TEI 009: How a non-profit used idea management to create life-saving product

Global Product Management Talk is pleased to bring you another episode of...

The Everyday Innovator with host Chad McAllister, PhD.

The podcast is all about helping people involved in developing and managing products become more successful, grow their careers, and STANDOUT from their peers.

Our Guest:  Geoff Peters is one of the nicest and most professional product managers you could meet. I met him at a product management meeting where he described how a faith-based nonprofit, Compassion International, created their first new product in several decades, called Water of Life.

To begin creating an innovation capability, Compassion did three things:

1. Implement a phase-gate methodology for managing new product development.
2. Train key employees on the principles of new product development using the NPDP certification process.
3. Create an ideation event that started with a 2-day innovation retreat.

Geoff developed the concept of providing safe drinking water, resulting in the Water of Life product, a simple and effective way equipping impoverished families to have clean water.