Management of Digital Innovation

Innovation Processes

Cognitive biases in innovation: Hypothesis-testing

Biases in hypothesis testing
  • Inability of decision-makers to generate hypotheses worth testing 
    • Often hypotheses are unimaginable and grounded in the present
  • Overly optimistic evaluation of the innovation and evidence collected, emphasizing the confirming evidence over the disconfirming evidence
 
  • Attitude to uncover assumptions
  • Actively seek disconfirming evidence 
    • Rich imagination (cognitive rehearsal (Probe))
    • Articulating assumptions and testing these
  • Insisting on considering multiple options
    • Divergent thinking
    • Real life experimentation and testing
    • Attitude that failure is not negative but is rather a learning opportunity 
      • Identifying specific causes
 
(=Typical design practices)

Diskussion