< PreviousLAUNCH STAGE • PATHFINDER TEAM • IMPROVE STAGE TASK SUMMARY Your task during the IMPROVE STAGE is review the weaknesses identified during the previous stage and resolve them in a way that doesn’t jeopardise the program’s objectives. SCHEDULE You have THREE DAYS to complete this stage. MONTUEWEDTHUFRISATSUN REVIEW SESSION Review progress and ensure all important issues are resolved. Start resolving the issues you discovered in the previous stage. KICK OFF WORKSHOPLAUNCH STAGE • PATHFINDER TEAM • IMPROVE STAGE GUIDANCE ACTIVITY LIST1. Conduct a Kick Off Workshop. 2. Conduct a Review Session. TIPS1. Don’t be afraid to ask for outside help if you get stuck. 2. If you get stuck on a problem move on and come back to it later. 3. It might be the case that some weaknesses cannot be overcome or the solutions are impractical in which case move on. 4. Remember solutions have to be affordable, practical, and workable. 5. Remember to keep your solutions as simple as possible. 6. Remember to use Human-Centric design principles when thinking about solutions. 7. Resolve weaknesses by the most impactful first. 8. Your solutions don’t have to be perfect at this stage. CRUCIAL MOMENTS1. Resolving weaknesses in priority order. 2. The solutioning stage. RISKS1. Participants aren’t committed. 2. Participants don’t think outside the box. 3. Participants fail to adequately resolve high impact weaknesses. 4. Participants get stuck trying to find solutions. 5. Participants over engineer the solutions. 6. Participants run out of time. 7. The solutions do more harm than good. DELIVERABLES1. Create a prioritised summary of your solutions categorised by impact. OUTCOMEBy the end of this stage you will have identified workable solutions to all your concepts weaknesses.PROTOTYPEU P UNTIL this point your concepts have essentially been little more than paper doodles, slideware, and whiteboard graffiti. Now though, and after what must seem like a lifetime, the time has finally come to turn them into Minimum Viable Products, prototypes, where, in a nutshell, an MVP is the simplest version of a product possible. As you develop your MVP’s during this stage though you must remember to retain a zealous like alignment with the program’s objectives and your teams Core Mission, and to remain focused on what’s important. ESSENTIAL THINKING When you have your head buried in the program sometimes it’s easy to overlook things, so here are some essential things to bear in mind to help you get the most from your journey... Get Building Your prototypes should stay true to the concepts and business models you developed during the earlier stages. There are several approaches you can use to build your prototypes, including building actual products to using story boards or wire frames, as well as many other alternatives. Inevitably the approach you choose will be dictated by the amount of time and resources you have available. Three Little Letters When you are defining the scope of your MVP it’s important that you stay as close to the spirit of the acronym as possible. In other words your ideal prototype has to be Minimal, the most rudimentary bare bones solution possible, Viable, sufficient enough for early adopters, and be a Product, something tangible that customers can touch and feel. Follow these basic principles and you’re pretty much there. Your Scope Before you begin building your prototypes you need a clear plan and a clear definition, or scope, of what it is you are actually building. Both should be as detailed as practically possible under the circumstances. Your scope should include your value propositions and a complete list of features prioritised by importance, just in case you find yourself running out of time and have to choose which features to include and 193311institute.com EXPLORE MORE BOOK AN EXPERT CALLwhich features to come back to at a later date. It is also advisable that you use the ICE Methodology, where ICE stands for “Impact, Cost, and Effort” to prioritise your time. Work The Plan Before selecting the approach you’re going to take to building your prototypes it’s important that you have an accurate idea of how long they’re going to take to build as well as the amount of time and resources you have to build them, so before you begin building your MVP create a plan and if you discover don’t have enough time to do everything you’d like to then adapt and improvise. Notes: 194311institute.comNotes: 195311institute.comLAUNCH STAGE • PATHFINDER TEAM • PROTOTYPE STAGE TASK SUMMARY Your task during the PROTOTYPE STAGE is to create an MVP for each of your remaining concepts. SCHEDULE You have TWO WEEKS to complete this stage. MONTUEWEDTHUFRISATSUN MONTUEWEDTHUFRISATSUN PROTOTYPE WORKSHOP Start building your MVP’s. Discuss your objectives, create your business models, and identify your MVP’s must have criteria. KICK OFF WORKSHOP Review your progress, list key challenges and resolve them quickly. REVIEW SESSION FINAL PUSH SESSION Make final changes to your MVP’s, use the time wisely. Test your MVP’s, prioritise issues, and fix as quickly as possible. REVIEW SESSIONLAUNCH STAGE • PATHFINDER TEAM • PROTOTYPE STAGE GUIDANCE ACTIVITY LIST1. Conduct your Kick Off Workshop 2. Conduct your prototype Workshop. 3. Conduct your first Review Session. 4. Conduct your second Review Session. 5. Conduct your Wrap Up Session. TIPS1. Create a high level project plan. 2. Develop your MVPs most important criteria first. 3. Ensure everyone is clear about their roles and responsibilities. 4. Ensure everyone understands and adheres to the project plan. 5. If you lack the resources to develop your MVP’s try using low tech approaches like storyboarding. 6. Manage your time properly and stick to an agreed schedule. 7. Prioritise your time and use it wisely. 8. Remember to stay true to the objectives of the program. 9. Remember to use Human-Centric design principles when building your MVP. CRUCIAL MOMENTS1. Creating your project schedule. 2. Defining the criteria for your MVPs. 3. Incorporating the feedback from previous stages in your design process. RISKS1. Participants are not fully committed. 2. Participants loose focus. 3. Participants loose sight of the program’s objectives. 4. Participants run out of time. 5. You fail to spot a critical weakness in your methodology or design. 6. You lack access to the resources you need. 7. You spend too much time trying to perfect your MVP. 8. Your project plan is confusing, incomplete, or unrealistic. DELIVERABLES1. Create an MVP for each of your concepts. 2. Create a mini business case and business model for each MVP. OUTCOMEBy the end of this stage you will have built MVP’s of all of your concepts, and will have a mini business case and mini business model completed for each of them.DEBRIEFD URING THE course of this program you have discovered and created many new things and travelled great distances, both mentally and physically, figuratively and literally, so it is now time to come back together as a team take it down a gear, clear your heads, relax, and do a full debrief so that you are all on the same page and aligned. This is the stage where you get the opportunity to debate, discuss, and clarify, all of your thinking and work to date before you move on to the PRESENTATION STAGE where you will present your final concepts to the senior leadership team. This will also be the last time you’ll be able to address and voice any concerns or questions you have about anything you’ve encountered during the program so make this stage count, don’t hold back and don’t take any prisoners. Furthermore, if during your conversations and your due diligence something is amiss then discuss it and then either fix it or kill it while you still have the opportunity - after all, remember that it is better to discover and discuss all the potential issues during this stage than have them pointed out to you by the senior leadership team and their audience during the next stage. ESSENTIAL THINKING When you have your head buried in the program sometimes it’s easy to overlook things, so here are some essential things to bear in mind to help you get the most from your journey... Continuous Improvement The focus of the debrief should be on learning and improvement, with a razor sharp focus on the expectations and requirements of the next stage, and not mere evaluation. Focus When you come back together for your debrief make sure that you know the purpose of the debrief and are clear about the events and topics you’re reflecting on. In It Together Make sure that everybody is involved in the debrief and has is able to put their observations and points of view across. 199311institute.com EXPLORE MORE BOOK AN EXPERT CALLNext >