Hola!
Raise in a large company with startup or agile mentality is not always easy. If the company has thousands of employees and several years of experience, you’ll often find a middle and upper Management layer who always try to use the “known formulas” to lead teams. This is not a problem (as my mother used to said: “if it works don’t touch it“), although this way of think is usually a stopper when it comes to propose changes and try to tests new frameworks. The friction and problems of communication with this layer of Management in the long run end up eroding and ruining internal initiatives.
If you face this situation, there are a series of proven strategies to grow in “StartUp Mode” within a large organization.
· Adopt a [Blue Ocean Strategy], this is almost mandatory. The book is easy to read (250 pages) and basically presents the following idea: at the time of choosing strategies, we must move away from saturated markets (Red Ocean) where you will find a lot of competition and move to new markets and new ideas (Blue Oceans) that are much more stable and to ensure us a major tour. This ensures a minimum of internal competition, thus avoiding the “red oceans” (you get the blood idea?) If in addition, the chosen strategy can bring benefits to the organization, it is almost certain that the internal problems will be minimal.
· Shield your team to other areas of your organization. While I’ve not said, I assume that the team chosen to carry out this new idea, is supposed to be a small one. If the team should start to grow and interact with other areas, it is very likely that something starts to smell bad. Experience has taught me, that in such situations “everyone has something to say“. Keep a shielded team with a clear vision, helps not to corrupt the final vision.
· Take your time and set a target clear with all members of the team. In his book “The Lean StartUp“, Eric Ries writes [“All innovation begins with vision. It’s what happens next that is critical“]. For this to involve all members of the team at a meeting of definition of objectives, helps to ensure the proper understanding of the long-term goal to be pursued.
· Learn that “Good enough” is usually better than “Perfect”. This is another lesson learned based on errors and failures. Trying to create an MVP that allows to collect, with the least possible effort, the maximum amount of knowledge will allow us to work in a dynamic of Continuous Feedback, and this is the perfect operational model for these teams. Fall into the mistake of creating a “perfect” product from day one, leads to an excessive consumption of resources will not compensate at the end when it evaluates the same.
This experience is given most of software development projects. But as all kinds of projects, they require a certain sequence and Cadence to begin to evolve and give results.
Saludos @ Madrid
/El Bruno
References
– Blue Ocean Strategy http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Ocean-Strategy-Expanded-Uncontested/dp/1625274491
– The Lean StartUp http://www.amazon.com/The-Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous/dp/0307887898
– Mínimum Viable Product https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product
[Tags Innovation, Lean, Blue Ocean Strategy, MVP, EnglishPost]
El Bruno 