Create Better Products With a Structured Process for Collaborationby Steve Tennantsteve@tennantconsulting.com

(P.S. Not a technology discussion)Flickr: Voj

What’s On Your

Mind?Flickr: Brian Hillegas

The Appetizer

Today, 70-95% of new products

fail.

The reasons products fail can be addressed.

The reasons products fail

can be addressed

Flickr: Cynfreelancer

To do so requires a

paradigm shift that challenges many of your current

beliefs.

I’m going to give you a

glimpse

of the paradigm shift.

Flickr: Jurvetson

The process is a highly effective alternative to the

hierarchical organizational

structure used to build

products today.

The Main Dish

Solution

Monday

Solution

Monday

Problem

Served in Three Tasty

Morsels

Solution

Monday

Solution

Monday

Problem

Part 1:The Problem

Issue #1Groups Don’t Know

How to Align Around A Problem

No agreement on the problem =

No agreement on the solution +

infinite arguing about solutionsMiddle East Conflict

Global Warming

Health Care Reform

Economic Crisis

War

Issue #2Product Teams Don’t

Align Around the Customer’s Problem They Intend to Solve

Most teams fixate on the solution, not the customer problem

What are Their Needs and Wants?How Do They Solve It Today?

How Do They Buy?What Do They Value/Pay?

How Big is the Problem? Market?How Are We Different?

How Do We Deliver Value?What Do We Build/Buy/Partner?

How to Balance Speed & Quality?

What’s Our Solution?

"In a crisisif I had only an hourI'd spend the first 50 minutes defining the problem and the last 10 minutes solving it."

- Albert Einstein

If your team has no alignment

on an important

Customer Problem it is much more likely to create

a poor performing product.

Issue #3The team uses an implicit

process to do its work.

This results in more arguing.

Group Interaction

What How

Content Process

There are many more problems

#4 – Because there’s no explicit process, we’ll repeat the same mistakes

#5 – Boss tells people what to do, decreasing ownership and engagement

#6 – Hierarchical organization is insufficient for external collaboration

#7 – New products are a special class of “wicked problems”

#8 – Diverse stakeholders are difficult to align

Solution

Monday

Solution

Monday

Problem

Part 2:The SolutionFlickr: Jurvetson

Better products result from a win/win process that doesn’t allow the group

to fragment and then implode.

Problem Solving

People and groups solve problems iteratively.

Problem Solving

A structured collaboration process takes the group through an explicit,

agreed upon process together.

Process

Process

Collaborative Operating SystemTM

Key Principle:

Ownership & Alignment

Adopting the principles of ownership and alignment transforms the group.

• Ownership is the degree to which people believe or feel that a process, decision or outcome is theirs.

• Alignment is the degree to which people see and understand the problem the same way.

Ownership & Alignment

Ownership is like getting everyone in the same boat.

Alignment is like getting everyone rowing in the same direction.

“This shift in emphasis from power and authority to ownership and alignment creates a sweeping change in how work is done and how the workers experience it. To those who practice it, it is truly magical.” - Rachel Conerly, Collaborative Leaders, Inc.

Maximum ownership and alignment results

from unanimity without reservations.

Flickr: Auro

The Collaborative Process

1. Identify the Problem2. Involve Relevant Stakeholders3. Form a Collaborative Team4. Create a Collaborative Plan5. Design & Facilitate Collaborative Meetings

Step 1: Identify the Problem

Problem

Intent

Desired Outcomes

Action Plan

Build Ownership & Alignment at each step

Case Study: What One Person Said

“I enjoy coming into work again. I feel like we’re having the conversations we need to have. I’m being heard. I feel like we’re finally addressing these problems that have been holding us back.”

-- VP of Marketing (after three days)

Is the process your team uses for solving problems hurting enough to try

something new?

But what about Time?

Flickr: Piccola Faccia

Using the collaborative operating system takes longer to make decisions. The implementation is faster and the product is better. The group gets faster with experience.

Solution

Monday

Solution

Monday

Problem

Part 3:What Do You

Do on Monday?

Flickr: Martino!

Can your team agree: “The problem we want to solve is…”?

Notice: Is the process the team is using to solve the problem explicit?

Does everyone feel like the process is theirs?

Design & Facilitate Collaborative Meetings.

• Making the process explicit applies to each moment in a meeting :

Old Way- How to address XCollaborative Operating System Way- Review Proposed Process – upgrades? O&A.- Council: How can we address X?- Dialogue: Does anyone see convergence?- Own & align on top 3 action items

Where to start implementation?

Flickr: Sir Mervs

Take the Collaborative Operating System for a

Test Drive

Flickr: Clemson

Learn the Collaborative Operating System (COS)

• Weeklong COS process training in April in the Bay Area

• Support for product management projects using COS

Apply the Collaborative Operating System to your Product Development

Process.

Stage-Gate

Agile

CollaborativeOperatingSystem

or

Drop me a business card for

freebies and to learn more

– Free white paper, “The Collaborative Organization”– Article on “Wicked Problems”– Future training session announcements– Free email newsletter

– Or talk to me! steve@tennantconsulting.com (925) 258-9100

The Dessert

An opportunity to transform

how you work lies before you.

Flickr: John-Morgan

Improve

how your team works with a structured process for

collaboration.

Flickr: RalphBijker

Dramatically enhance your company’s performance through a better method

for collaboration.

And grow your company. Faster.

Drop me a business card for

freebies and to learn more

– Free white paper, “The Collaborative Organization”– Article on “Wicked Problems”– Future training session announcements– Free email newsletter

– Or talk to me! steve@tennantconsulting.com Office: (925) 258-9100