Note: This originally appeared on the 3Pillar website Workshops are a great way to get your team aligned and moving quickly. I design workshops to meet my client where they are and get them to their destination. I never want to be part of a workshop that doesn’t help teams achieve results. At the same […]
Category: Strategy
You’re funding technology wrong
Occasionally I work with clients who fund technology based on project business cases that are evaluated on a periodic or annual basis. These business cases require your leaders and their teams to spend endless hours creating and editing a deck. In many cases you could have built the thing with the money it took to […]
My favorite posts from 2015
Happy New Year! I wish you and yours all the best. Here are a couple of my favorite posts from the last year: Getting to Meaningful Feedback How I do customer development interviews Getting the Most out of Prototyping How to deal with a bad idea How I use canvas exercises to understand, align and […]
Breaking the rules of facilitating
A facilitator is supposed to be a neutral party who keeps time and make sure people follow the rules of the exercise. I’m a facilitation rule breaker and not ashamed of it. We’re committed to our client’s success and that calls for an engaged partner who can share insights from other verticals, trends and their own […]
“MVP” a great and greatly confused concept
I’ve written before about how words have different meanings to people. One word that seems to be particularly tricky is “MVP.” There seems to be a disconnect between the lean community and the larger market. What the Lean Gurus Say Eric Reis, author of The Lean Startup, coined the term and explains it this way […]
How I use canvas exercises to understand, align and assess
I use canvas exercises like the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas or a variation of my own design with new clients or prospects all the time. It’s one of the most effective ways to quickly and comprehensively understand what your client is trying to achieve, align the product team and asses what they need. Typically I […]
What Henry Ford Got Wrong and Right About Customers
If you advocate for including customers in the product development process you are going to inevitably will be confronting this: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford There isn’t any evidence that Ford said this but there sure are a lot of people who believe this quote […]
What I Learned on Maternity Leave
My husband and I welcomed a little girl into the world over the holidays and it’s been a whirlwind since. I’ve learned to swaddle, what her cries mean (mostly) and a few things that will help me back on the job When you fail, stay focused Failing fast with a newborn is not a choice […]
Getting to know your customers better
Let’s say your company is really good at sales. The team knows who the buyer is, how to reach them, what they care about and close the sale. What happens next? Who is using it? How? What value do they get from it? Are they being well-served? More and more the customer is charge, their […]
Do you know your customer?
If you get me as a ski instructor I look at your gear, how you stand and see what mood you’re in as I walk over to you. We chat and I ask where you are from, what you do for fun, what you want to do today and your sport experience. As we head […]