Lean Growth Playbook

We consistently see teams double down on efficiency – consistently leaning in on a single methodology, scaling that methodology throughout the organization, and aiming to tackle all challenges through that lens. Sometimes it’s doubling down on Design Thinking to drive empathy and consumer focus, or using Lean Startup approaches to test early-stage ideas. Leveraging a single method approach fails to consider the complexity of solving early stage, uncertain opportunities. Methods like Design Thinking and Lean Startup are critical to solving big challenges, they’re just insufficient on their own.

We’ve noticed that teams fall into these traps when they follow one method out the window:

• Teams spending a great deal of time immersed in the problem and building context, but struggle to effectively transition to frame up the jobs they’re solving for and to start to add value via coming up with and testing solutions.
• They do a good job framing up what they’re solving for, but they fall into the trap of solving the new problem via possibilities via the predominant business model.
• They excitedly jump into making stuff…building an entirely new product but aren’t exactly sure of the pain they’re solving, why, and most likely haven’t pushed beyond the predominant business model.

Leveraging our Lean Growth Playbook, we customize every approach based on context and business challenge, integrating tried & true methodologies like Design Thinking & Jobs To Be Done with emerging startup methodologies like Lean Startup & Google Venture’s Sprint process.

Defining the Opportunity

• Landscape Assessment
• Social Media Ethnography
• Digital Ethnography
• Jobs to be Done Work Session

Explore the possibilities

• Overnight Consumer Validation (Qualitative and Quantitative)
• Consumers on iPads

Build, test, and learn on the solution

• Lean Concept Development
• Prediction Market
• Assumption Based Development