Purpose
In some cases, you may find it difficult to define a clear and focused project scope for your next Business Design project. Why? Because it is not easy. Especially the definition of a customer and / or internal problem and (entrepreneurial) objectives that actually can be measured may give you a hard time. You need to have profound knowledge about your innovation area already before you even kick off a Business Design project. Innovation = something new = lack of knowledge? Well, profound knowledge about "something new" may sound like an oxymoron, but it is not. We just can't work with a briefing such as "We need a new business model based on data". This is why the Project Charter is so important at the start. If you are not able to formulate a precise Project Charter (without bullish*t), we often squeeze a so called "Scoping Project" into the process, which serves the purpose of gathering as much relevant knowledge as needed to fill the gaps in order two define a proper Project Charter for your next Business Design project. This may include
- Doing interviews with potential customers and users
- Conducting desk research around potential competitors
- Gathering existing research on the topic (internal and external)
- Having conversations (over a coffee) with a handful of experts
Based on the results from theses activities, we define or refine 1:many Project Charters and continue with the Setup phase.
Need Support?
We help you set up your Business Design sprint.
Contact us: support@orangehills.com.
Participants
- Innovation manager
- Innovation experts (1-2)
- Coach
- Optional: Sponsor
Process
Key Activities
The following activities represent the core of a Scoping project:
- Describe your initial ideas / innovation areas: The starting point here is a very brief description of your idea(s) or innovation area(s) including information around potential customers, their problems / challenges, a high-level perspective on a potential solution to the problem / challenge and special resources needed to build and market the solution (e.g. technology, data). Be as visual as possible and condense your information to a simple story.
- Gather insights: The prerequisite for a better project scoping is to collect smart questions around your brief idea descriptions worth digging into in order better evaluate the ideas / innovation areas and framing focused Business Design projects. Turn the most relevant questions into tasks and start working on them to gather the insights you need.
- Scope your Business Design project(s): Based on the results, the final step is to revisit your descriptions of your idea(s) or innovation area(s), refine them and select the idea / innovation area as the cornerstone for your next Business Design project. The final outcome is a complete Project Charter ready to be executed in our usual way.
Formats
- Research workshop (4-5 h)
- Research phase (2-3 weeks)
- Scoping workshop (4-5 h)
Tools & Materials
- Project Charter in Project Workspace
- Portfolio matrix
- Tools and methods for research (Discover phase)