Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Before you launch: Imagine your product has failed. Conduct a pre-mortem.

Abstract thinkingPositive thinking is great. Blind spots... not so much.

“What could possibly go wrong?” is certainly a question that merits asking during any product or project’s development. However, a managerial technique known as the pre-mortem takes the process a critical step farther.

The pre-mortem process in three easy steps:


“We haven’t launched this product yet. But let’s imagine that it’s a year after the scheduled launch – and the product has failed. Okay, everybody, what went wrong?”

To give your team the opportunity to answer this question as thoroughly, as thoughtfully, and in as many ways as it merits, you’ll want to follow a process that encourages prospective hindsight, a method of thinking as if something has already happened.

First of all, set aside two hours. Sure, you are busy developing the product. Make no mistake (yes, that’s a play on words) you are NOT too busy to perform a pre-mortem, which is far less painful and expensive than the potential post-mortem you will perform when and if the product fails. Start with a two-hour meeting. Select a facilitator.

Second, have everyone in the room begin by independently writing down all the possible reasons for the product’s failure. Have each participant read one reason from his or her list, and repeat the process until all potential reasons for failure have been vocalized. Meantime, the facilitator writes down every reason.

Third, discuss.

And, finally, post-meeting, plan and make changes to accommodate what you’ve learned through exercising prospective hindsight via the pre-mortem. This may require additional team meetings. Again, it’s time well spent.

The research on pre-mortem effectiveness:

Harvard Business Review reported that “Research conducted in 1989 by Deborah J. Mitchell, of the Wharton School; Jay Russo, of Cornell; and Nancy Pennington, of the University of Colorado, found that prospective hindsight — imagining that an event has already occurred—increases the ability to correctly identify reasons for future outcomes by 30%.” Using prospective hindsight allows team members to think out some of the lurking problems that haven’t been brought into the light of day in ordinary planning meetings. It slows the rush toward completion to allow more balanced perceptions to arise.

******

“Why did our product and its launch fail?”
Participants' sample answers


We failed to market aggressively and one of our competitors then seized the market advantage as if we hadn’t been first.

We didn’t ask the market if it was interested in this product – and no one was.

 We didn’t make sure the technology worked seamlessly. Early fails damaged our image.

 Production was too expensive, and we tried to charge more than the market would bear.

 A recession killed demand for “extras” and our product wasn’t a must-have.

Consumers slammed it in reviews.

 Our CEO cut the budget just as we launched and we didn’t get to trade shows.

 We didn’t train the sales team to sell this complex offering, so they kept selling the old stuff instead.

 

 

 

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Ownership tactics: Managing a company when there is way too much to manage

As originally published in Succeeding in Small Businessvan Schouwen Associates pros meeting:

One of the concerns associated with owning a small business is not being able to juggle it all, and thus risking that "it all" falls apart. If like many business owners, you love running your business, it’s a risk you want to mitigate.

Many of us charge ourselves with everything from payroll to sales to doing key projects. Plus, not only does your workday often not end when your employees (if you have them) go home, but family, home and other obligations may then kick in full force.

During the very early years of my strategic marketing company, I often towed along my first and then also my second baby boy, or kept them playing (or fussing) next to me as I worked in my office. The boys spent so much time listening to me talk with clients that the oldest thought his last name was “van Schouwen Associates.” Those early years taught me that running a company while actively raising children was not going to be a picnic. Multitasking, stamina and a sense of humor were must-haves. (By the way, the boys grew up to have great career skills. Perhaps they learned something useful while in their playpens and strollers.)

Later challenges including recessions, employees gone feral, sudden widowhood, and usual and unusual client concerns further inspired me to hone a set of time-and-sanity management tactics and reminders. Several are based on wisdom shared with me by other business owners. (Thank you all.) Some are obvious, some less so.

-The toughest times to manage your business are 1) when personal matters intrude and 2) when your business is facing major challenges. Recognize that in most cases, the level of crisis and responsibility will not remain at peak forever. This may help you cope.

-If your situation is likely to remain at “high peak responsibility” and you are not sure you can handle it, prioritize your areas of involvement, delegate where you can, drop what you must, and focus on what matters most. Solicit professional or other competent help in determining how to do this, if you can. Not all balls need to be juggled forever, or by you personally.

-Don’t lend your emotions to every aspect of your business or your personal life. Some potentially heart-wrenching matters must sternly be relegated to mere “process” or “administrative” status, and not allowed to drive you crazy. Life is way too short.

-Each day, update a typed or handwritten “to do” list that includes both business and personal tasks. Place at the bottom or in a separate column those items that can be postponed. This way, you know you haven’t forgotten them, and they can simmer on the back burner, duly listed, rather than continually popping into your mind. You’ve got this.

-Remember that you own the place. If you need to take two hours midday to see your mother’s doctor in East Podunk, do it. If you need some personal time to breathe, take it.

-Assigning “time chunks” is a great way to segment your days. Create your own. For example, eight am to noon, when you are fresh, do your hardest business tasks. Take a walk at lunch… and eat something, for heaven sake. After lunch, meet with an important client. Two to three thirty polish off those personal tasks that must be accomplished during business hours (we all have them). Then, finish up the easier, less taxing work that must be done by you today, and go pick up your kids, your dog or your groceries, and hopefully relax. Own your time.

-Learn what energizes you and what saps you. I love traveling and working with clients. Afterwards, returning to my office or my house from a long trip marks the exact moment when my typically high energy level plummets to zero. I try to schedule such returns so that I’m done with the day’s business work when the trip is through.

-Scale and organize your business so it serves your goals. A business with too many time demands or pressures is ultimately exhausting. Make it a goal to run a business that enriches not just your checkbook but your life. This may mean hiring more people to help get the work done faster, or outsourcing non-central tasks.

-Read for inspiration on the business and life you want. A couple of recent books I recommend if you want to energize and refresh are Choose Yourself by James Altucher and The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz.

It’s a great achievement to tap into your own resources as a business owner, and improving your time management is a rewarding evolutionary process.