The 20-Minute Innovator

Every one of these items will make you more fluent in today’s product design best practices. The links in the ‘How?’ section of each item will open a new tab where you’ll work toward completion of the objective.

This format’s purpose is to help you develop your practical intuition about these techniques with a minimum of time, seeing how they might be relevant for you in as little time as possible. I recommend moving through as many as possible once (as opposed to creating a lot of personas and then moving to the next item)

Can you really do these things in 20 minutes? Yes. Students regularly do it in half that time during my workshops and I’ve validated these items with new users online. The output will be rough but plenty functional.

Learning these items for yourself is the first step. Embedding them in the way your organization does things is the second. If you’re looking for something more structured and sequential, try the Venture Design page or Startup Sprints program.

Every one of these items will make you more fluent in today’s product design best practices. The links in the ‘How?’ section of each item will open a new tab where you’ll work toward completion of the objective.

# What? Why? How?
1 Personify your customer So you can base your actions, decisions, and discussions on a specific, customer-centric, testable format.
  1. Read the personas tutorial (5 min.)
  2. Check out the persona examples within that tutorial (3 min.)
  3. Copy the persona template (or the whole Venture Design template) to MS Word or a Google Doc (2 min.)
  4. Describe the persona, using the template (5 min.)5. Do ‘Think-See-Feel-Do’ for the persona using the template above (5 min.)
2 Describe customer problem scenarios and alternatives; then tie those to your value proposition So you can make sure you’re building and describing your product(s) in a way that delivers on things that matter
  1. Complete #1
  2. Re-read the section of the personas tutorial on ‘problem scenarios’ if you need a refresh (4 min.)
  3. Check out an example- like Helen (3 min.)
  4. Make sure you have the template on hand from the item #1
  5. Describe problem scenarios (5 min.)
  6. Describe alternatives for the above (4 min.)
  7. Describe your value propositions for the above problem scenario & alternative pairs (4 min.)
3 Illustrate the relationship between your personas and your value propositions with the Business Model Canvas So you can talk about what’s fundamentally driving the business in clear, simple terms
  1. Finish #1, #2
  2. Read the business model canvas tutorial, just the Intro. and Steps 1, 2 (4 min.)
  3. Print out the canvas (2 min.)
  4. List your personas in ranked order in the Segments box (see tutorial) (4 min.)
  5. List your value propositions in ranked order in the Value Propositions box (4 min.)
  6. Draw lines between the personas and the propositions that are relevant to them (6 min.)
4 Identify and prioritize your key assumptions (ala Lean Startup) So you understand what stands between an interesting idea and a thriving new business
  1. Read the Lean Startup tutorial (5 min.)
  2. Check out the examples of pivotal venture assumptions (3 min.)
  3. Copy the Lean assumption template (or the whole Venture Design template) to MS Word or a Google Doc (2 min.)
  4. Describe your assumptions, using the template (8 min.)
  5. Prioritize your assumptions- which are truly pivotal? (2 min)
5 Design experiments to prove or disprove your assumptions So you make sure that the things you do everyday actually help determine whether you’re innovating toward a great business or something that no one wants.
  1. Complete #4
  2. Re-read the Lean Startup tutorial  as needed (5 min.)
  3. Check out the example assumptions and experiments (3 min.)
  4. Describe your experiments, using the template (12 min.)
6 Illustrate the rest of the venture/project with the Business Model Canvas So you’re looking at the validity of the whole business coherently (without writing a 50+ page plan that no one will read)
  1. Complete #1, #2, #3
  2. Make sure you have the canvas you created in #3
  3. Using the Business Model Canvas tutorial, complete the remaining items, spending no more than 2-3 min. on each of the eight items
7 Storyboard a customer problem scenario with and without your product’s value proposition So you have a vivid, testable, complete view of how you think your product matters
  1. Complete #1, #2
  2. Pick a problem scenario you want to storyboard (1 min.)
  3. Read the tutorial and examples (5 min.)
  4. Print out and prep. the storyboarding squares (3 min.)
  5. Create the ‘before’/without storyboard where your customer uses their primary alternative to solve their problems (6 min.)
  6. Create the ‘after’/with storyboard where your customer’s life is improved by using your product and the value it delivers (5 min.)
8 Storyboard a customer journey using AIDAOR- attention, interest, desire, action, onboarding, retention So you have a vivid, testable, complete view of the customer journey, helping you focus promotion, onboarding and metrics
  1. Complete #1, #2
  2. If you have multiple personas, pick one to use, probably your top ranked (1 min.)
  3. Read the tutorial and examples (5 min.)
  4. Print out and prep. the storyboarding squares (3 min.)
  5. Using the tutorial, create the six squares, spending around 2 min. on each (6 min.)
9 Detail your assumptions & experiments against AIDA(OR) So you have a more tactical, testable set of assumptions on customer acquisition & retention (COMING SOON)
  1. Complete #1-#4, #8
  2. Read the tutorial & example (5 min)
  3. Draft assumptions and experiments for each, spending 2-3 min. on each of A-I-D-A-O-R
10 Design a concierge MVP So you’ve maxed out lightweight opportunities to learn about your customer and if/how your hypothetical offering matters to them (COMING SOON)
  1. Complete all items above
  2. Review the tutorial and examples (5 min.)
  3. Is there a concierge opportunity for you? Paid? Unpaid? List all possibilities (7 min.)
  4. How long would these take? What resources would you need? (8 min.)
11 Storyboard an epic agile user story So you can maximize the effectiveness of your development team by providing them clear, vivid, actionable pictures of the customer and what you’re doing for them.
  1. Complete #1-#9
  2. Read the tutorial (5 min.)
  3. Read the examples (3 min.)
  4. Print out and prep. the storyboarding squares (3 min.)
  5. Storyboard your epic (9 min.)
12 Create 4 agile stories under your epic So that you make sure your view of the implementation is sufficiently detailed to be discussable and actionable between you and your implementation team
  1. Complete #1-#9, #11
  2. Read the agile user stories tutorial and examples (5 min.)
  3. Copy the agile stories template (or the whole Venture Design template) to MS Word or a Google Doc (2 min.)
  4. Create 4 stories under your epic (2.5 min./story)
13 Pick a design pattern for your prototype So that you leverage best practice, pre-validated patterns that minimize the cost and risk of your execution
  1. Complete all steps above
  2. Review the prototyping tutorial (5 min.)
  3. Diagnose the blocks you need (10 min.)
  4. Identify patterns you think might work well (5 min.)
14 Sketch a prototype So that you think through how you really want the product to work, describing your ideas in a way that’s discussable and actionable for you and your implementation team
  1. Complete all steps above
  2. Review the prototyping tutorial (5 min.)
  3. Using the patterns above, create a sketch that ties back to key user stories
15 Plant a strong hook for users and a create habits that deepen involvement with your product So that you have a vivid, testable definition of why and how users engage with your product (COMING SOON)
  1. Complete all steps above
  2. Review the tutorial (7 min.)
  3. Describe your ‘trigger’ (4 min.)
  4. Describe the minimum ‘action’ required (3 min.)
  5. Define the ‘variable reward’ (3 min.)
  6. How does the action and reward deepen ‘investment’? (3 min.)
16 Design a process So that you have an effective definition of how and why you (or your customers if you’re in B2B) work and what defines success
  1. Pick a process- something you or your customer (if B2B) does regularly (2 min.)
  2. Read the process design tutorial (5 min.)
  3. Define the process’ inputs and outputs (5 min.)
  4. Define the transformative steps, assigning owners (8 min.)