I bet you’ve had a spark of an idea just before bed and sat awake thinking about it until you realise that sleep is actually a good thing. But what needs to be made to make that idea into something of value? Often, people are asked to think about what an organisation is, churning through work without understanding it’s value. Innovation for what it can be can take too long to happen and become less innovative, while ideas of the value of what it could be are often never proven. Let’s take a step back and think.
Ask ‘What the (Product)... Is, Can be, Could be’. Have the group put their thoughts on post-its and place them on the Certainly Scale. Things you know to be true go closer to the right, and things that are maybe a bit of a hunch go closer to the left. Don’t forget to use your Principles to guide this!
Now place those post-its in the corresponding circle. If you’re super certain of what your product is, that goes in the middle. Things that are more certain, but don’t exist yet go in to can be. Hopefully you’ll surface some amazing ideas, but they might feel a little more of a long-shot, so they go in to could be.
Prototyping, proof-of-concept-ing or developing separately for Is, Can be and Could be is a great way to illustrate a more innovative future and to get the team excited for what’s to come!
