Tag : lean

We're proud to announce that we're running a Lean Startup workshop in collaboration with the folks at Leancamp as part of Internet Week Europe (7-11 November) in London. Read on to find out about the event and how to sign up.

I did a little talk at the MeetDraw Presents Silicon Beach conference last week in Bournemouth. It was a lot of fun and I met loads of great people including @matlock, @nicoleyershon, @GregHadfield, @somnesia and @stevebuzzpearce.

A while ago, Nicki was preparing a presentation for SheSays and she asked me for my take on where good ideas come from.

Working with potential users introduces an element of chaos into the creative process. By bringing in this foreign element you set the scene for serendipitous discovery.

This week, we look at 3 recent presentations on lean startups and customer development. 

To start off,  Janice Fraser, entrepreneur and founder/CEO at Luxr, a residency programme for lean startups in San Francisco, covers the basics and then goes on to explain how lean UX can change the way we do business. Some good sketches and quotes.  

Last night saw the first evening of MxM/GFN action for famine aid. 

This week Made by Many put on an event for the D&AD New Blood festival. As New Blood is designed to welcome graduates to the creative industry, we thought it best to hand over the floor to two of our most recently-graduated members of staff, Conor and Cath. 

Last weekend I went to the second Good for Nothing, a full on 48 hours of tea and booze fuelled thinking, making and doing for three good causes. I've written about my first experience at Good for Nothing and I won't repeat what I covered there. The Pipeline boys put in place a few tools to encourage people to get making faster this time, but the main difference was that this was a two day event rather than just one and the emphasis really was on making something go live by the end of day two - no jacking around.

This time round I worked with GnewtCargo,  a zero-emissions logistics company who use electric vans and cargo cycles to deliver goods in East London. You can read a great round up of what the group overall achieved here but I want to focus on the part that I was working on as it proved to be a great example of what you can do when you apply Lean principles to the hack day mentality. 

Not so long ago, Neil Perkin invited me to speak at the event he was arranging to take place at Google UK HQ. Neil was keen to explore what Agile Planning means and the event, named FireStarters, brought together a 100 or so planners to share in the discussion. What followed was an excellent evening that included Mark Earls giving us What She is Having and many breakout sessions on various themes over beers. Neil has a great write-up on his blog.

This was a great chance to expand on the Lean Startup based approach we are using at Made By Many and introduced at Planningness in NY back last September. Since then we have learn't alot and the presentation I gave (embedded after the jump) introduces what I think can become some best practice for developing "Lean Agencies", agencies built from the ground-up to search for innovation. 

When working in a team on a design or a vision, it’s pretty likely that lots and lots of assumptions will be made. They can be anthropological - “people will act as ambassadors”, “our users will share this” or “people will want to submit their stories, ideas, photos or limericks to our hub”. They can be economic – “This won’t cost much” or mechanical – “Yeah, of course our CMS can do that”.

Assumptions are seductive because they propel the project forward, they allow us to just bat away risk and move forward, like a juggernaut, unstoppable. They are exhilarating because it feels like you’re calling the shots, living on the edge or flying by the seat of your pants.

OK, so we go on and on about lean startups here at Made by Many. And while it is indeed pretty tasty Kool-Aid, we're primarily obsessed with it because it's helping us deliver some great services that people actually want.

So what happens when a bright-eyed, fresh-faced MxMer joins the team having responded to a contract position asking for "curious" people?

Well, we start the indoctrination. So if you're a relative newcomer to lean startup movement, read on to see how Nicki Sprinz (@sprinzette) handled being thrown into the 'lean end'.