At Innoway, we’re big proponents of the Lean Startup Methodology. We believe it can unlock innovation in companies and organisations of all sizes, allowing them to grow and unleash their full potential.

It’s for that reason we incorporate the methodology into every aspect of the work we do with our clients.

In order to understand how we do that, it’s worthwhile reminding ourselves of what the methodology entails.

Born in Silicon Valley

The Lean Startup Methodology was developed by entrepreneur Eric Ries in 2008, using his personal experiences adapting lean management principles to high-tech startup companies.

As Wikipedia notes, the methodology aims to shorten product development cycles by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning.

Its central hypothesis is that if organisations invest their time into iteratively building products or services to meet the needs of early customers, they can reduce the market risks and sidestep the need for large amounts of initial project funding and expensive product launches and failures.

So how do we use this methodology to the benefit of the organisations we work with?

Ideation and Futuration

At the root of all great innovations is a great idea. But in large organisations especially, coming up with new and innovative ideas can sometimes be a serious challenge.

That’s why we facilitate ideation workshops, where we help people within these organisations come up with and develop innovative ideas.

Of course, no organisation will thrive if it’s only thinking about the innovations that will serve it in the present. It also needs to keep one eye firmly on the future.

That’s why we also facilitate futurescaping workshops where we help people within organisations come up with different possible future scenarios.

Market Testing

Once you’ve developed an idea, it’s important to take it to market as cheaply and as quickly as possible. This process is known as creating a minimum viable product (MVP).

Having built an MVP, companies need to be able to test and measure their performance in the market.

At Innoway, we don’t just help them develop ideas into products, we also provide them with the tools they need to test them in the market and measure their overall performance.

Building an innovation framework

When it comes to fostering a culture of innovation within a company, one-off workshops can only take you so far.

You need to think more long-term and create something more long-lasting.

In order to encourage that, we design the innovation frameworks (which includes innovation processes, roles, and responsibilities, as well as tools and techniques) for the organisations we work with.

This sets the organisation up to reach the point where it doesn’t just rely on a single innovation, but where people are constantly coming up with new ideas that can be quickly built on and tested.

Training

To properly implement Lean Startup Methodology for innovation within an organisation, it’s vital that the people within the organisation fully understand and embrace it as an approach.

In order to ensure that, we train and coach employees to build the innovation capability inside their organisation.

Assessment

One of the dictates of the Lean Startup methodology is that you learn from the various innovation experiments you conduct.

Having tested and measured your product’s impact in the market, you come back around and figure out what has and hasn’t worked. This allows you to decide whether to persevere or pivot the idea.

Traditionally, pivoting is something that large organisations battle with, but if innovation is part of the company culture, it’s a lot easier.

Knowing this, we assess the innovation status in an organisation at various stages of our journey with them.

Indeed, doing so is part of our own commitment to the Lean Startup Methodology. We really believe in it and its ability to transform organisations.