The MCE Model — A New Engine for Creative Organizations that Cross Boundaries
#5 MCE Model
Creative Organized Technology for Product Managers
Beyond Genius:Leveraging Diverse Ad-hoc Teams for Innovation
The MCE Model — A New Engine for Creative Organizations that Cross Boundaries
According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, one of the first tasks given to Adam — the first human — was to name every living creature.
“Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”
— Genesis 2:19–20
Naming is the act of classifying and drawing boundaries between things — “this group is bears,” “that group is lions,” and so on. In fact, even in the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish, the pre-creation chaos is described as a time “before names existed.” The idea that “to name is to create” is an ancient and widely shared understanding.
Choosing from Three “Engines of Creation”
In the essay “Value Discovery Through the Innovation Tool Called ‘Lunch’” (#4 Management Ambidexterity), I described how giving an ad-hoc team a name enables people to recognize it as an independent value-creation organization outside the formal hierarchy. If so, such a team — this “ship” — needs an engine to move forward.
There are several types of engines.
The first is MOT (Management of Technology), a framework developed in the United States. MOT begins with discovering “technology seeds” — cutting-edge technologies or ideas — and aims to transform them into products and innovations.
The second is the Toyota Product Development System (TPDS), developed by Toyota in Japan. This type of engine starts from user needs and aims to maximize profit by refining mass-produced products through Value Engineering (VE) during the planning and design stages.
The third is Creative Organized Technology (CreativeOrgTech), introduced in “Crossing the Lines — The Hidden Driver of Innovation” (#3 HeavyWeight Product Manager), is an engine for innovation that starts from hidden user needs — known as “masked needs” or insights. It applies system synthesis and analysis to create digital products and process innovations. Rather than being suited for mass production, it is ideal for unique, one-off projects such as smart city developments.
Each of these three creative engines excels in different areas. The first step is choosing whether to take a seed-driven approach (MOT) or a need-driven approach (TPDS / CreativeOrgTech). One should note that seed-driven innovation often faces greater barriers to technology transfer — known as the “valley of death,” “devil’s river,” and “Darwinian sea” — compared to need-driven approaches.
If you opt for a need-driven path, the next step is to determine whether you are dealing with a mass-produced product or a non-mass product. TPDS is ideal for the former, but it requires practitioners with a deep understanding of VE. For the latter — especially digital products and systems — CreativeOrgTech is better suited.
- MOT can be studied at MIT Sloan, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and similar institutions.
- TPDS is distinct from Lean Product Development and should be studied under expert or former Toyota chief engineers.
- CreativeOrgTech will be explored in depth through this Medium series.
The engine that powers CreativeOrgTech is the MCE Model, which I introduce here.
What is the MCE Model?
The MCE Model — short for Mission → Combination → Experiment — is a knowledge-creation process that consists of three interacting components:
- Mission (Creating meaning for action)
- Combination (Generating novel methods)
- Experiment (Progressive validation)
These three elements continuously cycle, producing a spiral of value creation. “Mission” refers to clarifying the fundamental reason why a particular activity should be pursued. It sets the direction and serves as the starting point of value creation.
Get CreativeOrgTech by Inoo Tanaka’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
The originator of this model was my mentor, Dr. Hideo Itokawa, also known as the father of Japan’s rocket development. The model traces its roots back to Japan’s first rocket project — the Pencil Rocket. In that context, the development process always began with clarifying the mission, then combining available methods, and finally conducting hands-on trials. The MCE Model systematizes that process of knowledge creation.
Three Frameworks of the MCE Model
■ Mission Framework: The Compass for Value Creation
- Insight
- Target Setting (via Environmental Research / Technology Information Bank)
(Determine PM) - Mission Analysis
■ Combination Framework: Weaving heterogeneous elements
- Current Status Analysis
- Alternatives
- System Synthesis
- System Analysis
- Failure Study
■ Experiment Framework: Feedback and Incremental Progress
- Decision Making
- Execution
- Feedback
- (Production)
In the next three entries, I will explore each of these frameworks in greater detail.
