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How to do Lean Planning

The Difference Engine
October 13, 2011
35

How to do Lean Planning

From the 4 A's Strategy Festival 2011.

The Difference Engine

October 13, 2011
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Transcript

  1. Stuff I’ve done. ads campaigns websites games strategies businesses products

    media even a little code and an absurd number of decks
  2. What I do now is design digital things for clients...

    that are increasingly centered on mobile & social experiences.
  3. What we’re going to do together I’m going to talk

    about how to do Lean planning. Then you’re going to get to use what you learn. There’ll be teams, and you’ll be expected to go talk to people on the street. Fun, right?
  4. High burn rate Swinging for the fences Full management teams

    Assuming the customer is known Assuming the features are known Assuming growth happens by execution The results for start-ups:
  5. Principles of Lean Start-ups Continuous customer interaction Revenue goals from

    day one No scaling until revenue Assume customer and features are unknowns Low burn by design, not crisis
  6. Google #Firestarters: Agile Planning Do Agencies Need to Think Like

    Software Companies? Let the stealing begin...
  7. The traditional model Billings = The total cost to produce

    & place campaigns/ads Revenue = ~15% of billings Profit = ~20% of revenue 3% return on effort = a model in which size matters
  8. Hired for lots of reasons, fired for only a few

    Bad strategy, bad creative, bad service. http://www.rswus.com/survey/2011-survey-clients-look-ahead-at-agencies
  9. No vision. Research is too often used the way a

    drunk uses a lamp post: for support, rather than illumination. We were asked a question meant for the former, not the latter.
  10. We asked anyway It couldn’t have been the bits -

    Nobody knew they were gone. In fact, nobody’d heard from the brand in years. People (and dogs) had changed - Lots more choices, no more junk food.
  11. We suggested a pivot. Three-ingredient dog food. Real food, no

    fillers. With a new brand ID & campaign connecting the old, loved image (something dogs love), to a new doggie parenting style (something owners love giving dogs).
  12. Product-Market Fit “What do you want from me? Fine writing?

    Or do you want to see the goddamned sales curve stop moving down and start moving up?” — Rosser Reeves
  13. We have an ownership problem. The client’s boss owns the

    business. The client owns the brand. Agencies own... advertising.
  14. Our product is campaigns Our economic buyer is the client.

    Our end user is the audience. We have to design for both.
  15. Let’s focus. The problem facing a Lean planner is not

    ‘what about the creative brief’? It’s ‘how do we seek an effective campaign model with as little waste as possible?’ Or, ‘how do we build the minimal experience or utility that makes the most difference in the short term, that we can scale?’
  16. The client brief is just one input to campaign model

    seeking. It’s not the “truth”.
  17. Prototyping. Testing. Discovery. “Existing companies execute business models, while startups

    search for a business model.” — Steve Blank What start-ups focus on:
  18. http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/ “We always have a vision that is clearly articulated,

    big enough to matter & shared by the whole team. “Our goal is always to discover which aspects of this vision are grounded in reality & adapt those aspects that are not.” This is the ‘brief’...
  19. What are we really trying to do? Who do we

    think will want this? Why will they care - and do they care enough to act? How will we know when we win?
  20. Start guessing. Generate hypotheses: About the customer. About what matters

    to them. About how they live their lives. About how we can create something they desire or provide a solution to a painful problem.
  21. Commit to your guesses. About your customer and their problem

    or desire. About what to make (the campaign). About where to place or build the campaign. About how you’ll get people there. About what the market is like. About who your true competitors are. About what should constitute success.
  22. http://thestartuptoolkit.com/ http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/ Our client’s customers, prospects, and their influencers or

    gatekeepers Solving a problem Satisfying a need Time, place & tone Interactions & touch-points Paid, earned & owned media Distribution & sales Branded experiences & utilities People Software & APIs The client’s product or brand equity Freelancers Production Houses Media publishers Clients Pass-through costs Salaries & operating expenses Client pays for strategy, development, implementation, media/hosting, testing and iteration What if you could invent new revenue streams for your agency or client?
  23. Talk to people. Not a lot. 5-10. Not in a

    facility. Not through a recruiter. Not the perfect ‘respondent.’ This ain’t market research, so we don’t have to be science-y.
  24. In fact... After 3 people, prioritize your top 3 issues

    or questions. After 5 people, start asking new questions. This isn’t about approval. It’s about learning.
  25. Be honest. Are these really your customers? Is their problem

    really painful, or their desire really strong? Does it even exist? Are they really making decisions the way you thought? What do you need to change?
  26. A reality check. Talk to your “co-founders” (e.g., clients &

    team). Do you need to seek other customers that are a better fit? Do you need to rethink your positioning? Is it possible to give people what they want? Do you need to start over?
  27. Planning is... campaign model design “I don’t need any more

    ideas. We’ve got plenty of ideas. I need to know what to make.”
  28. Principles of Lean Start-ups (for Ad Agencies) • Assume the

    client briefs are hypotheses to be tested. • Continuous customer interaction - with both client & consumer. • Establish clear goals for the campaign from day one. • Start simple, and then iterate on successes and learn from failures. • Create right-sized, integrated teams, provide the right resources & tools as they are needed, and keep score with vendors & partners.
  29. What’s a prototype? It’s not a finished product. It can

    be a drawing. Or a description. It’s enough for people to react to.
  30. What’s iterating? It’s not starting over. It’s not doing something

    else. It’s not adding on features. It’s evolving, refining, maximizing, optimizing...
  31. The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is the minimum you

    can make or do that provides the most perceived benefit to the customer, and is different enough from other options they know about. The point is to make something that we can deploy & test & learn from. For once, good enough might actually be good enough.