I eagerly anticipated reading “The Insider’s Guide to Innovation @ Microsoft”. Microsoft is one of the most valuable companies on the planet and has built that value by helping people and businesses leverage technology in innovative ways. As part of the celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary, Dean Carignan and JoAnn Garbin, two innovators inside the company have produced this collection of seven diverse case studies and four innovation patterns that emerged from those case studies.
Bottom line, “The Insider’s Guide to Innovation @ Microsoft” is an interesting study of what innovation looks like at Microsoft today. As with any large company, different parts of the business operate somewhat differently, but the authors have done a good job of finding the commonalities from which lessons can be learned. While the book may not be the most productive book on innovation for a small and young startup, I do believe there are valuable lessons that leaders at large and mature companies could learn from reading it. I recommend the book for those readers.