Making Ideas Happen Workshop for Vicsport as part of their Forward Thinking series for the Victorian community sport sectors. In the workshop we covered: - what makes a good idea (desirability, feasibility & viability) - reducing risk by taking the Lean Startup approach - designing for your target audience - identifying and testing assumptions and hypotheses - user research

1. making ideas happenge#ng more people physically ac1ve through sport
#vsfwdthinking

2. welcome
join the conversa1on on twi7er with
@vicsportAU
@DoingSomeGood
#vsfwdthinking
DAVID HOOD
@DavidAHood
JULIAN WATERS-­‐LYNCH
@jwaterslynch
doingsomething
good

3. #vsfwdthinking
Julian Waters-­‐Lynch
DOING SOMETHING GOOD
@jwaterslynch

4. #vsfwdthinking
Ollie Dudfield
VICSPORT
@vicsportAU

7. New members
of sporting organisations across Australia

8. #vsfwdthinking
David Hood
DOING SOMETHING GOOD
@DavidAHood

10. the innovator’s dna
1. Ques%oning
2. Observing
3. Networking
4. Experimen%ng
5. Associa%ng

11. “If I had an hour to
solve a problem I
would spend 55
minutes thinking
about the problem
and five minutes
thinking about
solu@ons.”

12. “You don’t invent the answers, you reveal the
answers by finding the right ques%ons.”
-­‐ Jonas Salk

14. 1. Think about your most treasured possession.

15. 1. Think about your most treasured possession.
This is your ‘swishy’.

16. 1. Think about your most treasured possession.
This is your ‘swishy’.
2. Your partner now needs to ask you ques%ons
to figure out what your swishy is.

17. 1. Think about your most treasured possession.
This is your ‘swishy’.
2. Your partner now needs to ask you ques%ons
to figure out what your swishy is.
YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES

18. 30
SECONDS
LEFT

21. Business Model Canvas
1. customers
4. relation
3. channels
2. value
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com
the value reaches
the customers
through channels
value - customer
communication

22. Business Model Canvas
2. value
6. resources
7. activities
8. partners
Those contribute
creating value
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com

23. Business Model Canvas
earnings = revenues - costs
1. customers
5. revenues9. costs
6. resources
7. activities
8. partners
Customers
pay
Creating value
costs money
Earnings
should be
greater than
zero
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com

24. Business Model Canvas
earnings = revenues - costs
1. customers
4. relation
3. channels
2. value
5. revenues9. costs
6. resources
7. activities
8. partner
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com

26. 1. Be present.
Focus on what you’re doing right now and pay
aBenCon to every aspect of what you’re doing: to your
body, your senses, your thoughts.
2. Accept everything as an offer.
Receive thoughts, ideas, quesCons or comments of
others as a giJ.
3. There are no mistakes.
Only invitaCons into a new level of creaCvity: breaking
paBerns and allowing new ones to emerge.
4. Make everyone else look good.
You do not have to defend or jusCfy yourself or your
posiCon -­‐ others will do that for you and you do that
for others.
5. Be changed by what is said.
Accept your reacCon as an opportunity to take a new
or expanded perspecCve to inspire new ideas.
6. Keep the energy going.
No maBer what is given, or what happens, accept it
and keep moving.
7. Serve the good of the whole.
Always carry the quesCon, "How can I best serve this
situaCon?"
8. Yes and ...
Fully accept what is happening and what is being
offered, and add a NEW piece of informaCon -­‐ that is
what allows it to be adapCve, move forward and stay
generaCve.
Inspired by 7 Basic Improv Principles with thanks to Michelle James (crea%veemergence.com)
DOING SOMETHING GOOD creative jammin’ principles

27. Making Ideas Happen
When you have an idea for a new product, service or
program, what do you need to make it happen?
• Before you start: What do you need to consider?
Priorities, timing, resources..?
• Processes and systems: Do you have a process to
follow and a system in place? What does that look like
and how does it work?
• Authorising environment: Who needs to be involved?
Who’s support and authorisation do you need? What do
you need to do before you get the go ahead?

28. 30
SECONDS
LEFT

29. What does a good idea
look like?

30. risk = probability x impact

31. risk
There are three areas in which a startup typically faces a very high degree of
uncertainty—or risk:
1. Technical risk (feasibility)
2. Customer risk (desirability)
3. Business model (viability)

32. technical risk
You could think of this as the ques@on: Can we build this thing
at all? For example, if you’re seeking a cure for cancer, there’s
a big risk that you’ll fail to find it. If you do find it, you’ll
certainly have customers, so there’s no market risk.

33. customer risk
This is the ques@on: If we build this thing, will people use or
buy it? Put another way: Should we build this thing?

34. business model risk
This amounts to the ques@on: Can we create a way for this
thing to make us money?

35. biggest risk = customer risk
Opera@ng under the assump@on that the demand exists and
that customers will buy and use your product or service in the
way you believe.
“learning what customers want and will pay for is your biggest
priority. It’s the thing you want to do most quickly and
effec@vely.”

36. https://dschool.stanford.edu/

37. “Lean Startup is a method for crea@ng and sustaining
innova@on in all kinds of organisa@ons. It helps you get good
at answering two cri@cal ques@ons:
1. Should we build this new product or service?
2. And how can we increase our odds of success in this new
thing?”
~ Sarah Milstein, co-­‐founder Lean Startup Produc@ons

38. "Lean Startup" is a system for developing
a business, product or service in the
most efficient way possible to reduce the
risk of failure.
It is an approach that treats all ideas as
having assumpCons (or hypotheses) that
must be validated by rapid
experimentaCon in the marketplace. The
approach relies on scienCfic
experimentaCon, iteraCve product
releases, and customers feedback to
generate validated learning.

39. “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
-­‐Ken Blanchard

40. A startup is a human ins%tu%on designed to create a
new product or service under condi%ons of extreme
uncertainty. In Lean Startup terms, a startup is a group
of people working on a risky new product, even if that
group of people works for Starbucks or the US Marine
Corps.
-­‐ Eric Ries

41. The key is to idenCfy
assumpCons -­‐ would
people actually buy or do
this? Not by building the
whole product, but by
building a Minimum
Viable Product (MVP).
The MVP is the most basic
version of your product
that is valuable to your
user, that will enable you to
test and learn.

43. #vsfwdthinking
Kirsten Marks, London Agency
PULSERAISER
@LondonAgencyVic

44. DIFFERENT MODES OF INQUIRY
Inductive: observing patterns
Abductive: educated guesses
Deductive: testing hypotheses

45. DIFFERENT MODES OF INQUIRY

46. SCENARIO: FAST SOCCER
You are a group that manages a local soccer club facing diminishing revenue from declining
membership numbers.
You have noCced recent trends around ‘anyCme anywhere fitness’, such as fitness apps and 24
hour gyms and ‘fast sports’, such as 3 on 3 basketball, and your club wants to explore how soccer
might adapt and learn from these innovaCons. You have also read the recent research by the
CSIRO and Australian Sports Commission on mega trends shaping the future of sport, trends
such as as ‘a perfect fit’ and ‘anybody’s game’. You are also aware of the Australian InsCtute of
Sport’s market segmentaCon research, especially personas such as ‘ponders’, ‘sidelined sportsters’
and ‘apathe@c clubbers’ for whom tradiConal sporCng codes and club membership models are less
appealing. Finally you are aware of the wider trends around changes to membership models.
You have decided to develop some innovaCons to the game and/or club membership models
with the aim of creaCng more appeal for these personas. You are looking to idenCfy the
assumpCons underpinning your innovaCon ideas and design some experiments to test these
assumpCons with potenCal users.

47. WHAT IS A GAME?
A game is a voluntary social process.
It is made up of:
• game space
• boundaries
• rules
• artefacts (equipment)
• a goal (how you win)
hBps://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/gamestorming/9781449391195/ch01.html

48. MORNING
TEA

49. what’s your innovaFon?
Which innovaCon in the sport do you think is most likely to
get your market segment joining in?
1. changes to game space (how people start playing)
2. changes to boundaries (space or Cme)
3. changes to rules
4. changes to artefacts (equipment)
5. changes to the goal (purpose of the game/how you win)

50. how sure are you?
How sure are you from a score of 1 to 10, that people are
going to like your change and get them to consider trying
your variaCon?

51. BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS

52. will they pay?
If they like your innovaCon, would they be willing to pay?
How much would you be able to get them to pay?
What structure of offering (eg membership, pay as you go) do
you think they'd like the most?

54. INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES - DON’TS
1. Never start off by saying that you’re working on an idea. This biases the
interviewee and they will feel inclined to be nice or reverse engineer your quesCons.
2. Never ask leading quesCons. You are priming the interviewee for the answer you
want to hear.
3. Never put the interviewee in hypotheCcal scenarios. The more you ask them to
imagine a situaCon, the less you can trust their answers.
4. Never start a quesCon with “would.” This asks them about future behavior, which
they cannot predict and is not reliable.
5. Never start a quesCon with “do,” unless it’s a qualifying quesCon.
hBp://uxceo.com/post/80877539095/quick-­‐Cps-­‐for-­‐effecCve-­‐customer-­‐interviews

55. INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES - DO’S
1. Qualify the person you’re talking to and make sure he/she fits your customer
hypothesis.
2. Always ask about past behavior.
3. Always start quesCons with “who, what, why, when, where, how.” Why and
how quesCons surface the most insighpul answers.
4. Always close by asking for their contact informaCon and an intro to others who
fit the customer profile. Chances are they have friends or colleagues who do.
hBp://uxceo.com/post/80877539095/quick-­‐Cps-­‐for-­‐effecCve-­‐customer-­‐interviews

56. ask open ended questions
Do not ask too many yes/no quesCons. For example,
minimize such quesCons as “do you like Groupon?” Instead
ask “what kinds of deals do you look for, if any?” “What
moCvates you to hunt for deals?” “How do you discover
deals?”
SomeCmes it is hard not to ask a yes/no quesCon, but always
follow up with an open-­‐ended quesCon like “why?” or “tell
me more about that experience.”

57. POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
Qualifier
Do you or have you played organised sport?
QuesCons about the sport
1. What do you like about..?
2. What don’t you like about..?
3. What would help you overcome/change/decide differently…?
4. On scale of 1 to 10 how likely would you be to….
5. On scale of 1 to 10 how interested would you be in trying…
6. If you were able to do “x” for $y would you be interested?
7. If not, how much would you be willing to pay and in what way?

58. minimum viable product
Barn Suppers. Image courtesy of Philip Dunda

60. 1. LANDING PAGE

61. designing your MVP

62. 2. A BLOG POST

64. 3. EMAIL

66. 4. SURVEYS

67. 3. BASIC
PROTOTYPE

68. 5. EXPLAINER
VIDEOS

71. 6. BASIC
PROTOTYPE

73. 7. WIZARD OF OZ

75. Business Model Canvas
1. customers
4. relation
3. channels
2. value
5. revenues9. costs
6. resources
7. activities
8. partners
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com

76. Assumption Testing
Experiment Design
Hypothesis Participants
Approach & Activities Expected Data
& Actual Data
Learning Goals &
Outcomes
Decision
BMC Iteration
TESTING BMC ASSUMPTIONS

77. thank you
join the conversa1on on twi7er with
@vicsportAU
@DoingSomeGood
#vsfwdthinking
DAVID HOOD
@DavidAHood
JULIAN WATERS-­‐LYNCH
@jwaterslynch
doingsomething
good