checks it, and the number that means go. Then you run a demand test with a clear notice and count reservations before you buy anything.
Two weeks in, sales look amazing
Before you celebrate, you check the three traps. Did the test reach the minimum number on the card? Was it peak season or a holiday? How many buyers know the team? Then you read it with someone who didn't come up with the idea.
INSIDE
What you'll find in each tool
Five parts, in the order you'll use them. Where your business can innovate: improvement or innovation, the ten types, the portfolio, and the challenge. Where ideas come from: customers, your team, other industries, and partners. From idea to test, with the Double Diamond and the test card. Fast, cheap tests you can read honestly. Then innovation as a routine, with hours, a budget by stage, and a scoreboard.
WHAT YOU GET
Everything included in your purchase
- The Innovation Handbook in PDF: 24 tools, each with a step by step, a worked example, and an exercise
- The innovation spreadsheet in Excel and Google Sheets, with 6 working tabs, filled in with the example company
- The Template kit: 16 ready-made texts, including the challenge with limits, the test card, the demand test notice, and the agenda for the monthly innovation meeting
- 2 worksheets to fill in (challenge with limits and test card), a final checklist, and a 30-day plan, one week per stage
- Access to your handbook on the Consylion platform
Full table of contents
The 24 tools, in the order you'll use them
Part 1 · Part 1 · Where your business can innovate
- 01Innovation or improvementSort every idea by the size of the change, and give each size the care it needs
- 02The ten types of innovationPrice, channel, service, and process: look for what's new beyond the product
- 03The innovation portfolioHow your hours split between today's product, the adjacent one, and the new bet
- 04The challenge with limitsOne question with a written budget, deadline, and what can't change
Part 2 · Part 2 · Where ideas come from
- 05The customer who adapts the productCustomers who already improvised a fix are showing you your next product
- 06Ideas from the people who do the workA team idea board where every idea gets an answer within seven days
- 07Ideas from another industryThe same pain, already solved in another market, brought into yours
- 08Imitating and improvingLearn from what works elsewhere and fix its complaints, without copying what's protected
- 09Innovating with partnersA supplier, a technical school, and a large customer on the same idea, with a written agreement
Part 3 · Part 3 · From idea to test
- 10The Double DiamondFirst the right problem, then the right solution
- 11The combination boxCombine material, use, and channel to find what nobody has tested yet
- 12Role-playing the experienceThe customer acts out the use with improvised props, before you make anything
- 13The test cardAssumption, test, measure, and criterion on one sheet, signed before you spend
Part 4 · Part 4 · Fast, cheap tests
- 14Demand testOffer the new product before it exists, with a clear notice, and count orders, not praise
- 15The pilot runThirty units made with what you already have, sold for real at full price
- 16The comparison testHalf get the new idea and half don't, so you know what made the difference
- 17Reading results without fooling yourselfSmall samples, luck, and wanting to be right: the three traps of testing
- 18The test logEvery test on one list, so you never pay twice for the same mistake
Part 5 · Part 5 · Innovation that becomes routine
- 19Time and people for innovationFixed hours and a named lead, without pulling anyone off daily production
- 20The innovation budgetSet the year's amount and release it in stages, with proof of learning at each one
- 21Scaling what workedWhy test results drop as you grow, and how to check before you invest
- 22Protecting what's newDesign, invention, trademark, and trade secret: what to protect before you show it to anyone
- 23Failing cheaplyThe small, planned loss that teaches, and the no-blame conversation after a mistake
- 24The innovation scoreboardRevenue from new products, tests per quarter, and the annual review
Who it's for
It's for you if
- You've sold the same product or service for years and watch sales slip a little more each year
- You have plenty of scattered ideas and no simple way to choose one and test it
- You've already spent real money on something new that didn't sell, and you want to fail smaller and cheaper
- You want your team to bring you ideas, and you want innovation to be a monthly routine, not a one-off push
It's not for you if
- You've already picked the idea and want to take it from the problem to the first customer. That's The Product and Service Development Handbook
- You're starting a new business and want to test the whole model. See The Business Model Handbook
- You want to plan the launch of a finished product. See The Product and Service Launch Handbook
- You want a sure-fire hit product. This handbook gives you a system to choose, test, and decide
Frequently asked questions
Is my business too small for this?
No. The system runs on a few fixed hours a week and a small budget released stage by stage. Size only changes the scale of the tests. Every tool has an In your industry box for services, retail and commerce, manufacturing and distribution, and independent professionals.
Do I need money to get started?
Almost none for the first month. Parts 1 to 3 call for hours, customer visits, and cheap prototypes. Money comes in at the test stage, with a limit written down in advance.
Isn't a demand test misleading my customers?
Not when you do it the way the handbook shows: the page says it's a reservation with no payment for a product in testing, and everyone who reserved hears back. The handbook tells you to have your lawyer review the wording, and the Template kit includes the notice.
What if a competitor copies my new product?
One tool covers what to protect before you show it: shape, function, name, or the way you make it. The handbook tells you what to check with your lawyer, and why ideas that combine several types of innovation are harder to copy.
How is this different from The Product and Service Development Handbook?
This one builds the system: where to innovate, where ideas come from, how to test, and how to keep it going every month. The other one takes a single chosen idea from the problem to the first customer, step by step.
How long does it take to read and set up?
About 2 hours and 24 minutes of reading, or 6 minutes per tool, at an intermediate level. The 30-day plan carries one idea through four weeks. In the example, revenue from new products took a full year to show up on the scoreboard.
What do I get, and in what formats?
Each handbook is a PDF of about 100 pages with 24 to 27 tools. Every tool has step-by-step instructions and a worked example. You also get the handbook's spreadsheet in Excel (.xlsx), which opens in Google Sheets too, with the example already filled in. The message, policy, and clause templates are in the Template Kit inside the PDF, ready to copy and adapt. Read it in the member area or download the files.
How do I know if it fits my business?
Each handbook's page shows the problem it solves, who it is for and who it is not for, the full table of contents, sample pages, and the company used in the examples. The examples come from small businesses in several industries, with illustrative numbers. If it is not a fit, you can ask for a full refund within 14 days of your purchase, as described in the Refund Policy.
What is the difference between a handbook, an area set, and the Series?
A handbook solves one problem. An area set brings together every handbook and spreadsheet in one of the 6 areas, for less than the price of 5 single handbooks. The Consylion Handbook Series brings together all 100 handbooks and 100 spreadsheets, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks, and includes the next handbooks in the Series. Products outside the Series, from Consylion Life or Consylion Business, have their own price. They are sold separately and are not part of an area set or the Series.
Do I need to read everything before I start?
No. Each tool works on its own. Open the table of contents, pick the tool for today's problem, and start there. You can also read it cover to cover.
Do I need to know Excel?
The basics are enough: open the file and fill in the marked fields. The formulas are already built, and the handbook's example is filled in for reference.
How do I pay, and when do I get access?
By card or bank transfer, as a one-time payment with no subscription. Once your payment is confirmed, you get access to the member area by email. Approved card payments are confirmed right away. Bank transfers are confirmed when the funds clear. If access does not arrive within 24 hours of confirmation, check your spam folder and write to team@consylion.org.
How long do I have access, and how can I use the files?
Access does not expire, and you can download the files for offline use. The license is individual. You may read the handbooks, print them for your own use, and fill in and adapt the spreadsheet and templates with your company's data. If you are a consultant, accountant, or manager, you may apply the tools with your clients and deliver the result of your work, not the files. You may not share, resell, or distribute the files or the access.
How do support and refunds work?
Support is by email at team@consylion.org, on business days, with a reply within 5 business days. It covers questions about access, files, and payment. It does not include consulting or advice on applying the material to your case. You can cancel within 14 days of your purchase, without giving a reason, and get the full amount back through the payment method you used. Send the request to the same email. The details are in the Refund Policy.
CONSYLION HANDBOOK SERIES
The 6 departments of your business, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks.
This handbook solves today's problem. The Series solves the next one, and the one after that, with nothing more to pay.
- 100 handbooks with 2,403 ready-made tools, to read on screen and download as PDFs
- 100 spreadsheets for Excel and Google Sheets
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- Lifetime access, unlocked once payment is confirmed
One-time payment of $197.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
Operations and Product · Nº 86
Test the idea before you bet the cash
You don't need a lab or a brilliant idea. You need a way to choose, test small, and decide by what customers actually do. This handbook gives you the tools, the spreadsheet, and a full year of one company's numbers, so your next new thing starts with a signed test card instead of a big order.
See all 100 handbooks · $197.00
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.