{"id":4228,"date":"2024-01-26T19:16:22","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T19:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/?p=4228"},"modified":"2024-01-26T19:16:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T19:16:34","slug":"how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"How<\/p>\n

As part of Solutions Review’s Contributed Content Series<\/a>\u2014a collection of contributed articles written by our\u00a0enterprise tech thought leader<\/a><\/span> community<\/a><\/span>\u2014Nishant Patel, the founder and CTO of Contentstack<\/a>, explains how companies can help their developers find new (and smarter) ways to innovate.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We live in a world of rapid change, which puts enormous pressure on internal tech teams. However, in an increasingly digital world, these teams can do more than keep systems running. Developers, in particular, should drive innovation, helping build creative new customer experiences. McKinsey found<\/a> that innovation differentiates successful companies from the competition, resulting in 2.4 times more profit. But this can\u2019t happen independently\u2014leaders have a significant role in setting the scene for developers to get creative.<\/p>\n

There are two schools of thought about innovation and creativity in general. One is that you can create only when you\u2019re struck by inspiration. That sounds great until you don\u2019t feel inspired (which is most of the time for most of us). The alternative is to practice innovation. Innovation is a muscle. Just as you exercise to get stronger or practice an instrument to learn to play music, you can train to become more innovative. Here\u2019s how I recommend leading your organization in exercising innovation.<\/p>\n

Go Back to Your Core.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Telling everyone to think of something new is not really helpful. Instead, start by going back to your company\u2019s core mission. What is it that your company exists to do? What does that mission mean to your customers? Embed those ideas in your team\u2019s processes.<\/p>\n

For example, if your core mission is pioneering the industry through technological advancements, find ways to encourage curiosity. Place requirements on outside learning, such as an hourly minimum per year, that everyone must log. You could also set aside some time regularly, maybe during a recurring meeting, for your team members to discuss what is new or exciting in your market.<\/p>\n

Then, take that idea and brainstorm what you can do with it. What does that mean for your customers? Can you align your product or service to serve that idea better? Should you do that? To what kind of customer would that appeal? Take a step back, reorient your team, and see how you can better project your mission into the trends of your market.<\/p>\n

Bridge the Gap Between Developers and Customers.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The point is to serve customers, right? The best way to do that is to find out what your customers actually want. SaaS developers often work far removed from the customers they ultimately serve, so you must find a way to cross that gulf. The best way for everyone would be to consider talking to your customer-facing teams or the department head yourself every few weeks to find out what customers are saying.<\/p>\n

Tech and customer leaders have more in common than you might think; dig into shared challenges and opportunities. Discuss what customers need now and what they\u2019ve mentioned as more wish-list items. You should also invite customers to talk with you and the Chief Customer Officer in an advisory session. Hear everyone\u2019s opinions: fans of the company and those who have expressed discontent with specific features. Whatever you hear, take the top ideas back to your team and use them to guide engineering thinking and priorities.<\/p>\n

Build Innovation Into Your Schedule.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You can\u2019t force innovation on everyone, but you can encourage it. Developers are often so busy iterating or fixing bugs that there is little time to probe the unknown and create something new. Show that creativity is a priority by giving them the flexibility to work on creating the new.<\/p>\n

Side-project time is not wasted time; you can\u2019t truly anticipate how innovation could disrupt the market. (Where would we be without the Post-It Note<\/a>, a 3M-sanctioned side project?) Accept minor delays in regular projects to give some time to innovation projects. If you plan well, the short-term inconvenience will be minimal, while the long-term payoff could be tremendous.<\/p>\n

We are all facing massive technological changes today. Artificial intelligence (AI) is just the latest one on everyone\u2019s mind, and the time spent on intentional innovation will help futureproof your organization. Some projects, maybe many, will fizzle. But some ideas could be critical to your company\u2019s future success\u2014if you don\u2019t try them, you may never know.<\/p>\n

Through this entire process, model the behavior that you want to see in your team. Many will be watching you, and, as leaders, we shouldn\u2019t ask anything of our teams that we aren\u2019t willing to do\u2014or have done before\u2014as well. Don\u2019t wait for inspiration to strike. Give your teams the tools to exercise the habit of innovation now.<\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t

\"Download<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of Solutions Review’s Contributed Content Series\u2014a collection of contributed articles written by our\u00a0enterprise tech thought leader community\u2014Nishant Patel, the founder and CTO of Contentstack, explains how companies can help their developers find new (and smarter) ways to innovate. We live in a world of rapid change, which puts enormous pressure on internal tech […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":4229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1090,1858,2201,1210],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Encourage Developers to Innovate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As part of Solutions Review's Contributed Content Series, Nishant Patel of Contentstack explains how to help developers innovate.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As part of Solutions Review's Contributed Content Series, Nishant Patel of Contentstack explains how to help developers innovate.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best BPM Tools, Vendors, Software and BPMS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-26T19:16:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-26T19:16:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2024\/01\/How-to-Encourage-Developers-to-Innovate.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"786\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"393\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nishant Patel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nishant Patel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/\",\"name\":\"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2024\/01\/How-to-Encourage-Developers-to-Innovate.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-26T19:16:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-26T19:16:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#\/schema\/person\/edca2c57a4c87f142f907f915f5cb07a\"},\"description\":\"As part of Solutions Review's Contributed Content Series, Nishant Patel of Contentstack explains how to help developers innovate.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2024\/01\/How-to-Encourage-Developers-to-Innovate.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2024\/01\/How-to-Encourage-Developers-to-Innovate.jpg\",\"width\":786,\"height\":393,\"caption\":\"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/\",\"name\":\"Best BPM Tools, Vendors, Software and BPMS\",\"description\":\"Buyer's Guide and Best Practices\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#\/schema\/person\/edca2c57a4c87f142f907f915f5cb07a\",\"name\":\"Nishant Patel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2023\/12\/Nishant-Patel.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2023\/12\/Nishant-Patel.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Nishant Patel\"},\"description\":\"Nishant is the co-founder and CTO at Contentstack.\u00a0Nishant is a serial tech entrepreneur and previously founded and led the digital solutions consultancy Raw Engineering and integration and automation platform Built.io, which Software AG acquired. For 20+ years, Nishant has shaped the future of the API-first, cloud-native industry.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/patelnishant\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/author\/npatel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate","description":"As part of Solutions Review's Contributed Content Series, Nishant Patel of Contentstack explains how to help developers innovate.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate","og_description":"As part of Solutions Review's Contributed Content Series, Nishant Patel of Contentstack explains how to help developers innovate.","og_url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/","og_site_name":"Best BPM Tools, Vendors, Software and BPMS","article_published_time":"2024-01-26T19:16:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-26T19:16:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":786,"height":393,"url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2024\/01\/How-to-Encourage-Developers-to-Innovate.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nishant Patel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nishant Patel","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/","name":"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2024\/01\/How-to-Encourage-Developers-to-Innovate.jpg","datePublished":"2024-01-26T19:16:22+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-26T19:16:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#\/schema\/person\/edca2c57a4c87f142f907f915f5cb07a"},"description":"As part of Solutions Review's Contributed Content Series, Nishant Patel of Contentstack explains how to help developers innovate.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2024\/01\/How-to-Encourage-Developers-to-Innovate.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2024\/01\/How-to-Encourage-Developers-to-Innovate.jpg","width":786,"height":393,"caption":"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/how-to-encourage-developers-to-innovate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Encourage Developers to Innovate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#website","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/","name":"Best BPM Tools, Vendors, Software and BPMS","description":"Buyer's Guide and Best Practices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#\/schema\/person\/edca2c57a4c87f142f907f915f5cb07a","name":"Nishant Patel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2023\/12\/Nishant-Patel.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2023\/12\/Nishant-Patel.jpg","caption":"Nishant Patel"},"description":"Nishant is the co-founder and CTO at Contentstack.\u00a0Nishant is a serial tech entrepreneur and previously founded and led the digital solutions consultancy Raw Engineering and integration and automation platform Built.io, which Software AG acquired. For 20+ years, Nishant has shaped the future of the API-first, cloud-native industry.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/patelnishant\/"],"url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/author\/npatel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}