These are from a lecture I did at UVA's undergraduate school of business (commerce), McIntire. The class was 'Commerce 4681- Entrepreneurship'. It's part of an entrepreneurship track UVA offers. The objective of the talk was to present an applied view of design thinking, Lean Startup, customer development, and agile. No footage, but if you'd like a live or screencast version of the talk you can find them here: www.alexandercowan.com/speaking.
13. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Entry1
Urinate as they go2
Edges preferred3
Speedy4
PB > cheese5
Empathy
IDEATION
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
14. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Check & Repair
UV Validation
Relevant Placement
A Better Mouse Trap
Powered by Better Bait
Creativity
1
2
3
4
5
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
15. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION
Personas
Problem
Scenarios
?
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
16. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
•Women
•Age 28-45
•Have kids
•Socialize with other mom’s
•Online with Facebook
•86% said they’d like to be
more organized
•70% said they’d use an
application that organizes them
IDEATION
18. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful
career in accounting, but welcomed the opportunity to
be a stay at home mom. She loves it. But it’s not like
having kids purged her creative, social instincts. She
wants to connect, she wants to learn, she wants to
interact. Being a mom is a job and she wants to do it
well. That means corresponding with other mom’s on
relevant topics and keeping the family calendar in
ship shape. She posts to Facebook at least twice a
week and responds to other moms’ items more often
than that.
For household stuff, Costco is the go-to place, but
she’ll pick up fresh items at the farmer’s market when
it’s up and splurge at Whole Foods when they’re
having company.
Mary the Mom
IDEATION
20. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION
Personas
User
Stories
Problem
Scenarios
?
21. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Drafting
Stories
PERSONAS
STORIES
Epic Stories
Stories
Test Cases
“As a [persona],
I want to [do something]
so that I can [derive a benefit]”
IDEATION
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
25. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNINGPLANNING
Do I have real evidence from my buyer that
this is compelling?
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
What are the key assumptions
required to make this business work?
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
How do I definitely prove or disprove
the assumptions with a minimum of
time and effort?
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
Am I reacting or am I focused on
validating my pivotal assumptions?
‘Pivot or persevere?’
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
26. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
[A key assumption about
the business]
[Whether it needs
proving
[Experiment to
prove or disprove]
1
Parents want to better
organize the distribution
of allowances
Yes
* Post the proposition in ads
online
* Measure sign-up’s on a landing
page
2
Parents have smart
phones
No n/a
PLANNING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
31. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
ORGANIZATION
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
32. Big Company
Recipes Applied
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
5 Year Plan ==
10x Returns!
X: < Odds at Lotto
VC-Encouraged
Menagerie
X: Too much
too soon
X: Lack of Experience
in Hands-on Discovery
X: Better Luck with
the Lottery
Time to Face the Music
X: New Theories to
Explain Plan v. Actual
X: Fun and Profit-
Unlikely
ORGANIZATION
++
New Idea!
Expanded Team
Revisions to Plan
== Edgy Board
X: Want Lots of
Capital at Work
It Works! Working 5 Year Plan
New HiresFounders Investors Board
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
33. Investors?
Advisors?
Focus on Validated
Learning
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Key Assumptions
ID’ed, Validated
Lower Risk &
Capital Requirement
Resources
As Needed
Clear Focus in
Hiring & Contracting
Roles and Success
Criteria Clear
Progress is Quick
and Measurable
Time to Face
the Music
Validated Learning
Answers Shared
Questions
Fun & Profit
ORGANIZATION
++
New Idea!
Full Tilt at a ‘Pivot or
Persevere’ Moment
Is approach
working or not?
Option for
Non-Traditional
Funding Strategies
Expanded TeamNew HiresFounders Investors Board
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
34. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DEVELOPMENT
Waterfall
Then
Agile
Now
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
35. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Individuals
Interactions
>
Processes
Tools
Working
software
Comprehensive
Documentation
>
Customer
collaboration
Contract
negotiation
>
Responding
to change
Following
a plan
>
DEVELOPMENT
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
36. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DEVELOPMENT
validate feature
relevance with
customers
Past
collaborate with
development
team
Present
observe and
envision what’s
next
Future
37. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DESIGN
THINKING
LEAN
STARTUP
CUSTOMER
DEV.
AGILE
personas
problem scenarios
user stories
hypothesis
(assumptions)
experimental design
roles & team
objectives
working product
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
38. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
2007 went out on my own
2008
profitable,
productized
consulting business
2010 software business
2011 scaling!
2013 keep learning,
keep innovating
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
39. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
A LEAN PROGRESSION
CONSULTING PRODUCTS
Validated problem
scenarios with
substantial detail
‘PRODUCTIZED’
CONSULTING
Customer empathy-
more scope, detail on
problem scenarios
40. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
UNDERSTANDING THE MARKET
50-70% of
Enterprise
Software
Implementations
Fail ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
42. How do we do this
more efficiently? Are
we implementing best
practices?
How do we improve
service quality? How
do we verify that?
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
IDEATION
Help me integrate and
standardize the
infrastructure. And show
my people how to use it.
Creating accounts is
taking a lot of time/
money. And there are a
lot of mistakes.
SERVICE
STANDARDIZATION
& WORKFLOW
SERVICE
DESIGN
PROCESS
AUDIT,
DESIGN
NETWORK
PRINCIPALS
OF OPERATION
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
43. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
USER STORIES
“As a receptionist, I want to receive an out
of the box set up that’s created against
best practices so I don’t have to set it all
up by myself.”
“As a receptionist, I want to change the
buttons on my phone so they do what I
want.”
PROBLEM SCENARIO
‘I want a good out-of-the-box experience.
And to change the display on my phone.’
PERSONA
Rhonda the Receptionist
IDEATION
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
44. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
STORY TEST CASE
“As a receptionist, I want to receive an out of the box phone
set up that’s created against best practices so I don’t have
to set it all up by myself.”
Make sure the available templates are
editable in a visual environment usable by
a Product Manager
“As a receptionist, I want to receive an out of the box phone
set up that’s created against best practices so I don’t have
to set it all up by myself.”
Make sure it’s possible to update the
template at install time
“As a receptionist, I want to receive an out of the box phone
set up that’s created against best practices so I don’t have
to set it all up by myself.”
Make sure the template designation is
available in all Loki provisioning interfaces
“As a receptionist, I want to change the buttons on my
phone so they do what I want.”
Make sure it’s possible for the user to reset
to the default template
“As a receptionist, I want to change the buttons on my
phone so they do what I want.”
Make sure the available functions are
filtered by the services assigned to the user
“As a receptionist, I want to change the buttons on my
phone so they do what I want.”
Make sure available functions are filtered
based on the capabilities of the phone key
“As a receptionist, I want a custom configuration on my phone so that I can manage calls in the way I’ve
come to expect.”
EPIC STORY
IDEATION
46. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
MARY THE MOM
About: Mary the mom. . . [Describe like your friend or the beginning
of a short story. What kind of shoes does she wear?]. . .
Thinks: . . .
Sees: . . .
Feels: . . .
Does: . . .
1. List at least 3 personas
2. Describe as much as you can
47. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
END USER PERSONAS
Rita
the Reseller
Orson
the Office Mgr.
Ignatius
the IT Guy
Rhonda
the Receptionist
Susan the
Small Bus. Owner
Keith
the Key System User
Amy
the Assistant
Simone
the Standard User
Chuck
the Call Center Agent
Esteban
the Executive
Mikuko
the Mobile User
Cindy
the Call Center Manager
48. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
ENTERPRISE PERSONAS
Nietzsche
the Network Eng.
Paola
the Provisioner
Sidney
the Sys. Admin.
Percival the
Product Manager
Sven
the Salesperson
Anthony
the Applications Eng.
Itzhak
the IT Developer
Frank
the Field Eng.
Sam
the Support Eng.
Saul
the Site Developer
Fritz
the Field Eng. Manager
Bruce
the Business Owner
50. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING
Visual device management emerged from
general industry activity and follow-on work
at Leonid
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
Leonid can create a compelling,
useful, supportable visual device
management solution.
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
Lab work followed by limited
commercial release.
6.a YES
results
disprove
hypothesis
01 IDEA!
02 HYPOTHESIS
03 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
04 EXPERIMENTATION
05 REVISE?
6.b NO
we appear to
have a valid
hypothesis
Did we validate the ‘existential’
propositions? Was it supportable?
Bankable?
‘Pivot or persevere?’
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
51. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
“Parents want to better organize the distribution of allowances”
Priority: [1 for existential; 2+ for others]
Needs Proving?: [yes or no]
Experimentation: [how will most quickly, cheaply prove or disprove]
* Bonus Question: How do these relate to your personas?
1. List at least 3 assumptions
2. Note as much as you can on experiments
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
52. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PRIORITY KEY ASSUMPTIONS
NEEDS
PROVING?
EXPERIMENTATION
1
End users at large want a visual tool
to manage their phones
No
- Already proven by prototypes from
partner
1
Giving the capability to end user
admin’s will do more good than harm
Yes - Beta testing with customers
1
The design and architecture are
supportable in current customer
environments
Yes
- Lab testing with customers...but really...
- Field testing at scale
1
The target price point is bearable by
the market
Yes
- Initial sales negotiations
- Mainline (post beta) sales
2
The capability makes sense with end
users (vs. admin’s)
Yes
- Some proxy data on overall activity by
user type
- Customer interviews
- Beta testing
2
(Various makes and models of
phones are worth investing in)
Yes - Advanced orders
PLANNING
53. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PERSONA PROBLEM SCENARIO
Orson the
Office Manager
‘I still don’t get it.’
‘This thing should increase
satisfaction & involvement;
and reduce support calls.’
Bruce
the
Business Owner
Percival
the
Product Mgr.
&
ONLINE SELF-CARE
One click access
via ‘Dashboard’
Focus on
customer admin
experience
IMPLEMENTATION
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
54. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
End users want to log in
and do self-care
Yes!
Instrument adequate reporting,
create awareness,
see if they nibble
1
Reducing the portals
clicks to destination
from 4-6 to 2-3 is good
enough
Yes
- Log and analyze navigation
- Do support calls go down?
ASSUMPTIONS ON SELF-CARE
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
55. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
End users want to log in
and do self-care
Yes!
Instrument adequate reporting,
create awareness,
see if they nibble
1
Reducing the portals
clicks to destination
from 4-6 to 2-3 is good
enough
Yes
- Log and analyze navigation
- Do support calls go down?
ASSUMPTIONS ON SELF-CARE
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
56. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Take II- DASHBOARDS
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
57. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Priority Key Assumption Needs Proving? Experimentation
1
Customer admin’s will
do self-care with training
and awareness
Yes!
Focus on training customer
admin’s,
see if they nibble
1
Presenting all the users
of interest on the 1st
page will engage these
admin’s
Yes
- Log and analyze navigation
- Do support calls go down?
ASSUMPTIONS ON SELF-CARE
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
58. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DASHBOARD
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
59. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Good ≠ Viral
PLANNING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
60. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Fixed: product development, G&A
Variable: field teams, support
BroadSoft
Other resellers
Integrators
Other network system
vendors
Product development
Large account mgmt.
Consulting
Custom Dev.
Actionable insight
on cloud UC
Best practice recipes
Dev. Team
Licensing
Maintenance & Support
Consulting
Custom Development
Dedicated personal
assistance
BroadSoft
SIPhon Networks
Direct
Reduced time & risk to
get to market
Reduced cost
Implementation of
learned best practices
Large/incumbent
Medium/competitive
Small/niche
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING
61. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Licensing
Maintenance & Support
Consulting
Custom Development
Dedicated personal
assistance
BroadSoft
SIPhon Networks
Direct
Reduced time & risk to
get to market
Reduced cost
Implementation of
learned best practices
Large/incumbent
Medium/competitive
Small/niche
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING
62. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Fixed: product development, G&A
Variable: field teams, support
BroadSoft
Other resellers
Integrators
Other network system
vendors
Product development
Large account mgmt.
Consulting
Custom Dev.
Actionable insight
on cloud UC
Best practice recipes
Dev. Team
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING
63. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.The templates here are made available on the same CC license terms as the original canvas.
Fixed: product development, G&A
Variable: field teams, support
BroadSoft
Other resellers
Integrators
Other network system
vendors
Product development
Large account mgmt.
Consulting
Custom Dev.
Actionable insight
on cloud UC
Best practice recipes
Dev. Team
Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
PLANNING
65. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Theses
Growth?
Retention?
Supportability?
Ongoing investment?
Competition?
Hypotheses
Does anyone want this?
Are we the people to do it?
Pivot or persevere?
PLANNING
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
66. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
ORGANIZATION
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
68. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
Who’s the audience? What’s the problem scenario?
How will it help you sharpen your personas? Problem scenarios?
How will it help you validate or invalidate pivotal assumptions?
What would be the next steps?
What would a concierge product test
look like?
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
69. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DEVELOPMENT
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
70. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
DEVELOPMENT
LOKI
PORTALS
ITERATION 01 ITERATION 02 ITERATION 03 ITERATION 04
ITERATION 01 ITERATION 02 ITERATION 03 ITERATION 04
LOKI
PROVISIONING
LOKI BPM
DOC’S &
INFRASTRUCTURE
A
ITERATION 05
ITERATION 05
D
E
C
G
Predictive
Content
B
F
Predictive
Content
Predictive
Content
Predictive
Content
Adaptive
Content
Adaptive
Content
Adaptive
Content
Adaptive
Content
72. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
MAKING PROGRESS
IDEA!
Positioning
Statement?
Field Work & Analytics
Ideation & Design
Product Development
General Management
Pivotal
Assumptions?
Field
Discovery
Still Learning?
Field
Validation
Draft
Prototype
Quicky
Prototype?
Yes?
Confident?
No?
Create
User
Stories
Done?
Customer
Definition
Personas?
Problem Scenarios?
New Learning?
Define
MVP
CUSTOMER
VALIDATION
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF
73. Copyright 2012 Cowan Publishing
BUY THE BOOK
A practical primer for anyone
wanting to actually implement
today’s best practices in product
development (available online or
at any major retailer)
VISIT THE SITE
Free talks, tutorials, and
resources for product
development and new ventures.
MORE?
ALEX COWAN
AlexanderCowan.com
@cowanSF