III. Implement! - Live, eat, sleep … Quick Prototype! -Play! - Keep on recruiting! (Sell!) - Obsess on the End User Community! (Sell!) - Become a Milestone Maniac! / a Timeline Tyrant! / a List Freak! / find Ms. Last 2%! - Appoint a Marketing Director! - Keep the WOW! front and center!
Culture of Prototyping “Effective prototyping may be the most valuable core competence an innovative organization can hope to have.” Michael Schrage
“Good prototypes have ‘charisma.’ They create narratives … tell stories.” Michael Schrage, Serious Play
“I view models and prototypes as the battleground for thoughts and behaviors.” Michael Schrage
Think about It!? Innovation = Reaction to the Prototype Michael Schrage
Prototyping Logic/Magic 1. Start Doin’ Stuff! 2. “Doin’ Stuff” Launches a Rich Dialogue!* * No “stuff” = No dialogue! [No baloney!]
T.T.D./ Prototyper’s Laws Define a small, practical test of something on a page or less of text. Now. Gather “found” materials … on the [very] cheap. Find a/one partner-“customer” who’ll provide a test site. Set a very tight deadline of about 5 days for the next concrete step. Conduct the test! Debrief A.S.A.P. Set the next test date. Now. [No more than 5 days hence.]
Notes Page
The idea is to establish a “rhythm of prototyping” that defines every project.
T.T.D./ Secret No. 1: Go horizontal: Find a (one!) “line” ally in “the Boonies”
T.T.D./ Secret No. 1: Go horizontal: Find a (one!) “line” ally in “the Boonies”
Main Idea: YOU ARE NOT “POWERLESS.” Seek out allies in strange places … and get going! DO NOT WASTE TIME “SELLING UP.”
K2K
Reference:Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky
TRUST* *Now … more than ever!
“It was much later that I realized Dad’s secret. He gained respect by giving it. He talked and listened to the fourth-grade kids in Spring Valley who shined shoes the same way he talked and listened to a bishop or a college president. He was seriously interested in who you were and what you had to say.”
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
The Sweet Smell of … “You can ‘smell’ caring [engagement, respect] from a mile away!” Seminar Participant, London (12/99)
IV. Exit! “Sell out!” / Embrace “The Suits”! Recruit a passionate Ms./Mr. Follow-up! Seed your freaks into the mainstream! Celebrate! Exit!
SOOOO … HOW MANY OF YOUR COLLEAGUES ARE “BACK HOME” AT WORK ON NO-BALONEY … WOW* PROJECTS! * WOW = Will be remembered fondly/ bragged about 5+ years from now
Epitaph from Hell … Joe T. Jones 1942 - 2000 HE WOULDA DONE SOME REALLY COOL STUFF BUT … HIS BOSS WOULDN’T LET HIM!
Draft a one-page New Description that emphasizes WOW, Beauty, etc.
Circulate and edit … for three days
Reduce to 5 bullet points
Notes Page
DO IT! NOW!
Characteristics of the “Also Rans”
“minimize risk”
“respect the chain of command”
“support the boss”
“make budget”
Source: Fortune on “most admired
global corporations” (10/26/98)
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. Michelangelo
1) Turn ignition key. 2) Shift into drive. 3) Press foot firmly on the throat of mediocrity. Source: Mercedes ad
[We are not trying to “WOW you up.” We think you are/have WOW. We are trying to give you permission to be WOW.]
Seminar Y2K MESSAGE: THE WORK MATTERS!* *Sorry, Scott!
Seminar Y2K Message: Distinct … or Extinct!
Brand Inside PSF 3: Brand You!
“The fundamental unit of the new economy is not the corporation, but the individual. Tasks aren’t assigned and controlled through a stable chain of command but are carried out autonomously by independent contractors - e-lancers - who join together in fluid and temporary networks to sell goods and services. When the job is done, the network dissolves and its members become independent again, circulating through the economy, seeking the next assignment.” Thomas Malone and Robert Laubacher
DISTINCT … OR EXTINCT! “If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself, you won’t get noticed and that increasingly means you won’t get paid much, either.” Michael Goldhaber, Wired
“If one quarter can’t make the journey, that’s the way it has to be.” Carly Fiorina (1-00/Forbes)
Personal “Brand Equity” Eval
I am known for [2 to 3 things]
My current Project is challenging me …
New things I’ve learned in the last 90 days include …
My public “recognition program” consists of …
Additions to my Rolodex include …
My resume is discernibly different from last year’s at this time …