A process to align software developers with business users

I broke apart an earlier post into two different posts. If you read the original, A process to test a startup idea please ignore this one. I got a number of offline comments from people who liked the workshop process who wanted to share it but they didn't want to share the original post because it had extraneous info about me in it (nice to know that I'm extraneous), so I've eliminated the extraneous bit...

I've been delivering business transformation workshops at CTE/CellExchange now for 4 years. We use a methodology that was developed by a professor at MIT for helping organizations identify and implement great ideas. There are five steps to the process:

• Define the idea
• Determine the business case for doing it
• Create alignment around it
• Define an implementation plan to execute it
• Get executive buy-in to fund it

Defining the idea is often done by looking at new technology or new innovative processes from other industries and applying them to the customer's business. Coming up with ideas takes some legwork but surprisingly it isn't typically that hard. Usually employees have innovative ideas, they just have a hard time getting management to listen, so we interview the staff first. It is a big win if we can find a visionary within the organization for we need a champion to push the idea forward after the workshop. Once we have a list of ideas, we then analyze, via research and interviews, the entire ecosystem, i.e. we look at the company's suppliers and customers, industry experts and the competition. For a workshop, we look for 3 or 4 good ideas, for in a workshop we are never certain which one will fly with the customer.

Before the workshop begins we do a preliminary business case analysis on each of the ideas so that we have a starting point for building the business case with the customer in the workshop. The business case is the financial reason (Return on Investment) for implementing an idea. The expected return has to exceed the capital expense, which may be measured in time or money, for the executive team to fund a project. What we like to look for is an optimization (like reducing head count), an enabler (new opportunities created by the idea) or a cost avoidance (eliminating a cost associated with doing nothing) to build the business case. The business case is usually high level and we work to refine the numbers during the workshop. For now, we look for ideas that have large potential returns.

The next step is to create alignment during the workshop. We do this by creating prototypes to highlight what the future would be like if the problem were solved. The value of a prototype is that it allows everyone to see the same picture, and as the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words. The visualization also allows us to test out the concept. If the problem were solved with this software, what would the future look like? Alignment and visualization are critical elements to a successful execution. We float all of the ideas and we then drive alignment around one of them. With everyone agreeing on one idea, we do a deep dive into the business case and refine the numbers. It is critical to have agreement on the value of the idea. To gain credibility, we leverage the customer's finance team to validate our work.

The last step before pitching is to determine how we can operationalize the idea. We create a road-map that shows the steps needed to test assumptions and execute the work. The road-map is also kept at a high level, so that we don't get mired down, but it has to have enough detail that the customer believes it can work.We don't worry about having all the answers at this point. The road-map should spell out the areas where testing will occur to validate the assumptions. You have to have milestones in the plan to allow a go, no-go decision to give it credibility. We also use the road-map to define the communication plan, i.e. a plan to broadcast successes with the proper frequency to maintain traction (and funding).

Armed with a vision of the future, a business case to show the value to the organization, a prototype to drive visual alignment around the solution and an operational plan to make it happen, we are all set to get executive buy-in, i.e. the financial commitment to begin the project. A technique we rely heavily on here is to start an executive presentation with a role play that highlights the problem. Acting out the problem for the senior team ensures that they really get the issue. We often try to make it humorous or 'over the top' so that we really showcase the problem we are trying to solve. What this does is anchor the audience around the problem. With that we then describe the solution in a second role-play, which leverages the prototype to show how the problem is solved and how much better the world will be with the solution. We follow this up with the business case to show that we can make money doing it, and then we demonstrate the implementation plan, to show we know how to execute. We highlight the fact that the plan shows fiscal constraint by aligning funding with the discovery phases. We wrap up the presentation with impassioned plea which usually goes something like: we have to solve this problem; this is the right thing to do; we can make money doing it; and all we need is a little funding to prove to you that the investment is warranted. When executed properly, this is a thing of beauty; it bring tears to your eyes…