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EXECUTION CORE STREAM

Execution (Core Stream)

The Core Stream allows you to adapt your existing organization to external industry disruption by embracing the adoption of new technologies and organizational techniques—all while maintaining your current business model.

FEATURES

In addition to facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the existing organization and industry, the Core Stream also explores disruption coming from outside the industry. Your current organization has a working business model and existing legacy that you can't change from one day to the next, so even as you adapt it to external disruption—which can be viewed as either a threat or a great opportunity—you will preserve the basic foundation.

OPPORTUNITIES

Make the organization more adaptable, flexible, and agile in the face of external disruption.
Improve the organization's value proposition.
Increase efficiency.
Increase sales.
Diversify revenue streams.
Increase impact related to the MTP.

CHALLENGES

Learn about and evaluate all external elements—technologies and business models, for example—that might disrupt your industry.
Create strategies to survive and thrive amidst accelerating disruption.
Deal with the corporate immune system in advance to avoid having it throw up barriers to new strategies and projects.
Embrace failure as part of the process. Keep experimenting and iterating ideas until you find the perfect fit with the market.

INPUTS

The Core Stream applied to the entire organization or to a specific business unit (or units).
A team of people able, willing, and eager to spend the next 10 weeks creating new initiatives to adapt the organization to external industry disruption.

OUTPUTS

An organization that is more flexible, agile, and adaptable to external industry disruption.
Generate exponential profits.
Change the world for the better.

WHY THIS WEEK?

The world changes every day. Exploring how change might affect your organization is an exciting learning experience—one that may even surprise you!

Many executives spend most of their time dealing with internal issues, never looking beyond what's happening within the organization. Don't be one of them!

The biggest threats and opportunities for your organization can be found in the emergence of new technologies and business models, as well as in changes to the environment beyond your industry as it stands today. All of these elements represent external disruption that may be relevant for the future of your organization over both the short- and long-term. So, let's find them!

This week's assignment sets the foundation for the Core Stream. It will help you gain a strategic overview of the most important technologies that may disrupt your industry either now or in the future. How is your industry already being reshaped? By looking “outside the building” you will gain an understanding of how your organization needs to be reshaped, not only to survive but to leverage existing opportunities.

TASK 1 Learn about exponential technologies

TASK 2 Learn about new business models that can disrupt your industry

TASK 3 Find out about new changes in the context of your organization

TASK 4 Describe your current organization's business model

TEMPLATE for delivery

Exponential Technology	Risks	Opportunities	Timing
Name and/or description here…	How it can disrupt your industry…	How it can bring new business opportunities…	When this exponential technology might impact the industry…

Disruptive Business Model	Risks	Opportunities	Timing
Company name and/or description here…	How it can disrupt your industry…	How it can bring new business opportunities…	When this new business model might disrupt your industry…

Context changes	Risks	Opportunities
Description here…	How it would impact the industry…	How industry can benefit…

TEMPLATE for delivery (populated with sample entries for the Eco Places example)

Exponential Technology	Risks	Opportunities	Timing
Name and/or description here…	How it can disrupt your industry…	How it can bring new business opportunities…	When this exponential technology might impact the industry…
Internet	Enables sharing economy and P2P business models.	Enables hotels to better reach clients and develop new business models.	Now
Artificial Intelligence & Robotics	Automate majority of hotel's operations and increase competition.	Help hotels better understand clients.	Within the next 2 years
Drones	Provide new ways of traveling.	Provide new ways of traveling.	Within the next 5 years
Virtual Reality	New technology could reduce desire to travel.	Leverage technology for hotels.	Within the next 2 years

Disruptive Business Model	Risks	Opportunities	Timing
Company name and/or description here…	How it can disrupt your industry…	How it can bring new business opportunities…	When this new business model might disrupt your industry…
Airbnb (sharing economy leverages assets)	Offers customers eco accommodations.	Launch a P2P sharing economy platform.	Now
Uber (on demand staff)	Allows competitors to be more responsive to market needs.	Implement the Community attribute.	Now
Cratejoy (subscription business model)	Lose market share as consumers gravitate to hotels participating in subscription services.	Launch a subscription business model.	Now

TEMPLATE for delivery

Context changes	Risks	Opportunities
Description here…	How it would impact the industry…	How industry can benefit…
New players based on sharing economy.	Sharing economy platforms are a huge threat to traditional players.	Integrate traditional offering on sharing economy platforms or launch new businesses based on this approach.
Travelers want efficiency and personalization.	Established businesses that don't evolve may become obsolete.	Personalize products/services.
Travelers need hourly based stays.	Industry not adapted for this need.	Launch new product/services based on hourly stays.

TEMPLATE

Business Model Canvas for Eco Places (Parent Organization)

WHY THIS WEEK?

You have at your fingertips the opportunity to (re)invent your organization and make the world a better place.

Every industry sees occasional disruption. However, the frequency of that disruption is accelerating as exponential technologies impact both business models and the environment in general.

As Thomas Edison said, “To have a great idea, have a lot of them.” This week you will generate as many ExO Core Initiative ideas as possible in order to ensure success.

Adapt your current organization to external industry disruption to protect it from the threats disruption poses and to take advantage of the great opportunities continually emerging from that disruption.

TASK 1 Define a (Massive) Transformative Purpose for the organization

TASK 2 Define multiple External Disruption/Internal Reaction pairs for your MTP

DESCRIPTION

The first step is to think about any external disruptions that are relevant to your organization and its purpose. You'll also want to think about internal reactions you can create to adapt to or to take advantage of external disruption. To that end, you will define a set of external disruption/internal reaction pairs within the domain of the purpose outlined in the previous step. Note that each disruption/reaction pair is an ExO Core Initiative.

Based on the internal reactions you define, you'll need to consider the different types of ExO Core Initiatives, which are dependent on those reactions:

Pure Core

An ExO Core Initiative that is specific to the existing organization and cannot be replicated and sold to other organizations. For example: a digital transformation project that is unique to an individual organization; using AI-based technology to automate all processes.

Edge Core

An ExO Core Initiative that is first implemented in your organization and then replicated and sold elsewhere. For example: Amazon Web Services, today a successful subsidiary of the parent company.

Blue Core

An ExO Core Initiative based on launching a product or service to capture an untapped demographic (known as Blue Ocean Strategy). For example: Nintendo Wii discovered a new and lucrative market in older consumers.

TEMPLATE for delivery

MTP	ExO Core Initiative Name	External Disruption	Internal Reaction
Personalized eco experience for everyone	Smart Eco	Decreased margins due to growth of sharing economy; travelers want more efficiency and personalization.	Automate as many processes as possible using AI; robots replace some staff members.
	Short eco stays	Travelers want option of booking on an hourly basis.	Update hotel pricing and technology systems to allow hourly bookings.
	Personal room	New virtual reality (VR) technologies could reduce desire to travel.	Equip hotel with VR technologies that enable those not staying at the property to travel virtually and “meet” with hotel guests.

Recommendations for the week…

The perfect flow for this week:

The minimum number of disruption/reaction pairs for this week is 10 but the idea is to create as many as you can. We have seen some teams generate more than 30!

The goal of the Core Stream is to adapt the current organization to industry disruption. Ideas you come up with at this stage should apply either to the whole organization or to a specific business unit. Maintain this focus as you ideate.

The more ideas you generate, the better! (At this point, each ExO Core Initiative includes an MTP/TP and a disruption/reaction pair.) You will present a minimum of four initiatives during the Disruption Session, so it's better to work on as many as possible now, since some may not survive the experimentation stage coming up next week.

We know that it can be hard to develop and manage so many ExO initiatives. If you need to skip certain elements, it's fine. At this stage, it's better to generate a lot of ideas even if they have yet to be fleshed out than to be left with only a small number of initiatives, no matter how meticulously detailed.

WHY THIS WEEK?

Experimentation is crucial to any innovative project.

By definition, any innovative idea under consideration is a hypothesis (or a set of hypotheses), which means it (or they) will need to be tested prior to development. The first set of hypotheses to evaluate should be the external disruption/internal reaction pairs defined last week.

Of the 10 ExO attributes that the ExO framework defines, Experimentation is the one that must always be included.

This week you will focus on running experiments to evaluate your hypotheses. There is no better place to start than by asking the people involved in the ExO Core Initiatives what they think about them.

TASK 1 Define key hypotheses and run experiments

DESCRIPTION

The innovative ideas previously defined are a set of hypotheses that now need to be evaluated to determine whether or not they are true. You won't have time to evaluate all of them, however, so limit your focus to those hypotheses that will enable your ExO initiative to succeed.

The goal is to adapt the current organization to external industry disruption by implementing ExO attributes and using exponential technologies. Before doing so, however, you'll need to evaluate whether the external disruption under consideration is a true threat and/or opportunity. You'll also need to evaluate whether the defined internal reaction is feasible and fits the market.

Identify the key hypotheses and define experiments for each. Your approach will vary depending on the type of ExO Core Initiative.

Blue Core Initiatives

These are new products and services to test with the market (using real customers). The best thing to do with such initiatives is to run a version of Steve Blank's Customer Development technique: ask people if they have the specific problem you're addressing and whether or not they like the product or service under consideration (product/solution fit). Here are the steps to follow:

Identify which hypotheses to evaluate at this stage: Most will focus on whether or not your clients/users have the problem you think they do, and whether they like your proposed product or service. You can also consider other hypotheses, such as whether it's technically feasible to build your product or service.
Design an experiment to evaluate the hypotheses: In general, you'll want to design an interview for gathering actual data about the previously defined hypotheses. Each experiment will include evaluation criteria to aid in validating or invalidating each hypothesis.

Pure Core and Edge Core Initiatives

These are usually internal projects designed to help an organization become more agile, adaptable, and efficient. Begin by evaluating whether or not the external disruptions identified are realistic. You will also need to consult the stakeholders who will ultimately approve and use the internal solutions defined. In order to do that, follow these steps:

Identify the key hypotheses: These are the ones that are critical for the success of your ExO Core Initiative. Most will concern whether or not the external disruption identified is a real threat or opportunity. The key hypotheses for ExO Core Initiatives, however, are usually those related to internal reactions. Ensure that they are both accepted within the organization and technically feasible.
Design an experiment to evaluate the hypotheses: Conduct further research on external disruption hypotheses to determine whether they are valid and consult with key people. For internal disruption hypotheses, interview internal stakeholders and/or users of the project under consideration. You may also need to talk to technology providers and experts about the feasibility of the solution.

TASK 2 Run experiments to evaluate your ExO initiatives

DESCRIPTION

The next step is to run the experiments you have defined. In addition to conducting further research on external disruptions, you'll also interview users/potential clients (to evaluate disruptions/reactions) and/or tech people (to evaluate product feasibility). Reach out now to arrange calls and meetings. Your goal with these interviews is to gather actual data.

After running the experiments, it's important to spend sufficient time analyzing the results. You will evaluate all hypotheses, improve the ExO initiatives based on what you've learned, and make a final evaluation of the improved ExO initiatives.

The Build-Measure-Learn loop provides a set of useful guidelines for running ongoing experiments and will help you learn as much as possible (your primary goal at this juncture).

TEMPLATE for delivery

Define and run experiments

	BUILD		MEASURE		LEARN
ExO Initiative Name	Key Hypotheses	Experiment Description	Evaluation Criteria	Experiment Results	Key Learnings
Smart Eco	Eco travelers desire increased efficiency and personalization.	Interview 10 eco travelers using the Customer Development interview template.	At least 60% of potential clients should validate hypothesis.	90% of potential clients validated hypothesis.	Hypothesis Validated Clients would like to personalize room features (e.g., room temperature, specific requests).
Smart Eco	Eco travelers like the idea of robots supplementing human staff.	Interview 10 eco travelers using the Customer Development interview template.	At least 60% of potential clients should validate hypothesis.	Only 20% of potential clients validated hypothesis.	Hypothesis Invalidated Eco travelers like the idea of robots but only for specific services.

Suggestions for the week…

The perfect flow for this week:

Interviews are always preferable to surveys since they provide greater insight, especially when you ask open-ended questions. If, however, you need to evaluate multiple ideas, surveys are more efficient.

The idea is to run experiments for all external disruption/internal reaction pairs defined. If you have one or two disruption/reaction pairs per team member, we recommend assigning one or two initiatives per team member to run experiments. If you have more than two initiatives per team member, consider running a much bigger but more superficial experiment by sending surveys to potential clients instead of conducting direct interviews.

To evaluate different types of hypotheses, reach out to external advisors who are specialists in your industry or in a specific technology or methodology.

Different ExO Core Initiatives may share the same group of people to be interviewed. In that case, ask the group about the different ExO Core Initiatives at the same time.

Remember that getting out and talking to customers and colleagues is the only way to turn your hypotheses into facts.

WHY THIS WEEK?

It's time to select your top ExO Core Initiatives and take them to the next level.

Next week you will present your ExO initiatives at the Disruption Session and receive feedback that will help you improve your projects.

This week's assignment is to work on the presentations for the upcoming Disruption Session, which entails a five-minute pitch for each of four initiatives. You will present your project to the company's leadership team, the other members of the ExO Sprint, and a select panel of ExO Disruptors.

TASK 1 Select the four most promising ideas

TASK 2 Design the ExO Canvas

TASK 3 Create an extended elevator pitch for each ExO Core Initiative

DESCRIPTION

Create a five-minute pitch and supporting presentation for each of the ExO initiatives to be presented.

At this stage of the process (idea-stage ExO initiatives), we recommend composing an elevator pitch—a summary of each idea that could conceivably be delivered during a standard elevator ride. An elevator pitch is usually delivered in 60 to 90 seconds, but in this case, you're going to a write a five-minute version.

The elevator pitch should include the following items:

MTP

Explain why your organization exists, demonstrating how the specific ExO Core Initiative will help it achieve the MTP.

External Disruption

Describe the external disruption that triggered the ExO Core Initiative.

Internal Reaction

Present the internal reaction, focusing on how you will address the external disruption, the value it will provide, and how it will make the organization more adaptable and even scalable.

ExO Attributes

Discuss the ExO attributes you will use the most, identifying those that will help the organization reach abundance and those that will help manage that abundance.

TASK 4 Create a presentation to support the pitch

TASK 5 Practice your pitch!

TEMPLATE

ExO Canvas for Smart Eco

PRESENTATION

Your template should include the following slides or sections:

MTP

It's imperative that you begin the presentation with the MTP/TP.

Note that all ExO Core Initiatives will share the same MTP.

In general, use just one slide to introduce the MTP.

Disruption/Reaction

Discuss the external disruption, which is the main driver of the ExO Core Initiative.

Once the nature of the disruption is clear, introduce the internal reaction that will either prevent the fallout from the disruption or leverage the opportunities it can bring.

ExO Attributes

Show how you will reach abundance (using the SCALE attributes) and how you will manage that abundance (using the IDEAS attributes).

You may want to Include the ExO Canvas and explain how each of the key ExO attributes applies to the ExO Core Initiative.

WHY THIS WEEK?

It's time to disrupt your company before someone else beats you to it!

This week's assignment provides an opportunity to present your most promising ExO initiatives to a group of disruptors, who will then provide feedback on how to improve them.

Remember: Failure is part of the process. If some ExO initiatives are rejected post-presentation, don't take it personally. It's better to fail fast and cheap now than to fail later after having invested a lot of time and money.

Based on the feedback you receive, you may end up killing some of your ExO Core Initiatives. On the flipside, you may create new ones that will complement your portfolio. Always keep your eyes and ears open for new opportunities!

TASK 1 Prepare the scenario and logistics

TASK 2 Present!

TASK 3 Gather feedback

TASK 4 Debrief with the leadership team

TASK 5 Narrow the number of initiatives down to three

TASK 6 Improve the selected initiatives based on the feedback received

PRESENTATIONS AGENDA

Feedback Form
	General Feedback	Alignment with Leadership Objectives?
Smart Hotel	Leadership team liked this business objective!	Yes
MTP	Leadership team chose this MTP for the organization.
External Disruption	Leadership team and ExO Disruptors agree that the concept will be disruptive to the industry.
Internal Reaction	ExO Disruptors suggested improvements to the business model (e.g., storing customer data as a resource).
ExO Attributes	ExO Disruptors suggested improvements to the ExO attributes (e.g., build a smartphone app featuring an intelligent assistant to complement personalization services and robot assistance).

(Initiative Name Here)
MTP
External Disruption
Internal Reaction
ExO Attributes

ExO Edge Initiatives that Led to New ExO Core Initiatives	AirEco will increase competition in the marketplace as a result of decreased staffing needs and margins. An internal reaction to this ExO Edge Initiative could be to launch an ExO Core Initiative to provide hotel staff services to AirEco. This would allow AirEco to offer guest services using professional hotel staff. It also creates an opportunity for the existing organization.

Other Feedback (General, Other Projects, etc.)

Final MTP/TP for the Organization	Personalized eco experiences for everyone.

Suggestions for the week…

FINAL TIPS

The perfect flow for this week:

The right ExO Core Initiative(s) should be:

Adaptable

You are applying the ExO framework to make your existing organization more adaptable to external industry disruption; all initiatives should aim for this objective.

Scalable

Since you will define a Massive Transformative Purpose (or at least a Transformative Purpose), you may need to increase the existing organization's reach. If so, evaluate whether the ExO Core Initiatives will help scale the impact.

Designate one team member in charge of writing down all feedback. It can be a different team member for each initiative. Just make sure all feedback is captured.

After the presentations, discuss your initiatives with the attendees (the management team, members of other ExO Sprint teams, and the ExO Disruptors) and request additional feedback.

As always, remember that failure is a part of the process, so try not to get upset about any negative feedback you receive. It's better to know sooner rather than later that you may need to change, hold off on, or even kill one or more of your initiatives.

If some (or even all) of your ExO initiatives are rejected following the Disruption Session, don't take it personally! This is just part of the process.

We have worked with teams whose ExO initiatives were all killed off during the Disruption Session but by the end of the ExO Sprint their new or improved initiatives were the most highly rated. Consider this session a learning exercise and an opportunity to improve your initiatives and process.

WHY THIS WEEK?

It's time to take your ExO initiatives to the next level!

This week's assignment is to formally define the assumptions underlying your ideas and prepare to test them further.

Start by defining your ExO Core Initiative in greater detail so that you can identify the key hypotheses to test.

Next on the agenda is to begin building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that facilitates learning more about your ExO Core Initiative and how to improve it.

Are you worried you won't be able to accomplish all this in only one week? You can!

TASK 1 Further define your ExO Core Initiatives

DESCRIPTION

During the previous weeks, you have identified external disruptions and defined internal reactions that will help adapt your organization to the external environment. You should also have defined which ExO attributes to implement.

It's now time to think more deeply about the implementation details of the ExO Core Initiatives in order to identify key hypotheses and test them as soon as possible.

Since you may have different types of ExO Core Initiatives (internal projects designed to increase the flexibility or efficiency of the organization, new products or services, etc.), each will need to be further defined. Regardless of how you define your initiatives, be sure to address the following issues:

USERS/CLIENTS

Who will use or buy the solution you are defining? What are their pain points and needs? What value will your solution deliver?

STAKEHOLDERS

Who within the organization will approve and fund your ExO initiative? What is the value it offers stakeholders?

SOLUTION

What will your ExO Core Initiative look like once completed? What will be the user's experience of it? What will you need to implement it?

ECONOMICS

What will it cost to implement the initiative? How will your organization benefit? What is the return on investment?

TASK 2 Frame your ExO Core Initiatives within your organization's business model

TASK 3 Identify the key hypotheses you want to evaluate with your MVP

DESCRIPTION

Eric Ries, who launched the Lean Startup movement, defines an MVP as “a version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.” In terms of an ExO project, the idea is to use the MVP concept to build something that will help you learn about your initiatives. Before designing and building your MVP, however, consider the outcome—i.e., think about what you want to learn as a result of building and testing it.

The next step is to identify the key hypotheses to evaluate—those that are critical for the success of your ExO Core Initiatives. At this stage, most of the hypotheses will be found in the ExO Canvas, the Business Model Canvas, and based on what you learned from further defining your ExO Core Initiatives (the previous task):

ExO Attributes: whether the different ExO attributes you have defined are the right ones, or even if it's realistic to implement them.
Value Proposition: whether your clients, users, and stakeholders like your value proposition.
Feasibility of project implementation: whether your implementation will actually work in the way you think it will, especially if it's based on new technologies.
Investment: whether it will prove a worthwhile investment.

TASK 4 Define your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

DESCRIPTION

You don't need to implement your ExO Core Initiative to start testing and learning about it. There is no need to waste time and money building something that no one might want to use or pay for. Instead, experiment with an MVP.

Before developing that MVP, determine the minimum set of features it should have at the outset. To do so, follow these steps (note that some will have already been addressed in previous tasks):

Define the user flow and processes of your ExO Core Initiative according to the external disruption detected and the internal reaction defined.
List all necessary features that your ExO Core Initiative must have to react to the external disruption.
Weigh each feature using the ICE approach. ICE is an acronym for the three primary factors to consider when setting priorities: Impact (in terms of value for the user), Cost (in terms of money), and Effort (in terms of time). Award each factor a value between 0 and 2, with 2 representing the highest value (greatest impact, lowest cost, and least effort), and 0 the lowest value (least impact, highest cost, and greatest effort).
Prioritize the features according to their total ICE value. The features with the highest ICE scores should be included at the top of your MVP list.
Analyze the results and define how the first version of the MVP might look according to:
- The key hypotheses you need to evaluate. Remember that the primary goal of this MVP is to learn, so take these hypotheses into account before defining your next experiment, which is to build your MVP.
- ICE prioritization of features. For this first version of the MVP, you will likely need to add or delete features. Some may be required for technical reasons while others could take too long to develop and thus should be removed for now.

TASK 5 Build your MVP!

Landing Page

Develop a landing page that shows and describes your MVP. (This applies mainly to Blue Core Initiatives and other initiatives based on launching a new product or service, where the goal is to evaluate a value proposition with potential clients.) You can also describe the complete version of the product or service, although we recommend focusing the landing page on the key features of the MVP. In addition to describing your product or service (either the MVP or a complete version), encourage clients to pre-order. Another option is to run an A/B test, which consists of building two different versions of the landing page—each with a different value proposition—and see which visitors prefer.

Working prototype

Build a prototype that includes only the key features you want to learn more about. This is actually the real MVP, and in many cases it's possible to build it in just a few days. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect; it just needs to be something that will help you learn over a several-day period.

TEMPLATE for delivery

Business Model Canvas for Eco Places (Parent Organization)

ExO Canvas for Smart Eco

Template to identify and evaluate key hypotheses

		BUILD		MEASURE	LEARN
ExO Initiative Name	Key Hypotheses	Experiment Description	Evaluation Criteria	Experiment Results	Key Learnings
Smart Eco	Customers are willing to book a room in a hotel with AI-based personalization services, assistants, and robots.	A/B testing with two landing pages (one with current offering and another with Smart Eco initiative) to determine which receives more bookings.	At least 60% of visitors prefer the AI-based approach.
	Building AI-based services, assistants, and robots is feasible.	Talk to AI companies to evaluate whether it's possible to build AI-based personalization services.	Find AI providers able to build AI-based personalization services.
	AI-based services provide value.	Build a prototype to test hypothesis.	More than 60% of customers should be happy with the experience.

Designing the MVP

FEATURE	IMPACT (VALUE)	COST (MONEY)	EFFORT (TIME)	PRIORITY
Landing page	1	2	2	5
First prototype of AI-based personalization service for controlling room temperature	1	1	1	3
First prototype of AI-based assistant	2	0	0	2
First prototype of AI-based robot	2	0	0	2
Simulation of AI-based assistant backed by a human	2	2	1	5

Conclusions about the MVP

After analyzing the different features and options, we decided to design a simple online landing page offering two versions of the MVP. Next up: Conduct A/B testing to determine whether customers preferred our value proposition over the existing one.

In the end, we opted to build a simulation of the AI-based assistant that features a smartphone-based app with a simple, human-backed interface. The goal: to ascertain what kinds of interactions customers like best and embed those interactions within the final, automated version of the app.

Suggestions for the week…

The perfect flow for this week:

Build something that you can use to test your value proposition with users.

For online channels such as landing pages, don't forget to implement some mechanism to gather feedback (e.g., contact forms) and data (e.g., stats engine).

Keep in mind that next week you will use whatever you build now to reach potential users, clients, and stakeholders and learn from them.

You will develop your MVP further next week, but it's important to get an initial version up and running now. If you want to produce an actual prototype but need two weeks to develop it, we recommend developing another kind of MVP in the interim, such as a presentation. You can at least gather data while getting the prototype ready for the experiments you'll be conducting in two weeks.

WHY THIS WEEK?

It's time for the truth!

Over the past week, you have been building initial versions of your MVPs, which will allow you to learn more about and improve your ExO Core Initiatives.

This week's assignment provides experience exercising the Experimentation attribute at a deeper level. The goal is to test your MVPs so that you can determine if your value proposition is the right one.

Using Experimentation to build and test your MVP enables you to evaluate the key hypotheses to determine whether the ExO Core Initiative you are developing will help adapt your organization to external disruption.

If any of your ExO Core Initiatives entail developing a new product or service, you may be able to attract clients. Getting your first client is one of the most exciting milestones for any new organization, so let's do it!

TASK 1 Find your Early Adopters!

DESCRIPTION

An early adopter is an individual or business that uses a new product or technology before others, shares your vision, and is willing to try your MVP even though it may not yet have been perfected. Your job here is to define how to find early adopters and get their buy-in for your ExO Core Initiatives.

The technique used to find early adopters depends on the type of ExO Core Initiative and MVP you have developed:

For Blue Core Initiatives (new product or service):

If you created a landing page MVP, focus on online channels in one of three ways:

Create online ads (e.g., using Google AdWords) and link them to your promotional sites.
Promote the website with online communities populated by potential early adopters.
Email the page links to potential early adopters you've identified.

If you've created a sales presentation, a set of wireframes, a video, or a real prototype, focus on offline channels to reach early adopters:

Promote your MVP to those people or organizations interviewed when you first tested the problem/solution hypotheses.
Generate a new list of potential early adopters.
Generate a list of communities that might be populated by MVP early adopters.

For Pure Core Initiatives and Edge Core Initiatives:

Regardless of the type of MVP, you need to identify a variety of early adopters:

Stakeholders

Decision-makers within your organization who will approve and fund your ExO Core Initiative

Internal users

Employees who will use and benefit from your ExO Core Initiative

External clients/users

Potential clients who will use and benefit from your ExO Core Initiative

TIP

When it comes to ExO Core Initiatives, there are two groups of early adopters:

External Clients

(Your ExO Core Initiative improves an existing product or service; alternatively, your initiative entails creating a new product or service)

Share the vision you have about the future

Have the problem you defined some weeks ago

Are trying to solve this problem in some way, although not yet successfully

Are paying to solve the problem

Are honest and will provide valuable feedback

Internal Supporters

(Your ExO Core Initiative improves an existing organization and you have internal approval and/or usage)

Acknowledge the external disruption you are trying to manage

May already be reacting to this external disruption in some way, although not yet successfully

May be investing (or willing to invest) resources to manage this external disruption

Are honest enough to provide valuable feedback

TASK 2 Measure results and learn

TEMPLATE for delivery

Template to identify and evaluate key hypotheses

		BUILD		MEASURE	LEARN
ExO Initiative Name	Key Hypotheses	Experiment Description	Evaluation Criteria	Experiment Result	Key Learnings
Smart Eco	Customers are willing to book a room in a hotel with AI-based personalization services, assistants, and robots.	A/B testing with two landing pages (one with current offering and another with the Smart Eco initiative) to determine which receives more bookings.	At least 60% of visitors prefer AI-based approach.	Landing page featuring the AI-based approach resulted in 50% more sign-ups.	Hypothesis Validated
	Building AI-based services, assistants and robots is feasible.	Talk to AI companies to evaluate whether it's possible to build AI-based personalization services.	Find AI providers able to build AI-based personalization services.	Unable to find an AI provider to meet all our requirements. Most requirements, however, can be met with some restrictions. For example, due to technical limitations, AI providers recommend limiting use of robots to room delivery for now. They also note that technical capabilities will significantly improve over the next couple of years.	Hypothesis Partially Validated We learned that we can't develop everything we want, but if we limit robot functionality to room delivery for now, we can launch a first version that can be improved over the next couple of years.
	AI-based services provide value.	Build a prototype to test hypothesis.	More than 60% of customers will be happy with their AI experience.	As many as 80% of customers love AI-based personalization services.	Hypothesis Validated We found that customers most frequently request that meals be delivered to their rooms. They love that the intelligent assistant remembers their preferences, especially when they arrive at a new hotel within the chain.

WHY THIS WEEK?

Last week you should have learned a great deal about your ExO Core Initiatives as a result of testing your MVPs. This week, you will continue to develop your MVPs by running experiments.

At some point during the week, when you have enough data, it will be time to face reality and make the necessary changes to your ExO Core Initiatives to maximize your opportunities for success.

Refine your ExO Core Initiatives!

TASK 1 Further develop your ExO Core Initiatives

TASK 2 Improve and proceed!

DESCRIPTION

Once you have gathered enough information (or don't have any more time to run additional experiments or further develop MVPs), it's decision time.

Based on what you've learned, here are the next steps for your ExO Core Initiatives:

For Pure Core Initiatives and Edge Core Initiatives

Update the previous elements defined—the ExO Canvas, the MVP's requirements, and any other element or canvas used—and look for ways to further improve the ExO initiative so that it best fits the needs of users and stakeholders.

For Blue Core Initiatives

Update the previous elements defined—ExO Canvas, Blue Ocean Strategy Canvas, the MPV's requirements, and any other element or canvas used—and look for ways to further improve the product or service in a way that fits the needs of customers. You should also finesse the pricing model to maximize the likelihood that customers will be willing to pay for that product or service.

TEMPLATE for delivery

ExO Canvas for Smart Eco

Business Model Canvas for Eco Places (Parent Organization)

Suggestions for the week…

The perfect flow for this week:

Making changes to your ExO initiatives may prove challenging (it's not easy letting go of ideas you're attached to), but don't respond by initiating the corporate immune system! Instead, build the best ExO initiative possible.

Keep all decisions data-based. Staying neutral often requires setting your ego aside and releasing any attachment to favored ideas or proposals.

In order to evaluate different types of hypotheses, you may need to reach out to external advisors who are specialists in your industry or in a specific technology or methodology.

Remember that within the ExO Sprint process everyone is equal and there is no room for corporate hierarchy. In short, decisions should never be based on corporate seniority.

WHY THIS WEEK?

Time to prepare for the final presentation!

Next week you will present your best ideas to the leadership team. The goal is to elicit additional feedback and, most important, secure the funding needed to further develop the chosen ExO Core Initiatives.

This week is dedicated to creating a comprehensive presentation to showcase the awesome work you've done throughout the ExO Sprint.

TASK 1 Narrow the number of initiatives down to two

TASK 2 Extend your ExO Core Initiatives with key milestones and a budget

TASK 3 Build a final presentation for the ExO Core Initiatives

PRESENTATION

Each presentation should include the following slides/sections:

MTP

In order to frame the ExO Core Initiative, it's imperative to begin each presentation with an MTP.

In general, use just one slide to introduce the MTP.

Disruption/Reaction

It's also important to explain the external disruption, which is the main driver of the ExO Core Initiative. If the disruption comes from an ExO Edge Initiative, don't forget to mention that.

Once the external disruption is made clear, introduce the internal reaction that will either enable you to avoid the threat coming from external disruption or leverage the opportunities that threat can bring.

Case Study

When communicating new ideas, it's helpful to use storytelling techniques.

One option is to invent a story and illustrate it with pictures and diagrams that explain the problem and how your solution solves it.

We recommend using case studies if you are presenting six or fewer initiatives. Count on five minutes to present each initiative.

Business Model

It's a good idea to show how your ExO Core Initiative fits within your organization's current business model.

You'll want to illustrate how you are improving and adapting your business model to external industry disruption (as opposed to changing it).

ExO Attributes

Since you are both adapting the organization to external industry disruption and connecting it to external abundance, it is important to illustrate how you plan to reach that abundance (using the SCALE attributes) and how you will manage it (using the IDEAS attributes).

Present the ExO Canvas and explain how the ExO attributes apply to the ExO Core Initiative.

Key Milestones

Outline important milestones for the next few months.

You'll also need to describe long-term milestones, applying exponential thinking and summarizing how you plan to achieve your MTP.

Budget

Estimate the budget needed to achieve short-term milestones.

WHY THIS WEEK?

The big day is here!

This week you will present your ExO Core Initiatives to the company's leadership team and selected advisors, who will then make a final decision about which initiatives to fund and further develop.

The selection process is not the end—far from it, in fact. The development of your ExO Core Initiatives marks the beginning of your organization's transformation process!

TASK 1 Prepare the setting and logistics

TASK 2 Presentations and discussion

TASK 3 Final evaluation

TASK 4 Announcements

PRESENTATIONS AGENDA

Final day presentations agenda template

TEMPLATE for delivery

ExO Edge Initiative	Is Initiative Aligned With ExO Sprint Scope?	Does Initiative Adapt Existing Organization to Industry Disruption?	Does Initiative Make Existing Organization More Scalable?	Is Initiative Viable?	Selected?	Funding Allocated
Smart Eco	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	$150K

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Table of Contents for Execution Core Stream

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WHY THIS WEEK?

TASK 1 Learn about exponential technologies

TASK 2 Learn about new business models that can disrupt your industry

TASK 3 Find out about new changes in the context of your organization

TASK 4 Describe your current organization's business model

TEMPLATE for delivery

TEMPLATE for delivery (populated with sample entries for the Eco Places example)

TEMPLATE for delivery

TEMPLATE

Business Model Canvas for Eco Places (Parent Organization)

WHY THIS WEEK?

TASK 1 Define a (Massive) Transformative Purpose for the organization

TASK 2 Define multiple External Disruption/Internal Reaction pairs for your MTP

TEMPLATE for delivery

WHY THIS WEEK?

TASK 1 Define key hypotheses and run experiments

TASK 2 Run experiments to evaluate your ExO initiatives

TEMPLATE for delivery

WHY THIS WEEK?

TASK 1 Select the four most promising ideas

TASK 2 Design the ExO Canvas

TASK 3 Create an extended elevator pitch for each ExO Core Initiative

TASK 4 Create a presentation to support the pitch

TASK 5 Practice your pitch!

TEMPLATE

PRESENTATION

MTP

Disruption/Reaction

ExO Attributes

WHY THIS WEEK?

Table of Contents for
Execution Core Stream