Jeff Grogg

Focus on specific consumers with specific needs. Trying to meet a broad need of "on the go snacking" is not as specific as "the consumer needs a snack to substitute for breakfast while driving or riding to work, with no prep, no mess, and wants to feel they are eating something good for themselves to start the day". That should still be refined further (male, female, age, activity level, other health considerations, etc) but defining "The User" clearly is a big step in allowing the team to really test the ideas against that user's problems.

Many times a patent driven culture takes the focus off of business results and creates patents that are unnecessary, weak, or just a waste of time vs delivering business results. Leadership needs to ensure alignment of their "patent culture" with clearly stated business goals or they will create a lot of expense and burden with no results.

Often the issue can be traced to different perspectives and goals, especially in corporate culture. Gaining alignment on the key project goals is worth revisiting, but also asking others about what their boss or departmental needs and demands are can sometimes bring very solvable issues to the forefront.

Explaining the benefits to the company isn't as important as the benefits to the employee! Successful implementation of LEAN or any other improvement should have components of making their job easier, safer, less demand for OT, and more opportunity for advancement, pay rise, or bonus. Telling them how the company and management benefits without bringing them benefits is not very useful.

The question should always be "how do we get to a SUCCESSFUL launch" vs just how to launch. Holding tight to that can enable better asking of questions and challenging norms, both in timeline and in what might be critical if you are launching an MVP vs fully formed product. I the food industry, the product better taste good right away. Maybe you can work on cost or nutrition tweaks later, but if people don't like it your MVP launch is just hastening doom.

Deciding on your core target in a very clear way is critical but often watered down to some generic demographic like Female, 25-39, health-seeking. That doesn't help design a spot-on product. But if you know your target it Danielle, 28 yrs old, MBA, married, has a 4 yr old daughter and no plans for more kids, loves Lululemon and hates Starbucks, works out but prefers actual outdoor activities, etc. now you can truly get into a tailored lifestyle solution where your product can solve a problem for Danielle. Then because it's such a tight fit, you can rely on Danielle to evangelize, and you can also craft your messaging and delivery very sharply. "Target narrow to catch wide" as a CEO friend of mine used to say!