The conceptual and complex nature of early discovery work requires a communication approach that is repetitive, iterative and crosses departmental boundaries. This rather time consuming approach may seem less efficient however, it has the benefit of producing higher quality product and service concepts.
Asking customers the right questions and involving them at the right time can go a long way in building confidence in your new product or service concept. We encourage you to leverage three “virtual” rooms when involving customers in a concept review process:
The process of divergent thinking is more successful in a playful and open environment. The exploration and creation of new concepts that address unmet needs can bring many novel alternatives to the table. However filtering through all this newly generated brain food requires a more focused and serious environment.
I started this note as a letter to our youngest daughter.
We had just finished an errand to fix her car. What a good feeling to check off one of our weekend to dos. A friend recently told her about a new coffee trailer nearby. We drove over to check it out. The parking lot with the trailer had a number of other “food carts” in it. They work like this. You park your car, walk up to order at one of the trailers and then your order will be delivered to your car. This order and delivery system combines Portland’s food cart chic with drive-in like service.
A budget done right is a roadmap to the future. Many new and growing businesses aren’t aware of how much detailed work is involved in preparing the data. It’s a lot of effort, but having an accurate plan for the coming year is essential to your company’s success.
Here are our top tips for making a budget that will work for you:
