{"id":22779,"date":"2014-12-08T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/project-killers-what-are-your-red-flags\/"},"modified":"2024-11-14T08:48:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T14:48:42","slug":"project-killers-what-are-your-red-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/project-killers-what-are-your-red-flags\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Killers: What Are Your Red Flags?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Throughout my 14 years at Procter &amp; Gamble, and now as an independent consultant, I have worked in the front end of innovation, where the need to assess new ideas as efficiently as possible is paramount. Drawing from these experiences, I\u2019ve outlined a simple yet highly effective strategy for creating what we in product development call a \u201cLearning Plan\u201d that you can use in your business.<\/p>\n<p>Learning plans, which were first developed as a systematic framework in the field of innovation strategy, help assess a proposition\u2019s viability by focusing on killer issues. By \u201ckiller issues,\u201d I mean the few things that would kill the project if they did or did not happen. Or, on the flip side, a learning plan that helps identify the things that absolutely must be true for the project to succeed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Assess project-ending issues and critical assumptions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To do this, gather the core team\u2014ideally you want input from a diverse set of focus and expertise areas\u2014and spend some time brainstorming all the potential killer issues for your project.<\/p>\n<p>As a team, prioritize the top three to five issues that are most critical for success. These should be stated in the form of assumptions to be proved or disproved. Examples include:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Target customers have a compelling unmet need that is this product solves.<br \/>\n\u2022 There is a way to produce and distribute this product profitably.<br \/>\n\u2022 The size of the target market is sufficient to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/article\/the-winning-sales-formula\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"The Winning Sales Formula | SUCCESS.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">meet the sales goals<\/a>.<br \/>\n\u2022 The technology actually works in a real-world setting.<br \/>\n\u2022 Target consumers are willing to pay the proposed price point.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fine to capture a longer list of questions to address in the learning plan, but be sure to identify that limited set of top-priority assumptions that are really make or break, and tackle those first. For example, it doesn\u2019t really matter if your package design is appealing if no one wants to buy the product inside.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Determine the methods and measures.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The next important step is to determine what information, or level of proof, is needed to move forward. This will depend greatly on factors such as the level of investment required, the level of risk, and the current stage of development.<\/p>\n<p>Be diligent in identifying the minimum to proceed and also specify how the assumption will be addressed. For example, if you are trying to determine whether a technology actually works in a real-world setting, is it enough to have it perform in \u201cfriends &amp; family\u201d testing or will management\/investors demand large-scale controlled research results?<\/p>\n<p>The outcome of this approach should be a handful of killer questions with clear methodology and success criteria defined for each. Examples of methods to address the assumptions could include consumer research, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/article\/the-case-for-brainstorming\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"The Case for Brainstorming | SUCCESS.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">team brainstorming<\/a>, financial modeling, desk research, interviewing an expert or commissioning a consultant. As a final step, add timing, owner(s) and budget required for each question.<\/p>\n<p>This is different from many standard learning plan processes where teams would list every question that needs to be answered, or assumption that needs to be confirmed, and proceed more or less along a timeline that mirrored the stages of product development. In a process like that, teams might be months, or even years, into a project before a red flag about the technology or product costs is uncovered.<\/p>\n<p>By focusing exclusively on the specific killer issues, teams can quickly identify whether a project is viable, and only then, continue on. By identifying the most critical questions and tackling those first, teams can help manage risk and learn quickly. If an issue does truly prove to be \u201ckiller\u201d and cannot reasonably be solved, the decision-makers can elect to shelve the project or pivot to a new direction earlier, saving valuable time and resources.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/article\/trying-to-figure-out-your-customer\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Trying to Figure Out Your Customer? | SUCCESS.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Trying to figure out your customer? Borrow 3 market research methods to help.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Throughout my 14 years at Procter &amp; Gamble, and now as an independent consultant, I have worked in the front end of innovation, where the need to assess new ideas as efficiently as possible is paramount. Drawing from these experiences, I\u2019ve outlined a simple yet highly effective strategy for creating what we in product development [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31586,"featured_media":56619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/legacy\/sites\/default\/files\/main\/articles\/Project%20Killers.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Sarah Faulkner","author_link":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/author\/sarah-faulkner\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.1 (Yoast SEO v25.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Project Killers: What Are Your Red Flags? 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Drawing from these experiences, I\u2019ve outlined a simple yet highly effective strategy for creating what we in product development call a \u201cLearning Plan\u201d that you can use in your business.\n\nLearning plans, which were first developed as a systematic framework in the field of innovation strategy, help assess a proposition\u2019s viability by focusing on killer issues. By \u201ckiller issues,\u201d I mean the few things that would kill the project if they did or did not happen. Or, on the flip side, a learning plan that helps identify the things that absolutely must be true for the project to succeed.\n\n<strong>1. Assess project-ending issues and critical assumptions.<\/strong>\n\nTo do this, gather the core team\u2014ideally you want input from a diverse set of focus and expertise areas\u2014and spend some time brainstorming all the potential killer issues for your project.\n\nAs a team, prioritize the top three to five issues that are most critical for success. These should be stated in the form of assumptions to be proved or disproved. Examples include:\n\n\u2022 Target customers have a compelling unmet need that is this product solves.\n\u2022 There is a way to produce and distribute this product profitably.\n\u2022 The size of the target market is sufficient to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/article\/the-winning-sales-formula\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"The Winning Sales Formula | SUCCESS.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">meet the sales goals<\/a>.\n\u2022 The technology actually works in a real-world setting.\n\u2022 Target consumers are willing to pay the proposed price point.\n\nIt\u2019s fine to capture a longer list of questions to address in the learning plan, but be sure to identify that limited set of top-priority assumptions that are really make or break, and tackle those first. For example, it doesn\u2019t really matter if your package design is appealing if no one wants to buy the product inside.\n\n<strong>2. Determine the methods and measures.<\/strong>\n\nThe next important step is to determine what information, or level of proof, is needed to move forward. This will depend greatly on factors such as the level of investment required, the level of risk, and the current stage of development.\n\nBe diligent in identifying the minimum to proceed and also specify how the assumption will be addressed. For example, if you are trying to determine whether a technology actually works in a real-world setting, is it enough to have it perform in \u201cfriends &amp; family\u201d testing or will management\/investors demand large-scale controlled research results?\n\nThe outcome of this approach should be a handful of killer questions with clear methodology and success criteria defined for each. Examples of methods to address the assumptions could include consumer research, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/article\/the-case-for-brainstorming\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"The Case for Brainstorming | SUCCESS.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">team brainstorming<\/a>, financial modeling, desk research, interviewing an expert or commissioning a consultant. As a final step, add timing, owner(s) and budget required for each question.\n\nThis is different from many standard learning plan processes where teams would list every question that needs to be answered, or assumption that needs to be confirmed, and proceed more or less along a timeline that mirrored the stages of product development. In a process like that, teams might be months, or even years, into a project before a red flag about the technology or product costs is uncovered.\n\nBy focusing exclusively on the specific killer issues, teams can quickly identify whether a project is viable, and only then, continue on. By identifying the most critical questions and tackling those first, teams can help manage risk and learn quickly. If an issue does truly prove to be \u201ckiller\u201d and cannot reasonably be solved, the decision-makers can elect to shelve the project or pivot to a new direction earlier, saving valuable time and resources.\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/article\/trying-to-figure-out-your-customer\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Trying to Figure Out Your Customer? | SUCCESS.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Trying to figure out your customer? Borrow 3 market research methods to help.<\/strong><\/a>","tag_names":[],"post_attachment_urls":[],"author_email":"sarahfaulkner@mailinator.com","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}