The Innovation Management Maturity Model™ is a framework for assessing a company’s innovation program encompassing the people, processes and tools needed to speed time to market.

See how you rank against over 700 product development professionals across the globe who evaluated their innovation management maturity using this model in the Fourth Product Portfolio Management Benchmark Study (conducted by Appleseed Partners and Open Sky Research and commissioned by Planview).

We’re sorry, this Web application requires Javascript enabled in your browser to function. If you would like to continue, please enable Javascript and refresh the page.

Executive leadership fosters innovation
“Center for Process Excellence and Innovation” is well-established and reports to executive team
Decision making collaborative and efficient
Everyone throughout the commercialization process understands role
Project managers and scrum masters lead innovation and development teams leveraging best practices
Early formation of a “Center for Process Excellence”
Process managers and gatekeepers have clear direction, metrics, and ownership
Formalized portfolio manager positions at business unit and enterprise levels
Multiple strong champions for innovation
Project teams consist of cross-functional team members
Start of open innovation, co-development, and the use of external innovation consultants
Established roles in the commercialization process: process managers, project managers, resource managers, and gate-keepers
Beginning to champion innovation and portfolio management
Individual leaders own day-to-day processes and are responsible for developing and delivering the product roadmap
Project managers not consistently following industry best practices
Cross-functional project teams not optimized for efficiency
Innovation leaders starting to emerge and introduce change
No cross-functional organization focused on innovation
Decision making about the product portfolio by executive leadership only, often with less than optimal data
Informal project leadership; resources assigned verbally
Execution and product launches happen slow and steady
Unclear connection/hand-offs throughout commercialization process
Fully automated and standardized processes that are easily adaptable
Portfolio metrics evolved to include competitive and environmental impact scores
Projects killed early and often during portfolio reviews
Voice of the customer captured on an ongoing basis
Continuous learning loop well established
Process covers idea to launch, and through to end of life
Fully implemented gated process across multiple teams with some automation
Gaining courage killing underperforming projects
Portfolio metrics expanded to include resource capacity and strategic alignment
Capturing voice of the customer with caution
Governance process becoming efficient and streamlined
Documented and validated gated commercialization process in place based on best practice
Regular portfolio reviews and post-mortems conducted
Voice of the customer becoming more formalized
Governance workflow not yet consistently repeatable
A few projects being killed, but later than optimal
Informal process for innovation and idea flow; templates in use
Portfolio reviews are more project status updates
Metrics for evaluating innovation are purely financial
Early realization of silo inefficiency and value of gated processes with cross-functional participation
Processes are departmentally focused and not documented
No formal gated process or templates for product development; projects rarely killed
Limited visibility into actuals, forecasts, post-mortem assessment, or roadmaps; no portfolio reviews
Processes surrounding ideation, roadmap development, and portfolio reviews do not exist
Highly functioning PPM system integrated to other enterprise tools
Ideation collected for collaboration
Product roadmap tied to project execution and corporate strategy via PPM
Entire product catalog of in-market products, including the Product P&L, managed via PPM
Self-service configurable reports and metrics delivered across the organization
Product Portfolio Management (PPM) system in place automating the commercialization process
Resource capacity planning, roadmapping, and financial forecasting being piloted within PPM
Dedicated tool for capturing voice of the customer
Executive and project-level reporting and analytics are available and modifiable
Manual portfolio management using spreadsheets
Desktop project management tools in use
Soon to automate the commercialization process
Ideation centralized but not using a purpose built tool
Standard library of reports exist; created manually by IT
Moving to shared spreadsheets in central location
Ideation matured to being captured and prioritized
Projects managed via desktop tool but not shared
Roadmap communicated via static spreadsheet; rarely updated
Reporting and analytics starting to be shared and built manually
Manual, decentralized, un-integrated spreadsheets and basic project tracking tools
Only one or two centralized applications are in use
New ideas for innovation captured informally
Reporting inconsistent and roadmapping rare, executed via local desktop tools
We have operationalized innovation with well-defined processes and formalized tools. Innovation is embedded in our company culture across all functions. We have a well-balanced portfolio with incremental and breakthrough innovation that yields positive revenue growth. We have the ability to launch products as planned and with confidence, meeting time to market targets.
Our innovation strategy is emerging and we are working to tie it to our strategic objectives for growth. The lack of connection between project execution and product/corporate strategy results in an unbalanced portfolio making it difficult to quickly respond to market changes. There is a growing innovation pipeline, we are getting to market faster, and we are achieving many of our performance metrics. Innovation efforts have visibility, but it’s not yet embedded in our culture.
We are becoming more proactive in seeking innovation as a key part of our product portfolio. Our innovation strategy and metrics are not clearly defined and communicated, and as a result we occasionally miss market windows and margin targets. Our leadership team is actively investing in tools, processes, and capabilities to operationalize innovation.
Delivery of products, mostly line extensions and solid enhancements to existing products, is growing in consistency, but we typically operate in reaction mode. Our leadership is starting to understand the need for investing in innovation. Our innovation strategy centers on safe bets with occasional calculated risks, resulting in unpredictable outcomes.
We are in a mature market where revenue is primarily driven from existing products and minor line extensions. There is some innovation in process and operations throughout the organization, but it is not required for company success. Our strategy is focused on conservative investments resulting in gradual and predictable growth.