How coding shapes your thinking

This article was first written and published for the Business Coaching Magazine.

When you write software all day, it shapes your thinking. Your brain is trained and you build up mental automation.

Interestingly, some of these thinking patterns are the same as those of successful entrepreneurs.

If one imagines a developer as a geeky introvert hiding behind his computer and closed in his bubble, what’s happening on the surface is very different from what is happening in his mind.

While programming, a developer is hyper-focused. He is on a mission to develop a software. So what is developing?

Developing is about learning

With this goal in mind, the developer drafts a possible architecture to build his software and gets to work. He writes his first piece of code and tests it.

The feedback is immediate! Does it work? Does it compile?

If not, the developer reviews and adapts his code, correcting his thinking, re-writing his program and testing it again and again until it works.

He revisits his thinking and learns how to build this piece of software.

In fact, after the programming is done, a developer can rewrite the exact same software about a 1/3 of the time it took him to write the initial program. He has learned and corrected his approach.

Working like this teaches you that you never get it right the first time. Test and learn becomes a reflex.

This is the thing developers share with entrepreneurs. The ability to test, learn and adapt.

Coding is about reaching out

Bugs and program errors are sometimes very hard to find, understand and fix. The developer needs to find the source of the bug and the solution to it. Very often the developer searches the web for similar cases or reaches out to the developer community to get help. Getting help and learning from peers is typical behaviour of developers.

Coding is about limitless possibilities

New applications are always amazing us: self-driving cars, facial recognition, complex computations, medical algorithms, search engine, etc… Developers KNOW that anything is possible with software. It’s just a matter of time to build it and perfect it. Developers see possibilities where others see obstacles and blockers.

Coding is understanding the bigger picture

Before coding, the developer takes a step back to understand the wider context of his work:

  1. De-zooming to grasp the essential function required. How is the software going to be used? what should it do exactly? How will this bring value to the company?
  2. Imagining the solution: the developer needs to understand the technical environment in which his software will work- like a piece that must fit perfectly inside larger puzzle.

Coding is an act of creation

The developer creates the software. He imagines the solution and brings it to life by coding the way he wants. He chooses how to build it, his tools he will use, where he will start, the functions and variables of the program, etc.. Developers have the freedom to express their creativity. The only condition is that it has to work.

Coding makes you happy

Programming is rewarding. I realized a few years ago while programming that developers experience a state of flow defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as a state of energized focus, full involvement and enjoyment.

To enter this state of flow you typically need :

  • a clearly defined goal
  • a challenge adapted to your skill
  • immediate feedback

As a result, you enter a state of flow recognisable by:

  • an altered perception of time. …
  • great inner clarity
  • and a sense of serenity

Programming allows you to experience this flow.

Personally, I have noticed those patterns as a developer and while coaching innovation teams with developers. Developers already have those mental automations.

How the perception of effort increases value

Value is relative

The value that a buyer sees and depends on the frame or perception they have about the product. To increase the perceived value of your product, you can influence and change that frame. One way to change it is to show that the product is the result of effort, energy, care, or complexity. Showing the effort behind the product increase the perception of value. Let me share how I learned this.

The perception of effort

I realised this for the first time when I was in Atlantic City. I was a student when I took a summer break from my engineering school in Paris to work in Atlantic City. It as a summer job, and the job was pushing the rolling chairs to push a rolling chair on up and down the boardwalk the the tourists. Tourist hired the chair, sat on it and like a taxi I pushed them away to their destination. Every morning I rented one of those chair for a fixed price and kept the money I earned from the different rides. Sometime I would get a tip on top of the agreed fair, sometime I wouldn’t.

I remember this particular time I took a couple in my chair for a ride. On that day, the sun what hitting hard. The passengers in the chair were in the shade but not me. I was getting hot and sweaty. To make matters worst the chair I had did not roll smoothy. I had to push harder the entire day. Arriving at destination I was dripping sweat.

As the couple paid, the they noticed me sweating and the women said:

“Give him a good tip, he worked hard.”

The good tip was the reward for my sweat. The same ride without the sweat would have been less.

The sweat was the proof of my effort. And because it was visible, the ride was worth more for the passengers.

The perceived value increased with the perception of the effort.

Read more on perceived value here.

How to Interview Customer — field guide

To build a business, you need to clearly understand who you can create value for -your customers- and what job are these customers trying to get done.

One way to answer these seminal questions is to actually interview potential customers and enquire about the problems they have. It seems easy to do, but it is difficult to do well.

A map to structure what you are learning

When interviewing customers, my main objective is to explore their own specific behaviors and resolution mechanisms. How do they solve problems on their own? On this exploration, I have a map: the customer interview sheet. It helps structure the feedback and ensures that I am covering the key areas to research so I don’t walk out of an interview with unanswered questions.

This customer interview sheet is structured in 3 parts: questions you ask yourself before the interview, questions you ask during the interview to guide the conversation towards specific learning points and the conclusions you need to draw after the interview.

Before the interview

Before running the interview you need to have clarity on what you want to learn. This makes the interview process easier, allowing you to refocus the interview when it goes off-topic.

  • Target Customer

Who is my target customer?

Define the type of customer you want to talk to. It is a reminder of the criteria you are looking for in your target customers. If the person you’re meeting does not match your specifications, you should move on. Where to find them? Think about their habits and their daily journey, and identify where are you more likely to find them.

  • Problem/Need

Which of their problems/needs am I setting out to solve?

You are assuming that your customers are encountering problems that are irritating enough for them to seek solutions (ideally your solution). List those problems here.

During the interview

In each interview, I keep an eye on the sheet thread to make sure I steer the conversation towards my learning goals. Below, for each frame of the sheet, I added the questions I usually use to get valuable customer insights.

  • Customer info

Who is this person I am talking to? What are some of the facts that define her/him?

Try to gather as much relevant data as you can. Sometimes, you won’t have all the details but you will be able to estimate an approximate age for example. Bit by bit, you will collect valuable information and write them down in this frame.

  • Customer stories

What problems do you encounter regarding this situation? When was the last time you had this problem? Can you tell me how it happened?

The best way to understand customer behavior is to ask for stories. Stories force the customer to recall their precise actions around the event. By drilling down with questions, you can understand their motivation and why they make the choices they make.

From their stories, you can decipher their perspective on the problem and assess the energy and efforts that the customer is putting into solving that problem.

Stories will reveal bigger and unsuspected problems encountered by your customers.

  • Existing solutions

How are you solving this problem? Is it effective?

This question allows you to understand who you are competing against. You will be surprised. If your customer is not using a solution to solve that problem, then maybe the problem you are after is not that important to them. Once you know what solution is being implemented, you can start improving on it.

You can also learn how your customers are looking for solutions, this will provide insights on their journey and inform you about potential marketing channels.

  • Pains with existing solutions

How is this solution working out for you?

Ask for the story to learn about the things that seem complicated, frustrating, or unpleasant. Again, assess how much of a problem this is for your customer. Is this something they are actively trying to solve? Or are they happy to live with those frictions?

After the interview

  • Key Takeaways

What were the most important things you learned?

Share your learnings with your team, and reflect on the 3 most important learnings. Is there a bigger problem the customer is trying to solve? What don’t they like about the solutions they are using?

  • Problem Importance

How important is this problem for this customer?

You need to understand if this is worth solving. Again you assess this based on the story they told you and their perspective on the problem. Is this person aware of having the problem? Is he/she paying for a solution?

  • Problem Frequency

How often does the customer have this problem or need?

This quantifies how often your solution could bring value. If the problem is not happening very often, then your solution might not be used a lot.

  • Early Adopter

Now here comes the hard question. Is this customer an early adopter?

Is this person actively looking for a solution? If not, this customer is unlikely to be the first person to jump on your solution.

So what?

Listen actively, read between the lines and try to dig deeper. Get into the mind of your customers, understand them as much as possible. If you feel stuck at some point, it’s ok. Regroup your thoughts, broaden your perspective, look at your sheet and see what information you are missing.

Get the Customer Interview Sheet

If you want to learn more about how to think and move like a startup, contact me on Tango.

J’ai bootstrappé mon business model. Mon MVP a de la traction chez mes early adopters !

C’est parce qu’on a pivoté pour trouver notre growth engine. Et la c’est le Product Market Fit !

…vous pouvez répéter ?

Bienvenue dans l’univers Lean Startup, où l’on parle autant anglais que français… ou plutôt franglais. Sigles, anglicismes, abréviations : comment s’y retrouver ?

Le Lean Startup c’est quoi ? Le “Lean Startup” est une approche entrepreneuriale de création de produit ou service. Elle repose sur l’apprentissage du marché, l’expérimentation scientifique et le design itératif.

En se basant sur les réussites et des échecs des startups, Eric Ries a réuni et codifié plusieurs bonnes pratiques qui constituent aujourd’hui la méthodologie de base de conception des startups dans son livre “The Lean startup”. En quelques mots, il s’agit de constamment adapter et ajuster son produit le plus rapidement possible en fonction des retours des utilisateurs.

Ou en jargon : Il faut pivoter sur la value proposition de son business model avec ses early adopters pour avoir de la traction et atteindre la customer validation avant de construire son MVP.

C’est clair ? Non !

Bon, voici le décodeur.

Bootstrap : Démarrage de startup sur des fonds propres, limités, sans faire appel à des investisseurs extérieurs. Cela permet de trouver des solutions créatives pour réaliser son idée. Avoir très peu de moyens oblige à faire des choix et amène a se focaliser sur ce qui est le plus important pour le client.

Parent of a startuper

Business Model : Un business model décrit comment une entreprise crée, délivre et capture la valeur pour ces clients. Une fois son business model posé, la startup cherche à le valider ou à l’invalider. Des expérimentations courtes permettent de tester indépendamment les différents éléments de son business model. Si les expérimentations invalident une partie du business model, il faut alors se poser la question du pivot.

Philosophie startup

Pivot : Pivoter c’est changer un élément de son business model sans changer de vision. Par exemple, cela peut-être changer sa cible, son canal de distribution ou sa solution sans changer les autres éléments de son business model. Un pivot est un changement de stratégie sans changement de vision.

Pivot

Early Adopter : Ici, ce sont les personnes les plus promptes à utiliser votre produit ou votre service. Ce sont eux qui expriment le besoin ou le problème vous allez résoudre de la façon la plus forte. Les early adopters constituent votre première cible.

MVP : Le terme le plus répandu du Lean Startup mais aussi le plus confus. Le Minimum Viable Product est une expérience faites avec des clients. Cette expérience sert a vérifier si l’on arrive à bien répondre au besoin du client, et cela grâce a une version réduite de la solution que l’on envisage de construire.

MVP de twitter

Traction : Taux de croissance de l’entreprise, acquisition de nouveaux utilisateurs ou clients. C’est un indicateur clé au démarrage pour de nombreuses startups en B2C. La traction vient de son Growth Engine ou moteur de croissance.

Growth Engine : Le moteur de croissance est la stratégie mises en oeuvre pour faire croître le nombre de clients. Il y a trois stratégies principale:

  1. En payant pour l’acquisition de nouveaux clients, par exemple une campagne marketing. C’est moteur de croissance de beaucoup de site de e-commerce par exemple, ou ils doivent constamment chercher de nouveaux clients à travers des campagne marketing.
  2. En étant viral, c’est quand l’utilisation du produit par les clients actuels incite d’autres personnes a utiliser le produit. Par exemple les réseaux sociaux ou les personnes s’inscrivent parce qu’elles y sont invitées par leurs amis.
  3. En améliorant la rétention : en s’assurant que les clients restent sur le moyen-long terme. Par exemple, les services d’abonnement téléphone ou autre.

Product-Market Fit : La rencontre et accord parfait entre un produit et son marché : la startup fait des ventes répétées. Lorsqu’il y product market fit, la startup peut passer à la phase de croissance, qui est telle qu’elle n’arrive pas a répondre à la demande. C’est aussi à partir de ce moment que d’autres startups en général copient leur concept.

Value Proposition : La proposition de valeur est la formulation la plus simple et la plus compréhensible qui permette de décrire de manière précise et actionnable ce que vous offrez à vos clients. Par exemple, celle d’Uber est “The Smartest Way to Get Around”. Elle doit être claire pour vos futur clients.

Lean Canvas : Tableau synthétisant les différents éléments de son business model. Il permet de poser sur papier ses hypothèses et de s’en servir comme base de travail pour identifier les éléments à tester.

Business Canvas

Customer Validation : Avant même d’avoir construit un produit, il est essentiel de comprendre et valider sa cible client et ses besoins. Steve Blank l’a théorisé dans ce qui s’appelle le customer development. La phase de validation consiste à valider la demande. (ex : crowdfunding)

Bonus : Maintenant que vous connaissez le jargon, voici un petit jeu a imprimer et dégainer lors votre prochaine réunion startup ! C’est le bullshit bingo Lean Startup.

Chaque fois qu’un mot est prononcé, cocher la case correspondante. Lorsqu’une ligne ou une colonne est complète, crier “bullshit”. Bravo ! Vous avez gagné !

J’espère que cette lecture vous a été utile si ce n’est divertissante ! Et dites moi si vous avez gagné au Bingo !

Pour apprendre à innover comme les startups, contactez-moi chez Tango.

The Culture Map in action

This is what I learned using the Culture Map tool with a corporate team.

First a bit of context: I have been following Dave Gray’s and Alexander Osterwalder’s work for the past years and got really excited when Alex presented the Culture Map back in 2015 at the Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco.

Since then I’d been looking for an opportunity to use the tool. I recently met Dave Gray who gave me a 30mins run down on how he uses the Culture Map. I complemented my research with Best Practices: How To Use The Culture Map and was ready to go!

Frame culture map

Sitting down with the team, we took about 2.5 hours together to map out their culture. After explaining the tool and what to expect from it, the participants had about 10 mins to fill out the map individually. We then had a conversation about different inputs each person had and aimed at creating a collective Culture Map. Here are my takeaways.

The Culture Map created and framed the conversation

For me, this is the main benefit of the tool. The topics discussed would not be talked about or analysed as a team otherwise. For instance, the team highlighted the freedom they have in their work hours and the tools they can use. Asking why does the team have such freedom (the enabler) and what this freedom allowed them to achieve (the outcomes) gave them a better understanding of what’s going on.

Behaviours have positive and negative outcomes

When talking about the outcome of a specific behaviour, we found for each positive outcome, there was also a negative outcome. For instance the team could move fast and make some decisions on their own. The downside of this was that it created a disconnected with to the rest of the business that couldn’t behave that way. Bringing this to light now allows the team to see it and think whether to continue with or adjust the behaviour. It becomes now a conscious decision.

Identify behaviours as things We do…

The best practices suggest to start by mapping out behaviours. This worked well for us. To help define team behaviours, I found it useful to start the phrase with We + some verb. “We release code before it’s perfect”. “We have lunch together as a team”. For each behaviour, each team member had a story to tell. This supported the collective understanding of the team culture.

Don’t include the boss?

This is more of a question then a takeaway. The session worked well as the team talked openly and exposed how they work in a non-judgemental way. I imagine the exercise might not run smoothly for some teams if the boss is around. It can prevent a frank and honest conversation, leading to an unremarkable result.

As a bonus we used the Culture Map to map the “want to have” culture. Here again, fundamental conversation emerged, questioning the purpose and ambitions of the team.

So was it worth the 2.5 hours? Absolutely. The tool is great to frame the conservation and bring the invisible to light. Do you know how your team behaves? Why do they behave the way they do, does this have a positive or negative impact?

If you want to learn more about how to think and innovate like a startup, contact me on Tango.

Besoin de business plan pour sa startup? Les débuts de Gemmyo

Révolutionner la joaillerie française en lui donnant une image jeune et branchée. C’était le pari de Pauline, Charif et Malek qui ont créé Gemmyo en 2011. Nous avons rencontré Pauline, elle nous a raconté leur histoire.

A l’origine

Tout commence lorsque Charif demande la main de Pauline. A la recherche d’une bague de fiançailles place Vendôme, ils sont déçus par l’expérience des grands bijoutiers. L’ambiance leur paraît froide, rigide et absolument pas moderne : ils ne se retrouvent pas dans l’image de ces marques et le service qu’elles proposent. De cette frustration naît l’idée : pourquoi ne pas créer des bijoux et une expérience qui leur ressemble ? Le concept mûrit, ce sera une marque de joaillerie accessible, jeune, personnalisable et vendue uniquement sur internet. Ils décident alors de se lancer dans l’aventure entrepreneuriale et s’associent avec Malek, frère de Charif.

Premiers pas

“On n’a même pas fait de business plan”

Les trois nouveaux associés se fixent un premier objectif : vendre au moins une bague via un site internet dans les 3 mois. Pour relever le défi, il faut vite monter le site et trouver un atelier capable de faire une bague. Vite fait mal fait, une première version du site est en ligne au bout de quelques semaines, sur wordpress et avec des bagues mal designées. Mais cela fera l’affaire pour le moment. Cherchant un atelier de fabrication, Pauline essuie près de 150 refus ! Il faut s’accrocher. Elle se souvient : “Il en suffit juste d’un”. La persévérance finit par payer et ils trouvent enfin l’atelier qui accepte de leur faire un bijou.

Et puis un jour, miracle, la première commande tombe ! Seulement rien ne se passe comme prévu. Pauline s’en souvient très bien.

La première cliente

“Elle venait d’Angers, elle avait tapé ‘bague en or rose et topaze’ sur internet.” Le référencement était suffisamment travaillé pour que le site de Gemmyo apparaisse. Elle trouve son bonheur, mais au moment de payer, cela se complique : elle tente de faire un virement bancaire, mais une erreur de RIB bloque le paiement. Puis arrivent les difficultés de fabrication qui rallongent les délais. La bague est livrée au bout de 14 semaines au lieu de 10, comme estimé. “On apprend plein de choses”, explique Pauline avec le recul.

Itérer jusqu’à validation

Après avoir relevé le premier défi, l’équipe se fixe un nouvelle objectif : faire 5 ventes en 1 mois. Cela leur permet de vérifier s’il y a bien un potentiel sur ce marché. Une nouvelle fois, mission accomplie : “Oui, il y a bien un marché” confirme Pauline. Ainsi des objectifs clairs et à court terme leur ont permis d’avancer vite et de tester rapidement. “Ca nous a donné une trame, ça nous a permis d’avancer sur l’essentiel”. Alors, pas besoin de business plan ?

Aller à l’essentiel

“Dans le luxe aussi, le Lean Startup est possible. L’absence de capital de départ nous a forcés à innover et itérer avec rapidité.”

“On n’a même pas fait de business plan” explique Pauline. L’équipe fondatrice de Gemmyo s’était imposée une double contrainte de temps et d’argent. Une contrainte de temps d’abord : “Nous n’avions pas de salaire pendant 6 mois avec mon mari, et ne touchions pas le chômage, donc autant dire qu’on a mangé beaucoup de Croustibat. Cela nous a forcés à faire les choses très vite, et ce n’est pas si mal”. D’un point de vue financement, même combat : “On avait chacun mis 1000 euros. C’est peu, mais cela permet d’innover”. D’où l’idée de fabriquer des bijoux sur demande, car il était impossible d’avoir du stock.

Cela a permis de tester rapidement le marché mais aussi leur capacité à travailler ensemble… et cela suffit !

Commencer petit pour valider son concept au plus vite avant de le développer : telle est la clé de la réussite de la marque de joaillerie la plus trendy de la place parisienne.

L’article vous a plu ? Suivez nous sur Medium ou Linkedin ! Pour en savoir plus sur Tango, rendez-vous ici.

Et pour vous faire plaisir, le site de Gemmyo est par .

Gemmyo Jeune et Joaillier

Lessons from the ice trade

Today, business leaders worry that a startup is going take their lunch away and that they won’t be able to react.

And they are right. If you look what happened to the ice trade in the 19th century, it teaches us a great lesson.

The Ice Trade

In Ancient Rome, the Romans found a way to refresh their wine during meals. They collected snow from the Alps and brought it back to Rome. With insulation, the snow lasted a long time without melting.

This practice evolved over the centuries into an entire industry.

In this industry, different companies would collect ice cut from frozen lakes, transport it, keep it in insulated warehouses and finally deliver it to the kitchen. People would put ice blocks into an ice cabinet where the ice melted while keeping their food fresh. The water from the melted ice was thrown away and twice a week the ice man would deliver a new block of ice.

Oldest Fridge

At its peak, in the late 1890s, the industry was processing 25 millions tons per year. Great Britain imported about a 1/2 million ton a year of ice from Norway and the US lakes. The ice was stored in insulated houses and would last all summer.

Freezing machine

Then the British came to Australia and Australia was too far to import ice. An Englishman who had enough of drinking warm beer heard about a prototype of a freezing machine. This huge machine with impressive mechanics could create frost from compressing gas into liquid. He brought it to Australia and started producing ice from this first ice factory.

It was a success and more ice factories opened in Australia. The factory would create ice blocks in a couple of days. Eventually, an ice factory opened in Great Britain, competing directly with the ice importer. As more and more ice factories opened, ice import business struggled and disappeared.

Vintage fridgeThe trade continued until the 1920s when General Electric managed to fit the motor and the compressor unit from the ice factory into a single cabinet unit. The first fridge. As the technology and design improved, the ice maker found themselves irrelevant in the value chain and disappeared overtime.

No adaptation

None of the ice importers became ice makers. None of the ice makers became fridge makers.

Each change responded to the same customer need but in a more convenient or cheaper way.

My takeaway from this this story is that the customer need was always present and didn’t change that much. The solution changed overtime. The consequences of those changes turned out to be dramatic for incumbent businesses and presented huge opportunities for others.

Our fast changing world

We have seen giants like Nokia, Kodak and RIM (makers of Blackberry) almost killed overnight. Leaders realize that disruption could be around the corner and that they need to adapt.

15 years ago, the road to growth was well marked out. Leaders had a clear path to follow. But changes brought uncertainty. And now the road ahead is gone.

The customer need as a compass

In this uncertainty, the customer need is a sure compass for those determined to stay in the race. A North star that lights up a new road.

People don’t buy products… they buy solutions to their needs.

Responding to the customer need is at the very base of value creation. This is what businesses are built on. And the ability to adapt and respond to a customer need better than one’s competitor is what makes a business last.

When the road is gone, focusing on your the customer’s need is you compass and your north star. Not your product, service or solution.

If you want to learn more about how to think and move like a startup, contact me on Tango.

References:

  1. The Surprisingly Cool History of Ice
  2. The Ice Trade
  3. Secret Life Of Machines — The Refrigerator
  4. Guy Kawasaki, The Lessons of Steve Jobs — Lean Startup Week 2016

Problem Interview Guide for Lean Startup Experience

A hard part of customer development doing problem interview. It’s hard because interviewing strangers is not natural and its also actually hard to do the interview right.

The good news is that practice do make perfect, get it wrong a couple of times and you quickly understand what to correct and what to keep. If you want some simple exercices to improve your problem interview skills tweet this:
What exercice can I do to get better at problem interviews? @fdebane @adamberk

In the meantime, here the problem interview guide we use:
Download the problem interview guide

It’s to print and take as a memo for interviews.
Here is a guide to print and take as a memo for interviews.
You should not read the guide while doing the interview, but can refer to it inbetween interviews.

If you have to remember just 3 rules for problem interviews here they are:

  1. Do not talk about your business idea or product
  2. Ask about past events and behaviours
  3. No leading question, learn from the customer

Download the full problem interview guide

To capture the output of the interview, you can use the problem interview template.

Applying the Lean Startup principles to game development

A few month ago, I started exploring how the Lean Startup principles could be applied to computer game development.

This journey lead me to Alexandre Normand co-founder of Execution Labs, an accelerator for game developers inspired by Lean Startup approach. Alexandre started Execution Labs to help independent game developers produce the games they want to build.

In the past years as games shifted from being standalone products to become evolving services, the upfront paid model faded to give birth to the free to play model.

This shift made continuous improvement of computer games possible.

So how does Execution Labs apply Lean Startup to game development ?

Build the MVP/ v0 in 6 months
As the goal is to create player engagement, it’s important that the design and visuals are pretty and pleasant enough. To go faster, don’t reduce or compromise the quality of the graphics, but rather reduce the amount or variety of graphics produced.
Fixing the development time to 6 months forces to focus on what really matter for the game to be good. Some game are tested early with paper prototype.

Continuous and regular customer feedback
Test the game every other week with 10 to 15 players. Regularly player come to the Execution Lab to play with the prototypes. This provide the game developers precious qualitative feedback, on top of the quantitative tracking already in place.

Limited launch on test markets
Launch the v0 on test markets, similar enough to your target markets but with a smaller population – typically Canada, NZ, AUS or Finland.

Meta-game comes later
The initial focus is on the core loop. The goal is to test and iterate so the core become fun and engaging. The meta game comes later. The meta game will insure the longer term retention and repeated play.

Alexandre confirmed that to build a game, programming is the most time consuming activity, followed by graphic design and game design.

So as far as reducing waste, programming should be the place to look next.

Here is the Execution Lab process.

Model-1024x501

Business Agility and Luxury Companies

What-is-Agility-resized-600x200

Hannah Koller just presented her EDHEC Master Thesis on how Luxury companies need and apply business agility concepts.
How do the concepts of agility: responsiveness, fluidity, speed, flexibility and innovation meet the concepts of luxury: symbolism, rarity, exclusivity, aesthetic, high price and quality ?

Hannah looks at this from the lens of the 3 strategic agility key based on Doz & Konsonen work:

  • Leadership Unity: Bind leadership team with a shared vision and purpose. Collective decision making and commitment to decision outcomes.
  • Strategic Sensitivity: Seeing and framing opportunities in a new insightful
    way.
  • Resource Fluidity: Fast and efficient resource mobilization and redeployment. Knowledge sharing.

Read Hannah full thesis or view the presentation.