Getting to a yes is just the beginning of the process not the end.
I have seen this play out over and over in a business.
- There is a massive amount of effort by a large cross functional team to present a business case to the board. They get a yes from the board and they think that they have done their job, actually they have just got to the start line.
- Or the product and marketing team celebrate with a ‘launch party’ once the product is launched and the campaign kicks off when in reality it is just another (important) step in the process – you still don’t have customers
- Or a sale manager ‘rings’ the bell once they have a signed contract, again an important step but the hard work of delivery needs to begin.
In the world of MVP and validated learnings this is more so, the goal is to ship, learn and iterate, it becomes a virtuous circle that never ends, there needs to be more focus and effort on each of these steps as getting the strategy and business case signed off as this is what will ultimately make the product successful.
As a leader you need to realise that each of these stages are just the beginning and not success unto themselves and there is is a real balance between celebrating success and ensuring the team understands it is just the beginning.
Watch out for the corporate warriors and teams that think they have achieved all the goals by achieving any of these stages
- Getting your strategy approved by the board
- Getting your business case approved
- Winning a customer bid
- Launching a product
- Launching a marketing / brand campaign
Key take always: While reaching key milestones can take herculean effort and without doubt needs to be recognised and rewarded make sure all of the teams realise that success it getting happy customers using and paying for your product. You need to be relentless in pursuing this and not just stopping at the yes.
KS.
