On Possibility...

Last week, I wrote about my perspective on Change in general and the importance of agency i.e. moving into action.

Since then, I delivered two keynotes about exactly this topic and people asked me how to demonstrate agency and how to get started.

In agile product development, we have a concept called MVP which stands for Minimum Viable Product. Any MVP should be the minimum set of features to achieve a certain outcome.

That outcome varies from product to product and from customer group to customer group.

When we approach change in our organizations, our relationships, or even society, we can apply that same mental model.

It requires us to explore first which outcomes we want to achieve and only then come up with ideas on how that outcome could be achieved.

In product development we also emphasize that any feature/idea is only a potential solution to a customer problem/need.

The same applies when we think about organizational change.

Any change in structure, policies, or metrics is a potential solution to achieving the organizational outcome we are aiming for e.g. higher levels of customer centricity or faster time-to-market.

Moving from trying to implement the ideal solution - whether it's products or organizations - to thinking in a valid next step i.e. the MVP or MVO standing for Minimum Viable Organization, is one of the most powerful mindset shifts I have come across.

And if we think about it, it is also the most natural way to do things.

If one wants to run a marathon, one does not start training by running a full marathon. One maybe does not even compete for the first time in a full marathon but rather in a 10k run or a half marathon.

If one wants to become a medical doctor, one does not immediately take the final exam of medical school, but we first learn about the basics and step by step accumulate knowledge and experience to become doctors.

And even after that, we do not jump into doing a Whipple procedure on our own but start with simple cutting and stitches before we explore more surgeries through observation and mentoring.

My son wants to become a professional football player. It makes no sense to ask him to play Champions League right away... instead he needs to learn how to handle the ball and compete with kids his own age or a few years older than himself.

Everything in life starts with a valid next step... that next step is a stretch from where we are today, but it shouldn't be too big of a stretch as we will then not be able to do it.

If the barriers are too high... we won't be able to do it.

Seeing the big picture is great, being able to break it down into various possibilities makes that big picture actionable.

"Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best." - Otto von Bismarck

The quote above from Bismarck summarizes it really well... Always ask, what is the valid the next step that we can take? What can we achieve if we stretch ourselves a bit more?

Once you adopt this thinking you cannot unsee how many successful organizations e.g. Apple apply exactly that thinking. Just look at how Apple moved from their reliance on Intel CPUs to having all of their products use Apple designed CPUs.

Think for yourself, what is the valid next step for your product, your organization, your relationships, or even your life.

Have a great Sunday ;-)

#FromNothingComesNothing