Prototyping for the method

Finding the method that cuts it.

Methods are unpredictable. You take your situation and what you know. Often the next step is to choose a method or viewpoint to understand and to analyse and move forward. Maybe you do a simple gap analysis. Or you decided to measure lead times. Or you visualise the portfolio with colours.?

You will not know which method cuts through the complexities. Some methods are simple and universal. You know you will have some sort of result. For instance, you will always find gaps when you go look for them. But when you have your gaps listed you often don’t know if they are the right gaps.?

I’ve come to think great insight and differentiated solutions cannot be “assembly-lined”. The method is the assembly line that often can’t be laid down in advance.?

Prototype the method

Take a method. Try it out in 15 minutes. Evaluate if there is something in the results. Show the results to a few people. Try understand what the results mean. Scrap the paper.

If there is something there in the results, then you can repeat the process. On the second pass, you can do it twice as quick. You still often stumble onto something slightly different.?

Our brains are novel and great at pattern matching. Methods are lenses that can draw out the essential from the noise. The thing is that you do not have the foresight on the right stuff. And when you don’t know the right outputs, then you cannot be prescient on the method.?

Prototyping is best for finding something new and novel in situations where the right stuff is unknown. You try many solutions and options. You produce something quickly. The key is learning and drawing new information out of the evaluation of the results of the prototype. You also learn a lot of the work itself by completing anything. The mental trick is to complete the prototype without the fear of being wrong.?

Don’t do more analysis in volume. Do more insightful analysis. That’s why finding the essential is so crucial. There is no one-size-fits-all essence in life - you have to go looking for a viewpoint.?

The search for the suitable method

I’ve written much about strategy, product work, and also methodology work being a search. Rather than making a clear-cut analysis, you go looking for something that works. In all those complex fields success is not easy to spell out. That’s why the metaphor of finding the gold nugget in the rubble is a good metaphor. You search for the few ways that actually do end up working.?

To me finding the right method is no different to finding the right outcome. Sometimes you get fully stuck with the blue ocean strategy canvas. You just stare at utter likeness in product strategy. Then you do a business model canvas and you may make some connections. But still there is nothing definite. Then you may try the Crazy eights. Maybe now you have a few hints, but you are not sure. Then you list your core competencies and you see it all clear.?

Generating strategic insight is an act of imagination and creativity. I think you just cannot escape that. I take it that there is no reliable method to produce the insight we need.?

That is why I say that you should prototype to find the method that actually works for you in your current situation.?