The loop approach as described in our booklet, Agile Inception, is made up of collaborative workshops.
To help you get going, we release a series of workshop facilitation guides. Our very first guide is aimed to give your business model ability a kickstart: http://www.slideshare.net/hakankleijn/business-model-generation-facilitation-guide-ver-10
Keep yourself posted, there is much more to come.
The first agile principle is to make/keep the customer happy. Agile methods deliver a bespoke product/service based on repeated customer feedback. They are in fact different applications of the classical demingcycle, Plan-Do-Check-Act.
Scrum in combination with our personal favorite Extreme Programming help us to deliver a product/service in accordance with customer needs, while Lean Startup in combination with Business Model Generation, is one step ahead, and help us to identify the customer/customer need, the value proposition and to create a validated/functioning business model.
Like its agile cousins, Business Model Generation works at its best when a cross-functional team populates the canvas on a white board, flip chart or similar. As the business model grows ahead visually, it become obvious how its different parts depend on each other. Even a brilliant idea needs a smart payment solution, effective sales channels and an appropriate price, to attract today’s “spoiled” customers.
Any assumptions/guesses in the business model must be validated with customer tests, i.e., a hypothesis, a test case, a metric and an acceptance criteria. Sometimes you also need a prototype in order to be able to perform the validation. This variant of acceptance test driven development is implemented in cycles, until all assumptions are validated, and hence the whole business model can be considered validated. A failed test lead to abandonment unless, of course, it is possible to change/improve the business model.
The business model canvas brings agility into business planning. It have never been easier (or more fun) to judge between death or glory.
Cheers,
Bea Düring & Håkan Kleijn, Softhouse Consulting
