A 4-Step Framework For Leaders Who Struggle to Deliver Innovation

Delivering innovative technology that transforms an organization is every leader's dream.

Digital transformation is a top concern of business leaders who often look to technology to improve growth. Innovative products delight users and make their lives easier but are difficult to deliver. Supporting new business models with technology is a leader's job.

Unfortunately, most leaders are not equipped to be successful.

Legacy frameworks are too rigid for iterative development.

Teams suffering from legacy frameworks are at a disadvantage:

• Unable to iterate closely with users
• Unable to prioritize at the product level
• Unable to kill underperforming products

With this 4 step framework, you'll learn how to generate ideas, prioritize and deliver them quickly.

Step 1: Generate ideas with your users

Let the future users of your product decide what to build.

Design thinking is a problem-solving approach used to improve products. Host a workshop and have the team pitch their ideas. Select the top 3-5 to prioritize in step #2.

Step 2: Prioritize the ideas

Define a prioritization framework that captures the effort tradeoff.

Define the value and KPIs that are expected to be achieved by the product. These could be cost saving, revenue improvement or time saved. Summarize in dollar terms and use it along with effort estimates to prioritize the ideas.

Step 3: Iterative build

Iteratively build the product in 4 stages:

Prototype: A throw-away proof of concept that tests the core hypothesis

MVP: Rebuilt in more scalable technology and captures a broader set of use cases

Alpha: Business begins to use in production and value begins to accrue
Beta: Broadens to cover all use cases and business use expands to the entire team

Step 4: Value capture

The beta product is managed by a product manager and is in production.

Track the usage and value capture of the product for 12 months. Evaluate it against the anticipated value capture and if it underperforms, kill it. If it meets or exceeds expectations, transition it to the formal IT organization.