Paul Rhodes

To effectively convey your ideas to stakeholders in Product Innovation, I try to keep in mind a 30/3/30 communication strategy I picked up from a past role. It's a relative framework similar to the 'elevator pitch' approach. If you assume that a full briefing will require 30 minutes, consider how to pull out the main themes into a 3 minute briefing and either a single-bullet specific or a more RAG-focused 30 second summary. So perhaps the 30 minute briefing covers the details of an evolutionary roadmap, the 3 minutes covers the timelines of the major products, and the 30 second says whether you're going to hit your next release/milestone and whether this will have a knock-on or will have an isolated impact

Technology may well bridge communication barriers with remote teams but in the Product Innovation domain, remote communication built upon face-to-face meetings is far more valuable. Traditionally a 'new Sales Director touring customers' trope, going and meeting remote team members soon after you have started a new role is a key way to build mutual trust and relationships. Seeing people outside meetings will give you greater insight into them as individuals. Subsequent virtual discussions will now have nuance and personality. Relationships will benefit from reinforcement by regular in-person contact, and can then be maintained through technology where building them through technology may not be as effective or even possible.

The mobile technology industry has a significant generation gap to be overcome through bi-lateral learning. Some skills risk being lost because there is no knowledge transfer to the next generation. But some opportunities are being missed by misplaced trust in 30-year-old skills and techniques. STEM students and young professionals have broad opportunities. The first generation of telecom professionals are approaching the latter years of their careers. If the latter are able to engage the former in an open manner, first seeking to learn and then to impart knowledge and skills, those with options for their future careers may choose to pursue. Ideally this is a continuation of life-long learning, but it's never too late to start!

Having access to well-structured and valid qualitative and quantitative data will only help you make informed decisions if you know that the data is relevant and valid. Quantitative analysis of the data is certainly a valid option, but often it's experience - and importantly the recognition of having made prior mistakes and understanding your natural biases - that means that a qualitative evaluation is done first. As long as you treat data as the input - with an honest assessment - and not use it to try and validate a decision, you're instincts will guide you. If the data does not pass the sniff test then it's likely not worth doing a quantitative evaluation.

Unless you can accidentally stumble an unsolved mass-market problem that can be solved with a pure hardware solution, choosing a SW-based solution is likely to be the best way to future-proof your new technology innovation. In terrestrial mobile networks we will not be delivering appliance-based products for 6G. For space-based solutions, while low-energy efficient HW platforms are needed, it will be the SW which (literally) delivers the killer App. But the HW platforms - and commercial availability of them - are needed. AWS was set up to deliver cloud-based solutions for in-house use, available for customers when Amazon did not needed it. Unlike seasonal warehouse and delivery staff, compute and storage needs paying for year round.

As a product innovation professional in the tech industry looking to up their networking game, there are plenty of fora which you can get frequent networking opportunities where you can listen to fellow experts , and listen for problems which need solving. Examples in the UK - in overlapping domains would be TechUK, Cambridge Wireless, UKTIN, UK Fibre Connectivity Forum (UKFCF) and - particularly relevant this week - TM Forum. These all combine plenary-type discussions with keynote and panel discussions with networking breaks to get to know your industry partners. Once you've heard their challenges you can determine what product innovations might resolve them.