Mystery to Mastery - Excerpt

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This book is

an e-Book

In support of a greener environment!

Many of you may have experimented with eBook reading or are certain you could never

give up the touch, feel and sweet smell and comfort of a good book. We feel your pain!

While we also believe that eReaders and tablets are heralding the decline of civilization,

you may be surprised at how easy it is to sink into a good eBook.

eBooks don't require paper, so they save trees. They don't require burning fossil fuel

to transport them to the stores. They don't require ink. eBooks are great for the

environment.

This is our way of sustaining the environment. We hope you would share the same

thoughts.

Happy Reading!

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Welcome! Message

Another book on innovation? We can't blame you! Every other Product Manager talks about innovation, every 3rd company

strives for that disruptive idea and every 4th organization is at an inflexion point. Clichéd, but true! So what's this book got to

offer new? The most important differentiator is that we have laid down the innovation management process in a structured

fashion. But the real value-adds are the blueprints and templates that really make it easy to implement a culture of

innovation for an individual or an organization.

This book is a practical guide or playbook for startups and entrepreneurs to integrate Design Thinking into their psyche to

get them on a fast track to deliver solutions that matter as opposed to solutions that customers want. This book ditches the

mind-set of make and sell and coaxes leaders to adopt a more agile way of user journey based exploration. At the end, we

end up with an approach that is repeatable, scalable, ROI driven and more importantly puts customers at the center.

Come, be part of this journey. We promise, you would not be disappointed.

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About UsThis is all (well almost) about the AUTHORS

For over 25 years (combined), we have been helping software product companies create usable and beautiful products that customers love.

– Mahuya Ghosh & Pijush Gupta

MAHUYA GHOSH PIJUSH GUPTA

Adept at combining a vision

about consumers and

products, Mahuya enjoys

helping organizations and

enterprising individuals with

idea validation, laying out the

user experience blueprint

and growth hacking

marketing strategies.

Pijush is a product-

obsessed maverick who

spends more time on

wondering aloud on how to

create a better designed

coffee mug than actually

drinking it. He is passionate

about creating the journey

from ‘now’ to ‘wow’.

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SynopsisIts not about the length of the

experience but the depth of it!

AcknowledgementYou know who you are!

ContentsThe What and Where of the Storyline

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The Big PictureWe cannot create experience

if we don’t envision it

IdeationLearning to draw keeping an

eraser handy

Best FitGetting the balance of holding

some and letting go of others

Plan of ActionDecision Taken? Its you and

not the universe that can make

it happen

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PrioritiesSauntering before the big

gallop

RequirementsAn adventure starting with a

single step

ValidationSecond guess and you will

end up in a mess

ProductizationFrom paper to a paper-plane

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LaunchFrom the head to the runway

ClosingEntire ocean in a drop

SynopsisQuick Summary

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Ever thought of lost opportunities to disrupt the market?

Ever thought of asking the right questions instead of directly finding a

solution?

Ever thought of acknowledging the unknown-unknown?

If you answer 'Yes' to any of the above, then ‘Mystery to Mastery' is just for you. ‘Mystery to

Mastery' is all about the opportunities for leveraging design to create innovative solutions.

The importance of pivoting on design is tremendous when developing breakthrough

innovative offerings in new entrepreneurial ventures. ‘Mystery to Mastery' urges you to start

with a 'blank slate' and then use certain set of proven guidelines and blueprints to reach

from zero to orbit.

‘Mystery to Mastery' doesn’t give you any formula for launching an idea to orbit, it gives

'THE FORMULA' for innovation management. Built through experience and validated

learnings, proven to be agile and flexible, ‘Mystery to Mastery' is a playbook you need to

play by!

SynopsisQuick Summary

AcknowledgementOur sincere gratitude

None of this would have happened if we hadn't met some

smashing Product Managers in the course of our career.

Writing a book of this nature is an arduous task as there are

always challenges of bringing in a fresh perspectives. We

were fortunate enough to get help and guidance from a

large number of people who are leaders in their respective

fields. It’s our pleasure to acknowledge them though it is still

an inadequate appreciation of their contributions.

You know who you are .

You helped us write it!

AcknowledgementOur Sincere Gratitude

The Big PictureYour Vision

CHAPTER 1

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Know your Vision so that you can design

your success path

Many organizations level up their marketing hype by depicting

themselves as “innovative” through some clever messaging

strategies.

Innovation for most companies is the key ingredient required to

survive, grow and deliver more value to stakeholders.

And yet most enterprises are less innovative than they need to be.

Why? It is not easy to create and maintain a culture of innovation in

large organizations.

This chapter provides suggestions on how your organization could

become more innovative.


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Innovation = Profitability and Growth

Studies show a direct association between innovation, as

gauged by the introduction of new products and processes,

and strong financial performance. Innovation, when compared

to invention, is a low risk way to achieve better profitability and

company progression. But the challenge many companies

face is that of finding real processes that act as an enabler

and fuel innovation throughout their organization.

Plan Your Innovation Journey Map

An unfailingly applied Innovation Journey Plan is critical to

ensure that it is easy for your people to simplify and manage

innovation. There are a number of tried and test Innovation

Processes that you could select from. The important thing is to

have a good structure that is flexible, supportive and

collaborative.

As part of your journey mapping efforts, you are likely to

create two categories of maps: Current State Maps (the AS-

IS) and Future State Maps (the TO-BE).

Current state maps show the steps that users take today to

accomplish a task, while future state maps show the steps

they would be taking to accomplish the same task after the

entire journey and the process has been redesigned.

Future state maps are more accurate depictions of what the

experience will become. In other words, inadequacies and

pain points identified in the current state will be eliminated

when the process is reimagined for the future state. We

should understand that the operating keyword here is

“realistic” and not “fantasies”. Fantasies can be taken care of

later; for now take baby steps to the next level.

.


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Let’s step back and look at the current state map; during the

current state mapping process, you’ll uncover what the

customer is doing, thinking, and feeling; what’s going well;

what isn’t; and what those key moments of truth are ‘today’.

What you won’t be doing is problem solving or designing the

experience of tomorrow. You’re not looking for solutions at this

stage; you’re simply trying to understand what are the needs

of the customers now.

After that map is complete, you are not yet armed to create a

future state map. Why? Because if you create a future state

map now, you’ll be propagating inside-out thinking; you’ll map

an experience based on what you believe the customer wants

rather than asking or listening to the customer.

This means that you’ll need to authenticate the journey map

and talk to customers about what they are trying to

accomplish, what problems they are trying to solve, what their

expectations are, and much before you can design the future

state.

During your map validation exercise, you might pose the

following to customers:

We are going to put you in control now. Tell us how would you

design a journey when it comes to a task that you perform?

What would the perfect experience look like to you?

How would you alter the process/steps you go through now to

{insert your use-case}?

This is just to let customers know that you’re looking for their

perfect experience and that this exercise is informative and

will help direct your thinking as you move into ideation,

innovation, and redesign.

So what’s the bottom line? We can’t enterprise the future

state without first appreciating the current state and then

having a plan for the journey into the future. We can’t move

from current state to future state without customer research.

We need to stop ourselves from wanting to design the

experience for the customer without customer input. That’s

how we got to where we are. That’s why the experience is

what it is today.


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Big Picture Ideation Best Fit Plan Priorities Requirements Validation Productization Launch Closing


Now we have come to the end of the chapter on The Big Picture. To help you get started, we have prepared a blueprint called

The Innovation Blueprint. This will help to get a birds eye-view of the various stages in an innovation process, starting from idea

generation to beta launch - listing the goals, key stakeholders, owners, our recommended tool-kit/framework to be used,

deliverables and the success criteria for each of those stages. Please note that these guides are intended to provide guidance and

are not a set format that must be rigidly followed. Owners can use this at their own discretion and supplement with additional

information as need.

If you have an idea that you think has a potential, as a first step, we suggest that you use the Innovation Blueprint to

understand and identify the high level milestones that allows you to easily move from one stage to another with clarity and

assessed risks.

In the next chapter, we will focus on the concept of Ideation, it’s benefits and how to do it.

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What is it?

The Innovation Blueprint

provides a birds eye-view

of the various stages in an

innovation process,

starting from idea

generation to beta launch;

listing the goals, key

stakeholders, owners, our

recommended tool-

kit/framework to be used,

deliverables & the success

criteria for each of those

stages

Whom is it For?

This is meant to help

Business Owners,

Entrepreneurs and Product

Managers identify what

aspects need special

attention. The overview

comes with a handy

reference to the various tools

and activities that can

support you in each stage.

Benefits?

The Innovation BlueprintBasic Fundamentals

• The Tool-kit gives you an

overview of the various

stages in an innovation

process

• Maps out the various

activities at a glance

• Assists you to review

where you are in the

process and then plan

and organize your next

stage

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1. Ideation

2. Best Fit

3. Plan of Action

4. Prioritization

5. Requirements

GoalStage Stakeholders Took-kit Deliverables

The Innovation BlueprintGuidelines

Benefits

8. Launch

7. Productization

Identify all potential unexplored business

opportunities in a particular market segment

Go after a specific and a clearly defined business

opportunity/problem which solves customer

problems and meets business goal

Business Leaders: Senior Management,

Product Managers, Sales & Marketing and

R&D Team

Business Leaders: Senior Management,

Product Managers, Sales & Marketing and

R&D Team

• Idea Generator Framework • Identify potential opportunitiesIt helps you to have more

clarity and move to the next

phase

It helps you to evaluate many

ideas and pick the best idea to

proceed with

It provides clarity on Budget,

Scope & Timeline. Also, it helps

you to craft your USPs.

It provides clarity on short term

and long terms focus & effective

communication of the same.

It provides clarity on scope to

R&D and other teams for a

given release

Clarity on scope to ensure a

quality stable release

Finding the initial set of

customers for your product

• Pick one idea which is worthy of

perusing

• Business Plan Document

• Investor Pitch Deck

• Product Roadmap Document

• Business Requirements

Document (BRD)

• UX Specification

• Break down of BRD into Theme

Epic Feature Stories

with clear acceptance Criteria

• Sales Kit

• Launch specific content • Launch kit

• Startup Maturity Checklist

• Check List for DONE

• Severity Definitions

• Blueprint for sketching Persona

• Product Road Map Tool-kit

• Product Calendar Tool-kit

• Market Canvas Framework

• Business Model Blueprint

• Investor Launch Pad Kit

• Workshop Blueprint

Business Leaders and Investors: VCs/ Investors,

Senior Management, Finance, Product

Management, Sales & Marketing and R&D

Customers, Partners & Business Leaders:

Customers, Partners, SMEs, Senior Mgmt.,

Product Mgmt., Design Team and R&D

Business Leaders: Top Management, Product

Management, Design Team, and Product

Development

Product Leaders: Product Development and

Product Management




Craft the right value proposition and ensure potential

users are aware of your product/services

Ensure that the product solves the customer

problems and meets users’ need

Clearly articulate how the real world users expect

to use and interact with the solution to meet their

goals

Know what to focus on now, later and in future.

Document what not to focus on.

Define a clear business plan in terms of scope,

cost (resources) & time

6. Validation• User Research Map

• GlossaryIt helps you to get true insights

through User Validations

Test during development, get early customer

feedback and review• User Persona Definition




THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!

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