Leaders are judged by the questions they ask. This is especially true when leading or sponsoring innovation projects. Without accepting softball answers, pitch these:
Why are you doing this project? If the project champion can’t answer this simple question crisply, concisely and decisively she is either missing key information or the passion required to succeed. If we don’t know where we are going, we create a vortex to throw money in.
If successful, what problem will this solve? Who has this problem? Do they know it? To have value, the innovation – the product, service, or business model – must solve a real problem. If the team can’t express the problem they’re solving it’s unlikely they will solve it! Or worse, they may be working on a solution in search of a problem. The team must also articulate the person (it’s always about people!) who has the problem; they must also say if the problem is generally acknowledged or if it is unrecognized.
Who are the lead customers? You’re developing a product, a service, an offering and you don’t even know who might buy it?!? Simply put, that’s crazy! Ideally you should know your first target customer by name – why not engage them in the process of developing your prototype. If you don’t, you must be able to describe the persona in detail.
What are the key assumptions? Every strategy, every initiative, every project has assumptions. markets price or cost technology. While it’s impossible to anticipate every variable success depends on each of those assumptions being correct. Solicit the wisdom of other to ensure you have identified and vetted critical assumptions.
What is the last hypothesis you tested? What did you learn? Each assumption is a hypothesis. Go test it. Start with the scariest and don’t be afraid of what you might learn. Try to disprove your assumption. If it’s wrong, better to know now than after you’ve squandered millions of dollars and irreplaceable time.
What is the next hypothesis you are testing? Your plan should be well thought out and flexible. Know the next hypotheses you’re going to test, why and how. Will you need a minimum viable prototype? Is it virtual? Is it real? Is it conceptual or functional? When does it need to be packaged? It’s a cliché, but failing to plan really is planning to fail. Plan, but don’t be afraid to change the plan as you learn.
What is the biggest risk to the project’s success? At each stage the team must be able to answer this question. If there is no risk, there will be no reward. When the team tells you there is no more risk, it’s time to get a new project. Or a new team.
*Unrecognized problems almost always represent the greatest opportunity for breakthrough or disruptive innovation. They are also the riskiest innovation targets.
