Sample Projects
Here are five real projects we have done (we've abstracted away many of the details).
We'll show you how our experience can improve your results, reduce your costs, and improve time to market. The samples show how we help you
- Focus your product description
- Review and improve project plans
- Define a new product
- Craft a standard
- Create technical marketing materials
Focus Your Product Description
A team started building a product. They clearly understood what they were building, but interviews of the individuals on the team clearly showed that they had different conceptions. By going to the list of problems that the product solved, probing questions about the competitive landscape allowed a clear and compelling view of the value to the customer. Clarifying the description and expanding the view of what the competition was helped make the product launch stronger because of the focus on the broader than planned range of applications.
Review and Improve Project Plans
A project had started out strong, but without a clear plan had begun drifting. It was no longer clear to the participants whether the project would be finished, and what the result would be if it were finished.
By rapidly understanding the project, and establishing priorities for the components, we were able to define a plan from where the project was, build enthusiasm, and move quickly to the adjusted goal.
Define a New Product
Sometimes the definition of a product jumps from a partial description of a problem that would be valuable to solve to the first solution. By interviewing and building understanding of the reasons and requirements for the product, the project benefited from a clear set of goals and testable requirements.
By concentrating on why then what a more successful (and more marketable, hence more valuable) product was created.
Craft a Standard
A new standards project (coordinated with a product in development) needed to be announced at an industry conference; time was short to build approval and understanding among the executive committee of the standards group that had to approve the planned standards effort.
Applying our understanding of the technical area, why the result of the standards project would be valuable (even to competitors), allowed us to build a convincing case for doing the work. We gained committed contributors to the work, including several competitors.
Explaining the value of the project made it easier to identify likely allies, define a plan that fit with the standards group's requirements, build coalitions, and move to the goal of announcing the approval of the project just in time.
Create Technical Marketing Material
The writing of technical descriptions and technical marketing material was running behind development of the product. Since the product had evolved away from its original detailed goals, the marketing material was right on broad issues but wrong in detail.
Building and then applying our understanding of the product and its competition, we outlined the arguments and created the core technical marketing material and data sheets emphasizing the utility and value of the product as it was going to be.