Charrette

SolutionSync’s highly effective technique that brings out the best of Teams

Teams are a fundamental part of today’s workplace. However, as Katzenbach and Smith recognized in their landmark book “The Wisdom of Teams”, high-performance teams are extremely rare, and the difference in output between a high-performance team and an average team is enormous.

Many of the popular techniques to improve team performance – such as the use of consultants, special incentives, training programs, etc. – make only a small difference, because the true drivers of team performance are discipline, challenge, and creativity. SolutionSync designed a revolutionary results-oriented technique, Charrette, that enables teams of professionals to develop appropriate solutions to key problems and challenges in a systematic and participatory manner that builds on the “Design Thinking” approach.  

Charrette blends together key findings and relevant insights from the field, brainstorming, rapid prototyping and a series of deductions which participants undertake to reach an ultimate solution that is collectively rated as the ‘best’. In addition to its cost-effectiveness, a major value-added of Charrette lies in its ability to generate immediate results and to address the needs of a wide range of projects differing in scope and size. 

Charrette’s key strenghts include:

• Helping teams to sharply focus on a particular challenge that should be addressed
• Enhancing teams’ abilities to generate tangible results in a very short time
• Pushing up the bar with regards to how much a team could actually achieve
• Encouraging team members to think “outside the box” and to fully explore their creative potentials
• Promoting team members’ capabilities to build on each others’ ideas
• Creating a favorable environment, conducive to participation, collaboration and innovation

Teams from organizations of different scope and size who took part in the Charrette experience found it highly rewarding. Not only did Charrette inspire them to think “outside the box”, but it actually enabled them to deliver their organizations practical, novel solutions that addressed customers’ needs in a very short time. Examples of some challenging areas which Charrette participants successfully tackled include new product and service development, strategic planning, positioning and marketing, inter-organizational communication and coordination. 

 

Charrette in action

Clearly identify the design challenge
A well-articulated design challenge or “charter” is defined. It has to have a clear objective and a concrete output to be delivered within set timeframe.

Bring the team together
Because a successful Charrette largely relies on commitment and creativity, it is of paramount importance that the right mix of participants be identified. They should have diverse backgrounds, skills and expertise. With the right blend of participants, Charrette’s unconventional environment allows many barriers, such as those related to organizational roles, functions, hierarchies and personality differences, to melt, making way for the creation of a liminal setting, where all sailors are on the same boat, sailing towards the same destination.

Learn from the ‘experts’
The team gathers ideas – as many ideas as possible – to immerse themselves quickly into the topic. They do this by interacting with experts, who depending on the situation might be a team member or people external to the team, and by brainstorming to generate and capture key ideas.

Brainstorming and rapid prototyping
Charrette relies on the  progressive reiteration of 

1. generating ideas; 
2. using those ideas to develop solutions; and
3. building on external feedback to refine and improve solutions.

The team performs the first of several ‘rapid prototyping’ cycles where they brainstorm ideas which could be part of a solution, select a few ideas for prototyping, build a prototype, and test it in real-time. After getting structured feedback on their prototype using the SMART formula, the team enters into another idea generation and prototyping phase. 

Ultimate prototype solution
Finally, the team consults the ‘experts’ once again, these could be external consultants, colleagues, or anyone who can offer an informed opinion – and builds a final prototype which captures the best elements of all previous prototypes and of the feedback they have collected. 

To carry out a successful Charrette workshop, it is best to have 3-4 groups with 4-8 members in each group. Selecting the right venue for a Charrette is equally important. It has to be quite spacious and comfortable. The Charrette ends with a review of the process to solicit participant’s views on the overall experience and the definition of the next steps.

SolutionSync hires Social Scientists

We’re looking for candidates to fill in positions of Researchers working internationally from our base in Switzerland:

Researchers should have the following qualifications:

• A University or postgraduate degree in a social science discipline or at least five years of practical experience as a qualitative research practitioner.
• Experience in qualitative research methodology, which entails excellent interviewing and observation skills.
• Skills in data gathering, recording and reporting. This requires the ability to compile, review, decode, classify, organize and integrate different types of field data (such as written notes, audio tapes, photos, video) into summarized templates, detailed accounts, and other required reporting formats in a consistent manner.   
• Excellent skills in qualitative data analyses.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Willingness to travel, work flexible hours and ability to deliver under time pressure.
• Multilingual and good English writing skills.

Candidates send their C.V. to eman@solutionsync.com

 

How Much Water Should You Drink A Day?

Scientists say there is no evidence drinking large amounts of water is beneficial for the average healthy person. The widespread idea that drinking eight glasses of water a day is good for your health has been dismissed as a myth. A Telegraph report suggested – no one knows how this widely held belief came about … but it has spread throughout the world, and in absence of clinical study against this belief, it has been taken as a “fact”.

Many people in Europe think drinking a lot of water is healthy and they may say so spontaneously. Like a PC or telephone, the water bottle is now part of the office desk. While it is clear that humans cannot survive for longer than several days without water, very little research has assessed how average individuals’ health is affected by drinking extra fluids.

Specialists in kidney conditions in America reviewed research on claims eight 8oz glasses of water help flush toxins from the body, preventing weight gain and improving skin tone. Dr Dan Negoianu and Dr Stanley Goldfarb, of the Renal, Electrolyte and Hypertension Division at the University of Pennsylvania, said no single study indicated average healthy people needed to drink this amount of water – a total of 3.3 pints – each day.

[Get the full story - Telegraph.co.uk]

Related story: Marathon Runners: Beware Of Drinking Too Much Water

Image: Cristiano Peçanha

KJ; DW; PEZ

10 Things Marketers Need to Know About Social Networking

In 2008 US$ 1.38 bn is expected to be spend on ads on social networks. Here are 10 tips and pitfalls:

• Although the online population explosion continues, Datamonitor predicts social net expansion will peak worldwide in 2009 and plateau in 2012.

• Mobile and niche social networks will take off.

• Real-time keeps getting realer.

• A profile backlash makes things simpler.

• Voice and video will keep people connected.

• Branded social networks will be integrated, not tacked on.

• Yahoo will use social networking to take down Google.

• Virtual communities will remain problematic for advertisers.

• What old media does well – create content – may finally give them an edge in new media.

• Users will make the Web their social network.

Link:
OMMA: 10 Things You Need to Know About Social Networking by Liz Tascio

Sputnik and Vaccine Technology Research

I took part in the EPFL Innovation Day ‘07 at the campus in Lausanne, Switzerland, yesterday.

It coincided with the 50th anniversary of the launch of the world’s first artificial satellite, the Russian Sputnik. Oleg G. Ivanovski (84), Program Manager on Sputnik 1, told in an exclusive video interview how he and his team put the first satellite in orbit just to start the conquest between Russia and the USA. The rest of the world begged to differ, and responded in astonishment, admiration and, later, shock.

The shock lead to harsh criticism for American president Dwight Eisenhower, says Science and Technology writer Bruno van Wayenburg in his article Sputnik’s Builder.

“Get something up!” the President ordered NASA, explained Carl Raggio (photo) who worked on Explorer 1. “It was clear to both countries from beginning that space belongs to everyone”, he said.

 

Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier (63) who logged more than 1,000 hours in space, presented the Swiss Cube, the first small satellite (1 kg cube with a 1 liter volume) to be launched end-2008, and the visions for the future.

 

KPMG Tomorrow’s Market 2007

The evening was highlighted by the celebration of the KPMG Tomorrow’s Market 2007 award. A 50,000 Swiss Franc cheque went to Sai Redding (27). Sai is a PhD student at EPFL who developed and patented a nanoparticle that can deliver vaccines more effectively, with fewer side effects, and at a fraction of the cost of current vaccine technologies. Congratulations, Sai!

 

 

“It’s great to be in Lausanne. Unlike US Universities where paperwork eats up a big part your day, at EPFL they just let me do my research”, Sai told me. He has a M.S. in Biomedical Engineering of Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.

PEZ

The Swiss Cube image was taken from EPFL.

2008 SXSW Interactive Festival

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival is a leading event for emerging technologies. Scheduled March 7-11 in Austin, Texas, the 2008 Festival provides practical know-to information as well as unparalleled career inspiration, bringing together some of emerging technology’s most creative thinkers and digital innovators from all walks of life.

The event features five days of keynote speeches, more than 120 panels, the SXSW Web Awards, the iF! Trade Show & Exhibition, the ScreenBurn Arcade, and dozens of exciting evening events. Panels focus on how technology can facilitate new ideas, new communication, and new creativity, in addition to addressing hard-core technical issues.

In August the SXSW 2008 season was kicked off with the launch of the “Panel Picker”. It’s a simple web-based tool that allows the community to review submitted panel ideas, and then rate which panels they would be most interested in attending. Although the voting mechanism has been disabled on September 21, the interface is still fully functional for browsing the submissions and reading the comments. A preliminary schedule of the 2008 panel program will be announced in late October ‘07.

Browse the Panel Picker
iF! Interactive Trade Show + Exhibition
Review last year’s iF Trade Show Exhibitor pages

Other Upcoming Events:

• EPIC 2007 – Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference , October 3-6, Keystone CO

• Virtual Worlds Forum, October 23-26, London

• Future of Mobile, November 14, London

• Future of Web Design, November 7-8, New York

Exploring New Sources of Consumer Insight

Are consumer goods companies looking in the right places for consumer insight? Once they understand it, are they leveraging it appropriately? Are they taking advantage of new technologies and the ubiquity of the internet?

Consumer Goods Technology partnered with HP to research the new methods companies are using to gain insights and understand how effectively they are being leverage.

[Get report. pdf - onetime registration required]

PEZ

Consumer Ethnography Is Often Misunderstood

The methodology of “consumer ethnography”, following someone around for a day, or two days or even a week, is not ethnography.

Ethnography is the in-depth study of social and cultural systems. A serious ethnographer will not just study a single household, but an entire community. To do an ethnography of consumer behavior, ethnographers participate and observe the consumer and interpret the meanings of work, family, recreation and the relationship of the person to many different others in addition to the particular dynamics related to the product or service in question.

The ethnographer does not rely just upon direct observation and the interpretation of behavior. He or she gathers information about each person observed also from other people who are part of the consumer’s network.

True ethnography is based on the participant observation, in which the observer becomes integrated over a period of time into the everyday lives of those being observed.

While doing ethnographic research work in China, the ethnographer would not live in a hotel during his engagement but share a room with a local family. He or she would take all opportunities to become integrated in their daily lives and connect with other people through this family’s network.

A couple of examples can be found on the “Future Perfect” blog of Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, most of our ethnographic research work for clients is done under under non-disclosure agreements. Also Jan is unable to show any concept generation work in his presentations.

The above image is from Jan’s blog.

There’s a brief but interesting report on “Mobile Essentials – Field Study and Concepting’ The paper introduces three interrelated ways to understand human behavior – center of gravity, point of reflection and range of distribution.

Download “Mobile Essentials – Field Study and Concepting” paper.

PEZ

Innovation Or Renovation Opportunities Require a Value Proposition

The goal of every innovation or product renovation is to create and deliver value to the customer or user (internal or external customers!) that is clearly greater than the users’ alternatives. The difference must be compelling to the users.

But how do you start to develop new value for the customer?

Begin with the value proposition. It is the nucleus for value creation, because it addresses the four fundamental questions that must always be answered when you start to create new customer value.

• What is the customer and market Need?

• What is my Approach for addressing this need?

• What are the specific Benefits that result from this approach (also in quantitative terms)?

• How are these Benefits superior to the Competitive alternatives?

Value propositions are difficult to develop because initially, you don’t always know enough about any of these questions. One tends to focus on the ‘approach’, to the exclusion of the other questions. Jam sessions that provide feedback from a disparate audience help you improve and make your value proposition compelling.

For different situations you might need a different value proposition, depending who you present it to. The metrics for the users are benefits and how those benefits compare with those of the competition. The metrics for an investor, which can be a senior manager of your company, a business unit manager or a venture capitalist, might include market size, profit revenue growth and return on investment.

In his book The Art of The Start venture capitalist and author Guy Kawasaki gives good advise on how to approach the sponsor. Guy draws upon his background as an envangelist for Apple Computer, Inc.

Watch his speech here. Download the Powerpoint slides that Guy was using during his ‘The Art of The Start’ speech.

PEZ

You Have To Let Innovation Flow In and Out

Through an initiative called “Connect and Develop,” Procter & Gamble’s CEO has mandated that 50 percent of the company’s innovation come from outside the enterprise. Robert Scott, P&G’s vice president of innovation and architecture, Global Business Services, is charged with realizing this goal in IT.

“You’re going to have to let innovation flow in and out of the walls of your organization and in and out of your company,” Scott says. Therefore, he built connections to the labs of P&G alliance partners like IBM, SAP and Hewlett-Packard and conducts regular “discovery journeys” to Silicon Valley. For the “develop” part of the mandate, Scott and the rest of P&G employ “SIMPL” (Simplified Initiative Management and Product Launch), which shepherds concepts toward execution. This process is broken into six phases: Discovery, the search for opportunities and ideas; Design, where concepts turn into prototypes; Qualify, where ideas are validated; Ready, preparing for launch; Launch; and Leverage, a step Scott added to market and maximize adoption of IT solutions. [Get the full Story ¦ CIO]

PEZ