Versions of the Balanced Breakthroughs framework have been around for a long time. (It may even date to the early 20th century—and we’ll footnote some of its early forms in the next edition.) Because it acts as a highly scalable model, we thought it was a great way to organize the next few chapters and the early part of the Naked Innovation process itself. It is useful enough that innovation teams can easily refer to it throughout the course of a project.
What seems to be working
- The Balanced Breakthrough framework is widely used, and we think it’s one every innovation team should be familiar with.
Areas that need more work or input
- Are we revealing the Balanced Breakthroughs framework at the right pace? We’re giving an overview here, with more detail revealed in the following chapters. Does it whet your appetite for the “double-click” to come? Would it be more clear if we provided a single, integrated example of how the three parts fit together?
- We provided three questions to ask under each of the three Balanced Breakthroughs circles. Is that enough detail—and do these feel like the right set of questions?
- Increasingly, we’re considering adding a fourth element: sustainability. Does that seem valuable enough to cover in the main text? In some ways, it is already covered with People but perhaps not considered enough. If not included formally, does it merit a sidebar discussion?