New Book Co-Authored By UVA Darden Professor Offers Guide to Innovation Through Experimentation
By Dave Hendrick
In a world where change is constant, innovation is not a luxury – it’s a necessity. With rapid technological advancements and an ever-evolving business landscape, the key to success lies in embracing innovation and, increasingly: experimentation.
Experimentation is an essential part of innovation, the link between generating new ideas and putting them into practice. Organizations place great value on testing new products, services and strategies, yet there is a shortage of actionable guidance on how to design and execute high-quality experiments for practical purposes. A new book co-authored by four leading practitioners of innovation fills the knowledge gap with clear, hands-on manual for crafting and conducting experiments in real-life settings
University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor and design thinking pioneer Jeanne Liedtka.
In The Experimentation Field Book (Columbia University Press, 2024) University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor and design thinking pioneer Jeanne Liedtka and coauthors guide readers from any background or discipline through the fundamentals of identifying testable ideas, selecting an evidence base, prototyping and testing, building users’ skill sets and channeling their creativity through an interactive, exercise-oriented format.
Joining Liedtka as coauthors are Elizabeth Chen, the design thinking lead at Innovate Carolina and professor at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health; Natalie Foley (MBA ’11), the director of advisory services for Opportunity@Work and former CEO of Peer Insight; and David Kester, the managing director and founder of DK&A and the Design Thinkers Academy London and former CEO of the UK Design Council.
For students and businesses alike, the book offers a step-by-step framework with user-friendly instructions and case studies from Nike, Whiteriver Hospital, The Project Management Institute and South Western Railways, all illustrating the process at work in each step. Whether the reader is a student embarking on a project or a business professional seeking to address contemporary challenges, The Experimentation Field Book includes templates for readers to customize in their own projects and then practically use to bring their experiments to life.
Drawing on design thinking as well as other practical business approaches such as agile and lean startup, The Experimentation Field Book is a vital tool kit for all problem solvers and innovators seeking to address today’s pressing challenges.
> Learn more about The Experimentation Field Book
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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