Managing the Unmanageable

Jonathan Cagan is the David and Susan Coulter Head of Mechanical Engineering and the George Tallman and Florence Barrett Ladd Professor, with courtesy appointment in Design, at Carnegie Mellon University, where he has been on the faculty since 1990. Along with Peter Boatwright, Jon created the Integrated Innovation Institute and its professional masters degrees. Jon has consulted for three decades with a variety of companies to guide their teams through the product innovation process, as well as guiding hundreds of university teams that have worked with companies through that process. By merging design thinking with artificial intelligence, machine learning, optimization, and cognition, Jon has been a founder of the fields of generative design and hybrid AI/human design teams, with nearly 300 peer-reviewed publications and 7 issued and 2 pending patents. Jon has co-authored three previous books: Creating Breakthrough Products, The Design of Things to Come, and Built to Love (the latter two with Peter Boatwright).

Nearly all innovation is done by teams. And while there are many books about the innovation process, and also many about managing teams, the management of innovation teams has gone unaddressed.