How can you get innovation into the market faster? It's
hard to innovate until you have a successful test. How
many tests will succeed? As few as none, and probably no
more than ten percent.
So, unless you are testing at least ten opportunities
initially, you may initially find nothing to implement.
Should you have fewer than ten items to test, you need to
go back looking for more proposals. A typical experience
is finding appropriate proposals for about a third of the
opportunities.
Looking at the optimistic side, let's assume that you
tested many areas, some of them did well, and you now have
at least two tests to implement throughout your company.
Do you make the several changes at once, or stagger them?
If you stagger them, in what order and over how much time
should the staggering take place?
You're not ready to even think about those questions,
however, until you consider what else must be done before
you can implement. You may need some new software, a
changed operational process, or new measurements. Or you
may need to educate employees and customers.
By involving all the functions that will probably be
affected by the change, you now need to turn the test
experience into an implementation project proposal.
However you decide to do that, be sure to keep the testing
team as part of the group that will make and implement the
project proposal. They are your insurance that the
full-scale expansion of the test is just that, and not a
drift off into a different, and untested direction.
If a new test is warranted to improve on what you just
learned, by all means ask for another test proposal and
launch it. But avoid letting a new test hijack the
potential implementation of the successful test you already
have in hand.
After you have the project proposals for what has been
successfully tested, then get those who worked on the
proposals to debate whether they should be implemented
simultaneously or sequentially. Investigate the facts
behind whatever assertions are made. In such debates, mole
hills are often described as mountains and potential
earthquakes are sometimes swept temporarily under the rug.
Unless there is a strong case for holding up the
availability of one of the new benefits, any uncertainty
should be decided in favor of making the benefits available
as soon as possible. It's a fast moving world out there,
and the positive results you're expecting could be lost if
someone else moves first.
Undoubtedly, competitors are or could be aware of your
testing, and may be able to get to market first. For that
reason, be sure that you've come to a conclusion on what to
do next within 30 days (at the latest) after a test has
been concluded and reported to the organization.
Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved
----------------------------------------------------
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an
Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The Ultimate
Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for
accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:
====> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .
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