It's after lunch - time for another session. This is with Hugh Richards of the Product Point Group. Hugh consults with companies on product management issues. The talk: Why we innovate and how to do that successfully.

Profitability comes from scalable growth - you need to be able to grow your revenues without letting your costs outstrip them. Meaning, innovation has to come in a scalable and repeatable fashion. Innovation in this context could mean culling projects that are dragging, or it could mean tackling new markets, or it could mean buying companies. Bottom line - innovations can be strategic or tactical.

Pitfalls? Underestimating costs involved (merger costs, development costs, etc). Announcing something new too soon, such that it saps sales of existing product. Having developers leave due to the way development is happening - you need to look ahead to prevent these. Also: make sure you aren't trying to innovate in a commoditizing field.

You want to be in for the long haul: Compare when OS/2 came out to when Windows Vista came out. You want to innovate "just enough" for the time you're working in.

You need to understand your own company and product before you can go forward. Sometimes it's more useful to stand pat than to innovate (commoditization vs. optimization).

Innovation must be led from the top - without executive buy in, you won't get there. You also need leadership to sponsor a repeatable process.