How I Became One of the .004%

A few weeks ago, I was asked to blog about the patent using Lean Start-up, before @EricReis wrote his first book.  Thanks to @adamberk for the suggestion, and here we go-

Based on numbers publish by U.S. Patent office and Inc. Magazine, roughly 150,000 patents are issued within the United States each year.  Not shockingly given the current state of women in STEM fields, only 8% of those U.S. Patents are awarded to women.  This means only 12,000 U.S. women per year become patent holders, on a U.S. population of approximately 340 Million. Any woman issued a U.S. is part of an exclusive .004% club.   I became a member of this exclusive .004% club in both 2010 and 2016.

This patent was not the result of expertise, but the disciplined use of Design Thinking and Lean Start-up methods.

In 2010, and twice in 2016, I was awarded patents for the design of a glucose meter.  Unique as a commercial product, this glucose meter recommends custom insulin doses for individual diabetics, under the care a physician.  So, I must be an MD?  A medical researcher?  Surely at the very least, I must know a diabetic?  The answer to these usual assumptions is “No”.  I had exactly zero experience with diabetes, medical devices, and had never even worked in the general area of consumer products.  In fact, this wasn’t even the specialty of Menlo Innovations, the company I contracted with at the time. 

If it wasn’t expertise that put me in the .004%, then what was it?  This patent was the result was the disciplined use of Design Thinking and Lean Start-up methods.   These methods require high levels of empathy, creativity, low ego, and collaborative capabilities.  Companies are consistently winning with Design Thinking, Lean Start-up, so their use is gaining traction in the market.  These approaches were creating opportunities women even before the terms were coined.  Here is how it worked for me.

A client company had a vision of a world where diabetics could, under the care of a physician, get customized recommendations for insulin from a programmable glucose meter.  They contracted with Menlo Innovations to design and build a product that would fulfill that vision.  Along with a partner, I was given the task to figure out what we needed to do to gather the data we needed, then to use that data to design the glucose meter. With no prior knowledge, we didn’t have many assumptions about the lives of diabetics, or even what made for a good glucose meter.  We decided to go to the source and start learning from diabetics.   

Starting with empathy for our potential customers and the fact that all use glucose meters. We devised an experiment that would incorporate both. 

Starting with empathy for our potential customers and the fact that all use glucose meters.  We devised an experiment that would incorporate both.  While we went to local drug stored and purchased every available glucose meter, Project Managers worked to identify diabetics who would be willing to meet us at Panera Bread for an hour to talk to us about their experience as a diabetic.  Within 2 days, we had 10 diabetics and 10 glucose meters and were ready to run an experiment to determine what diabetics thought was the best existing glucose meter on the market.

First, we met our subjects at Panera Bread for a 90 minute session.  For a $25.00 Panera gift card, our diabetic subjects spent the first half our simply talking about their life experience.  One of us took notes, while the other asked questions and then, when appropriate, deeper questions about the challenges life as a diabetic.  This helped us build a well-rounded understanding of the challenges facing diabetic patients in general, but also allowed us a deep pool of data to pull from when fleshing out a full picture for others who would eventually help build out the product.

…we asked them to think out loud about the choices they were making.

Second, we dumped all 10 glucose meters out on the table in front of our users and asked them to place them from left to right.  To the left of the line were the “I hate this” glucose meters, and to right, the “I love this” meters.  While these potential customers worked on their subjective placement from 1 to 10, we asked them to think out loud about the choices they were making.  We were very surprised by the amount of thinking they did during the process and the passion they felt about their choices.  All ten participants shared detailed feelings and personal stories about features, shapes, feel, and even colors of the meters, sometimes in far more detail than we would have ever anticipated.

Both the rational and irrational seemed to inform each person’s decision about whether they would place a meter in the 4th instead of the 5th position, or in the 9th instead of the 10th.  This process looked very messy and seemed very personal, subjective, and multivariate.  However, over ten such interviews and experiments, a very clear picture began to emerge about where there was agreement and triangulation, versus when there was an outlier.

The fact that many established product companies spend millions implementing new products and features without a single experiment with customers is shocking.

Third, we combined the data into findings, collaborated in a group to determine what was similar and what was unique feedback.  Interesting, there was no emerging leader in glucose meters, there were only leading Features and leading placements of Features.   It was from this initial experiment, with less than 3 weeks of calendar time, that the prototype design for the 2010 patent was created.  We then pulled from Agile, continuing to learn and create iterations of the initial prototype,  then run more experiments.  All-in-all, by running experiments in iterations, I spent less than 6 months on a project that yielded 3 patents.

It’s amazing that such simple and seemingly non-scientific experimentation with potential customers can be powerful, efficient, and even patent-worthy.

It’s a little counter intuitive that such simple and seemingly non-scientific experimentation with potential customers can be that powerful, efficient, and even patent-worthy.  The fact that many established product companies spend millions implementing new products and features without running even one experiment with customers is shocking.  It’s worth mentioning that this patent was commercialized both domestically and internationally.  This effort resulted in a commercial product as well.  I thank Menlo Innovations for enabling such rewarding work – Rich Sheridan remains ahead of the market in leveraging Design Thinking and Lean Start-up.

I would love to hear from others in the .004% - I invite you to respond or comment with your story and perhaps we can find a way to increase these numbers.  Do you know a .004% member?  please forward this to them…I understand many have been so busy they haven’t had time to do the math!

Design Thinking? Use Power Personas

Design Thinking is essential to creating the innovative products and services that now drive the Digital Economy.  Companies without the ability to imbed Design Thinking within their culture and processes will be challenged and ultimately disrupted, while those who embrace this client-centric and empathy-driven approach will be rewarded with increased market share and brand loyalty.  Knowing this, many companies have begun creating Personas as the way to stay focused on stakeholders, customers and users.

Personas were originally confined to marketing departments and mainly used to explain segmentation and brand strategy.  In 2004, Personas were introduced as a way to think about software design in Alan Cooper’s 2004 book, The Inmates are Running the Asylum.

Now that many leaders are aware of the importance of Design Thinking, Power Personas have made their way into the Innovative Enterprises and now inform everything from Enterprise Strategy and Pricing Models to Call Scripts and budget prioritization.  There is now a growing understanding that leveraging Power Personas can mean being first to market, attaining rapid customer adoption, capturing market share, and using valuable technology resources strategically.   Instead, those ignoring this vital component will likely experience increasing customer attrition, and market erosion.   

Many companies create Personas as an up-front imperative, but their power is crushed under the pressures of budgets, timelines, and resources. Typically, these Personas have not been created for Design Thinking, but were carefully crafted for an internal leadership audience –mostly by either Marketing or UX Design teams.  These Personas look pretty, play well to leadership to get budget approval, but have no power to help your organization leverage Design Thinking to assure customer centricity from concept to delivery.  These flat and lifeless Personas have no actual Power to guide Strategy, Product Development, or Customer Interaction.

As a leader, do you believe the answer in your organization to “Do you use Personas?” would be answered, “Sure, we created several last year and you can find them on the shared drive?”  If so, your organization does not use Power Personas.   More importantly, Design Thinking within your organization is likely stuck.  The risk of disruption is increasing.  Using Power Personas will begin to de-risk your organization.

If you aren’t sure how to get started with Power Personas,  follow this simple guideline to get started understanding Power Personas and how they are created for Design Thinking: 

Power Personas are:

 DATA-DRIVEN

Power Personas are created with data from the market, call center, feedback sessions, interviews, observations, click-through data and competitive research.  This data is collaboratively distilled into the Power Persona.  The data used reflects the importance of the Persona to the product or service, and is refreshed with the most relevant data to inform decision-making at every level from Strategy to Execution.  If Personas are created by a single person at a computer with Google Images and PowerPoint, it is simply a piece of a marketing presentation that was created as a check-mark for leadership.  It is NOT a Power Persona.  Take the time to get real data to support a real Power Personas and communicate that Data when collaborating to flesh-out your PPs.

ELABORATED

Power Personas feel real and evoke empathy, which is where Design Thinking starts.  By having this effect on Employees, Stakeholders, Product Management, and Technologists, they ultimately win very real customer(s) and stakeholders.  Power Personas always have real-sounding names, hobbies and families, hopes and dreams.  If not created with rich and believable backgrounds, a Persona is flat and lifeless and loses is Power status.  Any Persona that is created with a joke name (i.e. Mike Medic or Melanie Millennial), is rendered impotent when it comes to evoking Design Thinking.  When developing Power Personas, employ Lean Start-up techniques such as “Getting Out of the Building” to observe potential buyers and capture these personal anecdotes, sit with people who take customer calls listen in, shadow sales on visits, walk a day in the life of a customer to test the Power Persona against reality.

AGGREGRATES

Power Personas are aggregates that represent the right stakeholder or customer population, but are never represent to only one or two individuals.  Particularly loud or demanding stakeholder or focus group participants are temping to use as a basis and the data for them is easily acquired and familiar.  However, this inevitably leads to creating too narrow focus and stifles Design Thinking.   With data, collaboratively brainstorm as many Personas as you can, then pull characteristics from each before you settle on a base to elaborate.   Power Personas influence data gathering, market testing, physical design, and research you conduct and solution you ultimately provide to customers and/or employees.   As a guide, you should be able to start with 50 candidate Power Personas for any effort before collaboratively narrowing and condensing.

REFERENCED

Deep consideration and conversations about a Power Personas starts before a new Product, Service, or Enhancement idea is entertained for funding.    When prioritizing the relevant Power Persona is front and center in the conversation and referred to by name (i.e. “Explain why this would be good for Jenny” Is Persona data brought into decision-making sessions?  Arguments break out about whether Mike Jenkins (for example) will be happy with a given pricing model or feature.  Power Personas are posted where work is taking place.  Everyone from the CEO to the researcher, to the product developer talks about the Power Personas.   Is this the case with the Personas your company is using?  If not, check out your D, E, and A.  Chances are you have not created Power Personas in the first place. If your answer is yes to these questions, then please email me your company information; I want to invest! You are ahead of the curve and will surely outpace your competition.

 SIGNIFICANT

Power Personas are always play a significant role in enabling Design Thinking and thus move the needle in the market – but only if there is a market in the first place.  The good news is that the process of creating Power Personas reduces the risk offering the wrong product, service, or enhancement.  Gathering data to create Power Personas, leads to early indications of unprofitable markets, lack of desirability, and small stakeholder populations.  Ultimately, this process changes or even kills risky business models and ideas before they become a budget-breaking failure or brand issue.  Power Personas always represent powerful stakeholder populations -  you can’t substantiate a strategy, idea, product, or enhancement with a Power Persona, it’s time to change direction.

Remember that Power Personas are D.E.A.R.S. to make it further, faster with Design Thinking.  Later I will discuss using multiple Power Personas simultaneously to increase revenue and efficiency when pursuing complex markets.  Stay tuned if your business is serving Silent Generation, Baby Boomer, and Millennials simultaneously or trying to retain current customers while growing a different customer base.

Inside Menlo Innovations - an Intro From an Ex-Menlonian

I was in start-ups and being somewhat of a road warrior.  My own start-up won an Inc. Web Award, I'd been to Dubai, and then I had to get divorced.  Without going into much detail, what it meant to me was that I had to do something to support my family that didn't mean weekly travel.

Enter Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations.  At this point I can't recall who made that introduction, but I do remember what they said: "you HAVE to have coffee with Rich!"  There's something about a combination of passion and story telling ability that makes Rich one of the more captivating people to talk to.  He met me and then invited me up to see Menlo...I was instantly in love with the place.  The walls were full of paper, the air was a-buzz with the chatter of innovation.  I couldn't help but want to be a part of it.

You can't just pass an interview with Rich to have the opportunity to work at Menlo.  You have to go through an "Extreme Interview,"  This means a cattle-call style interview, at night, with (in my case) over 40 other interviewees all in the same open space.  Rich introduces himself, welcome's everyone, and advises those there to get work: "your job is to get the other person hired."  After that, it's pairing with three different people on three different tasks all while being watched by three different "facilitators" who are already do work for Menlo.

As facilitators, you look for things like sense of humor, ability to share the pen, accept ideas from their partner?  Are they overbearing or do they listen well to their partner?  How do they do under the pressure of trying to get progress on an hour long task when they only have 20 minutes to complete it?  At the end of the night, when candidates leave, facilitators gather for dinner, pictures of interviews are projected on a screen, and the three who observed the tasks vote with thumbs (up, down, or middle for undecided.   If there isn't a consensus, discussion, sometimes very passionate and spirited discussion ensues.   Successful candidates progress.

Because all team roles pair at Menlo, the next step is to pair in with different projects in one day, then 3 days, then a week, then three weeks if you are successful.  With feedback all along the way.  Success means that you are generally back on the schedule every week - as long as client work remains. 

I was lucky to be on that schedule for almost 3 years in the late 2000's.  Lucky because it allowed me to learn Agile from soup to nuts, lucky because it enabled me understand how Innovation and Lean Start-up work as a system, and lucky to work with passionate and brilliant fellow Menlonians.  Personally, those were the roughest three years of my life, but professionally I still pull from that experience at least weekly to inform the way I think about my company, my clients, and my work.

In my next Menlo related post, I'll talk more about Menlo's process, in the meantime you can read Rich's book, "Joy".