Adopting an Agile Methodology to Drive Innovation
Phase 2: Product/Market Fit
Up to now, not a single “real” thing has been built. Lean’s goal is to waste as little resources as possible, whether that is time, money or other resources, whilst maximising learning. In the Product/Market Fit stage, you start to validate the market for your solution by building a minimum viable product (MVP) incorporating all of the validated learning from phase 1. While answering the question of market fit is important here, it’s also vital that teams do not spend time on developing the complete end vision. Instead, you should focus on building the MVP, a product with just enough core functionality to solve the problem that early adopters will actually buy. Continuing to iterate through the build, measure, learn cycle incorporating customer feedback on each cycle will allow development of a solution to match the desired need of the market place with minimum waste. The MVP is the first step in moving your product further up the adoption curve from early adopters to the mass market.
These learnings will inform you to either pivot – change your strategy – or continue on your current path based on the reaction of customers. It’s important to remember that you need to act on what you hear in these interviews rather than what you want to hear. Many organizations can get caught up in this stage if they do not receive positive feedback. However, it will save time, money, and resources down the line, and prevent companies from developing products customers don’t want.
Phase 3: Scale
If Problem/Fit and Product/Market Fit both check out, then it’s time to move into Scale and develop the product in a way that can grow your ultimate business.Validated learning continues both qualitatively and quantitatively but focuses more on efficiency and growth than pivot/persevere decisions. For startups, this is a perfect time to make pushes to raise significant funding however; this is the point for large enterprises to shift the work from the innovation studio into large scale production.
Overall, all organizations – large and small – need to be able to drive innovation to stay ahead of customer demand. As the Director of Innovation at Vodafone, I use Lean on many of the projects we work on across the world. In the telecommunications industry, our customers are constantly facing new threats to their business and we work together to find those innovative solutions that will help solve their problems.
By continuously uncovering new problems, generating new ideas, and validating whether potential solutions will resonate with customers, enterprises can be equipped to meet customer demand and drive innovation.
