Raman was collecting ideas to create a new product line. Somehow after months of research, he felt stuck and wanted to start with the production of his new product line. Deep down he had a feeling that there was too much at stake whether it was time, money, or resources. He was having second thoughts about all that.
One day, he was sitting with one of his good friends, and he started discussing his recent challenges. His friend, Ajay, was impressed with all the efforts he put to get the ball rolling. The idea, the strategy, and the concept seemed perfect, however, he asked, “Raman, I am sure you must have checked the feasibility, desirability, and viability of the product line before strategizing product development.”
As rushing into launching a product without careful planning and consideration could be a misspend of the critical resources if the idea fails. It will be easier to identify the success rate of the model by testing your idea. Jumping from an idea to implementation without first conducting any testing may overlook a crucial stage that might help you improve your strategy and make better decisions. Raman re-evaluated his strategy and conducted several tests before sailing the actual ship.
According to Jennifer Riel, Global Director of Strategy at IDEO, while many people associate strategy work with being highly analytical and quantitative, that is only a fraction of the narrative. Understanding the world as it is and imagining possibilities for how we want it to be are creative acts, she says, and “designing the strategy tests that you could run can be extremely fun and extremely playful, and, in many ways, the most innovative part elucidating the journey.”
What Is The Need To Test The Strategy?
The series of decisions you make to get from where you are to where you want to constitute your strategy. When developing a plan for your company, start by coming up with a list of scenarios that could materialize your ideal future state, such as expanding into a new market or introducing a new product. Many people stop there and simply select one of their options. But instead of depending on emotion or discussion to choose between options, tests allow you to acquire information to support a more deliberate, fact-based choice.
Right Decisions
When you ask the right question, it can certainly help you decide on the tests to continue the process. Questions like, “What would have to be true to bring out an effective strategy?” will help you tread the right answers. For instance, it might be necessary for the prospect of expanding to a new region to be true that the area is economically desirable, that clients there will be eager to purchase your products, and that you can find the talent you require in the area. You’ll be certain that you can get beyond some barriers and less certain about others. Before choosing the ones you are less certain about, you will need a little more information. It makes sense to introduce testing there.
Proper Feedbacks
Similar to prototyping, testing a strategic option generates a tonne of feedback that can be used to hone and strengthen the strategy going ahead. It aids in avoiding making premature commitments to a strategy, but it cannot eliminate all risks. The strategy tests are the portals to gauge your confidence level in a theory. As only testing is not enough to provide certainty. If you have to be sure about a strategy, then you have to implement it.
Example
Uber developed a ride-hailing strategy including components like the ecosystem of passengers and drivers, the app, its transparency, all the operational back-end technologies, and the human systems that foster platform trust. For Uber’s launch strategy to be successful, several things had to be true. The ability of its engineers to create a reliable platform, the ability of Uber to draw in a driver pool, the willingness of consumers to ride in a stranger’s car, and other factors would all have to be true.
Creating a good, workable, and profitable product or service is the aim of business development. The business was already confident in its capacity to develop the technical platform (the viability of its service), however, users’ willingness to download the app and share a trip with a stranger (the desirability of the service) was considerably low. “If it’s not desirable, technical viability merely matters,” and user behavior would be a great place to start some early testing.
Types Of Strategy Tests
A strategy test is a process that goes through different designs, strategies, and configurations using structures test-and-learn approach. It gives birth to revolutionary ideas often resulting in innovation. However, the goal of the tests depends on the type of test included in the process. In each test, data analysis takes place that is further used in decision making.
Guerilla Test
Guerrilla testing is a technique for getting user input that involves taking a design or prototype into the open and asking people what they think. It is an effective tool for evaluating new ideas because it is straightforward and allows quick and inexpensive experimentation. It’s also an excellent technique to conduct impromptu user research.
Indicative Test
It often requires time and money investment that is based on different hypothesis testing. One uses two configurations of a certain set-up to compare the before and after the status of testing. The other hypothesis develops a prototype of the product or service being tested. It also includes the step where input from the potential customer helps in the early phases of the design.
High Fidelity Test
A high-fidelity test resembles the final product more in appearance and functionality. In contrast to, say, a wooden block, a 3D plastic model with movable elements that enable users to manipulate and interact with a gadget in the same way as the final design is high-fidelity. It usually requires considerable time, money, effort, and a complete team of design thinkers.
It takes innovation and creativity to create tests that are tailored to your specific requirements. When developing a plan, there is no one-size-fits-all approach or one thing that everyone should test. Testing can be an excellent time to take a break from email, interact with clients, and work directly with prototypes. To come up with ideas for each of the three test types—guerilla, indicative, and high-fidelity—invite your team in for a brainstorming session.
How Does A Design Thinker Choose The Right Test Type?
Consider the Chief Learning Officer of a major financial services organization. They collaborated with a Design Thinking Practitioner to create a plan for a corporate learning initiative, including several tactical tests along the way. The officer expected that a substantial digital training platform for staff members would need to be developed.
Challenge
Their first inclination was to start programming that platform right away. The employees’ desire for an online learning platform, their ability to build the technical platform, and whether it was possible to organize the information in an easily understandable way were the barriers to success they identified.
Action
Employees discussed their positive and negative learning experiences through empathy interviews, which would serve as a guerrilla test to ascertain people’s true wants and behaviors around learning. Getting quotations from suppliers to estimate the cost of developing the platform or speaking with other chief learning officers to discover how they overcame similar problems could serve as an indicative test. A manually supported platform prototype might be presented in front of a small group of employees as part of a high-fidelity test to evaluate how people interact with it and what options they choose.
Result
The business used a number of these tests and discovered that there was a wider range of employee learning demands than they had initially thought. Additionally, having access to every accessible learning resource in one app would have been too overwhelming for users. They preferred to have access to only the resources that were pertinent to their particular requirements.
By forgoing a losing strategy, the Chief Learning Officer and the Design Thinking Practitioner ultimately saved time and money. The study’s results were used to modify their yearly employee performance review procedure to include more inquiries about learning and career development demands. They were then able to create personalized learning recommendations for each employee in the organization.
Conclusion
The goal is to produce quick, inexpensive, and light tests that assist you in understanding and improving your concepts. Think of testing as a chance to change up your routines as well. Try in-market observation if you typically perform conjoint analysis or vice versa.
You have to work together as a team to see the strategy be successful. It is far more likely that they will comprehend the options and be enthusiastic about them if you involve your organization in the testing process and involve them in the discussion of what would have to be true and how you could test.
https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/build-confidence-in-your-strategy-with-small-tests
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6540-how-to-test-your-business-idea.html
https://www.userzoom.com/blog/what-is-guerrilla-testing-and-how-do-you-use-it/
https://www.toolshero.com/decision-making/business-experiments/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/marketing-strategy-6229/
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https://www.gcreddy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/test-strategy-1.jpg
Written By: Jimmy Jain
Edited By: Afreen Fatima
Society of Design Thinking Professionals
