A Sample DDP for an entrepreneurial business
While looking for something else, I ran across this post which provides an outline for an entrepreneurial business using the discovery driven planning framework. I know many of you are always keen to find additional examples and applications, so I thought I'd provide a link.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on August 12, 2010
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Fun post by George Colony on the primacy of design
Back when I was a doctoral student, I did a neat semester long project on design thinking. It got me to the point where I almost believed that great design is the uber discipline, the one that ties everything else together and could hold the key to a sustainable advantage.
Well that thinking is alive and well, and reflected in a neat short post by George Colony, Forrester Research's CEO. In it, he shows how Apple's obsession with design beats out Nokia's engineering focus (much to my chagrin, as Nokia is one of my favorite companies and a dear client). Well worth some reflection.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on August 12, 2010
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Amazon into hardware? Not so sure about that one…
The Wall Street Journal's digital network reports that Amazon is hiring hardware engineers and plotting a move to combat Apple's iPad in the hardware space. I can only react with surprise - if the story is true, what makes Amazon think they can out-innovate people whose core business is making hardware? They would have to quantum-leap the iPad and other handheld devices in hardware to be successful, and that hardly seems likely, as my good friend venkat N. Venkataraman notes on his facebook page. When a smart company like Amazon starts to make these sorts of moves, it suggests to me that something else is going on.
My bet is that it is a move that simply buys Amazon what I call "positioning" options -- something to have in your arsenal in case the main strategies go off the rails and that keeps you from getting locked out of the game. Positioning options are part of a larger strategy of managing an entire portfolio of opportunities. When the core is under threat, or there is significant uncertainty in the face of demonstrated demand, positioning options can help a company to keep its options open. In addition, by investing in some hardware savvy, Amazon will be in a position to slow down or de-fang competitors who would have an open field in the hardware space otherwise. Perhaps the Amazon play is to create an entirely new platform for shopping. I could see, for example, transporting the 'one click' feature to a dedicated device which would make interacting with the Internet for shopping infinitely easier. Consider, for instance, people who can't relate to a mouse and don't like to click around. They might be intrigued.
It reminds me a little of the time that Motorola allied with Apple to introduce the now-little-remembered "Rockr" phone. I said at the time (circa 2005) that I thought it was simply a feint - a product to stave off rapid development of the phone/music market which bought Apple time to introduce its own phone. Sure enough, come 2007 Apple introduced the iPhone and the rest is history.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on August 11, 2010
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Academy of Management - Which List Matters More?
So here I am in Montreal at the annual Academy of Management meeting. It struck me with great interest that the offiical program (a phone book sized effort with program sessions, times, all the important content stuff that happens at a conference) has definitely lost ground and interest to the "unoffiicial" program consisting entirely of lists of parties! Networking triumphs!
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- Posted Rita McGrath on August 08, 2010
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Discovery Driven Growth - Mistakes Companies Make
CIO Magazine's recent blog post features a summary of some of the principles of Discovery Driven Growth, and links the idea to concepts of IT agility. Wouldn't it be great if CIO's and CFO's could embrace discovery-driven principles?
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- Posted Rita McGrath on August 03, 2010
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recent entries
- Discovery Driven Planning Makes an Impression on CFO’s
- An application of Discovery Driven Planning by one of Mac’s students
- Video about “Leading Strategic Growth and Change” now up on YouTube
- Fascinating application of discovery driven planning to social ventures
- Sagantia Innovation Boot Camp - Kick Starting Innovation
