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Why Companies and Government Do “Innovation Theater” Instead of Actual Innovation

Steve Blank

HR processes, legal processes, financial processes, acquisition and contracting processes, security processes, product development and management processes, and types of organizational forms etc. The result is that legacy systems live on as an albatross and an impediment to making the country safer and more secure.

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Hacking for Defense @ Stanford 2021 Lessons Learned Presentations

Steve Blank

Hacking for Defense has teams of students working to understand and solve national security problems. This was followed by an 8-minute slide presentation describing their customer discovery journey over the 10 weeks. This was my sixth time teaching a virtual class during the lockdown – and for our students likely their 15th or more.

Lean 385
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The Air Force Academy Gets Lean

Steve Blank

In 2007, I graduated United States Air Force Academy as a computer engineer and entered the Air Force’s acquisition corps , excited and confident about my ability to bring technology to bear for our airmen. And I couldn’t have been put in a better place: testing the Air Force’s newest network security acquisitions.

Lean 262
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Hacking for Defense @ Stanford 2020 Lesson Learned Presentations

Steve Blank

Second, doing customer discovery via video actually increased the number of interviews the students were able to do each week. The eight teams spoke to over 945 beneficiaries, stakeholders, requirements writers, program managers, warfighters, legal, security, customers, etc.

Oakland 301
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Nokia as “He Who Must Not Be Named” and the Helsinki Spring

Steve Blank

In 2010 it got worse with an Act in parliament about the Monitoring of Foreigners’ Corporate Acquisitions. It will be fascinating to see if they can lead the cultural change and secure the political support (in a government run by an older generation) to support their vision. Lessons Learned.

Finland 324
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Technology, Innovation, and Modern War – Class 3

Steve Blank

We just held our third session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. So, it’s incumbent on us to think about the ramifications of these acquisition decisions. Today’s topic was Sourcing, Acquiring and Deploying Technology for Modern War.

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The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Goes Lean

Steve Blank

To promote innovation inside the NGA, they’ve staffed an Enterprise Innovation Office (EIO) to coach, educate and advise the entire agency, from core leadership to the operational edges, with methods and concepts of validated learning through rapid experimentation and customer development.

Lean 177