Good? Okay.

One of the concepts they talk about that I utterly and completely believe in is the idea of having a “learning phase” for new initiatives. It’s somewhere between the initial concept and the full-blown strategy, and allows for dedicated and purposeful time to test an idea before rolling it out fully.

This is something that I think more companies need to do, especially given their risk aversion for the unproven world of new media.

So how, exactly, do you do that? It’s as much a sales job as it is an execution job, but here’s my take.

1. Create Your Hypothesis

In science, your hypothesis is your proposed explanation, a testable statement that says what you think is going to happen based on your research. Same thing here. For you, it’s an educated guess about what’s going to happen if you do said project. For example, if you’re going to start a corporate blog, one hypothesis might be that you’ll capture 50 subscribers in the first 90 days, and generate five qualified leads from the blog within the first six months.

You’ll form that hypothesis by looking at your current website traffic to get a sense of what’s reasonable, the density of your social networks (how much trust and connection power you have online to draw interest in the blog), what your current lead generation numbers are, stuff like that. You’ll have to do some reasoning here.

2. Stage the Experiment

This is where you sell in what you’re planning, step by step. The key to the first and second steps is that this is a finite trial, with a start and end date. That helps mitigate risk against something that doesn’t work, and provides a dedicated stopping point for you to pause, take stock, and review your efforts.

Tell your management team exactly the steps you’ll take to prepare for the project, execute it, and how you’ll wind down the pilot (or roll it into a more permanent program should it be successful. You’ll want to address:

• How much capital/budget this will require, if any
• How long it will last
• How you plan to communicate this initiative both internally and externally
• What time commitments you’ll need and from which staff members in order to support the program
• Any technology or infrastructure needs you’ll have
• How the experiment will impact existing processes and projects
• Risk assessment: What’s the worst case scenario? Best case?
• Who the point people are for questions, concerns, etc
• Where the feedback mechanisms are for people to share their input about the project, both internal and external
• How you’ll evaluate the success of the trial and present your findings
• Your transition plan to roll out the project more permanently (if successful) or shutter it (if not)

3. Communicate the Pilot

I’m a fan of telling folks they’re participating in a pilot program, or what you’re testing and trying. Publicly. If you’re not sure that your Facebook page will work, tell folks when you launch it that you’re doing so as a trial, and a way to find out what works for your company in the Facebook community.

Being up front about that can actually help elicit stronger and more active feedback, and give you the more graceful exit or the flexibility to change your approach should things not quite go to plan. Setting that expectation from the get-go can really be helpful, and generate some great open discussion and dialogue.

4. Execute

This is the meat of the process of course, but it’s where you take all the stuff you outlined in step 3 and actually do it. If you’ve done that part carefully, this ought to be rather straightforward.

Don’t forget to continue with regular status reports to your team and management so they can keep tabs on how you’re doing, what you’re learning, what your impressions are, and what feedback you’re receiving. Weekly or bi-weekly updates are usually good, depending on the length of your trial program.

5. Capture Feedback

This is concurrent with step 4, but should be a continuous part of your learning phase project. From the beginning, you should have indicated three or four key data points that you’ll track against based on the hypothesis you outlined. In our original example of the blog, it might be as simple as tracking number of subscribers on a weekly trend graph, and number of qualified leads that come through a dedicated link on the blog.

It’s also important to capture qualitative feedback, both from your colleagues and the external audiences you’re trying to reach or engage. Ask them whether they like this idea or don’t, and why. Solicit suggestions. Set up an ongoing feedback email address, ask your social networks to give their opinions, use a short survey at key points during the process to inquire. Whatever the mechanism, keep the doors of communication WIDE open and don’t discount any feedback until the end of the project.

6. Shutter the Pilot

At the end of your prescribed time period for the project, you’ll need to make a decision about whether you’re going to end the project completely, or roll it into a longer or more permanent effort.

By now, you probably have a pretty good sense of whether your hypothesis is going to hold up. If the program isn’t as successful as you’d hoped, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to communicate it’s end. Honesty and openness are good here. If your blog isn’t flying, perhaps you put up a post that says that you’re grateful for the attention of your readers to date, but that you need to step back and evaluate how you’re going to carry it forward (or just say that you’re ending it all together, and thank them for their interest).

Remember: failure isn’t permanent. It’s a temporary state. And while one thing might not work, something else may. That’s the point of this kind of project, to fail in a controlled environment where you’re prepared for the possibility that things won’t take off, and that you don’t put all your eggs in that basket before you know how strong it is.

If the pilot goes really well, this is the time when you want to maintain the status quo while you take a few weeks to draw out a transition plan. This is the map you’ll write to take you from temporary experiment to resident program. That transition plan could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on how much you’ll need to scale out the existing effort, and what temporary changes you’ll need to make more permanent in order to support it for the long term.

6. Present Your Findings

Accountability time! This is where all the work you’ve done to track, tweak, measure, get input, and all of those things pays off. Keep in mind that measurement and reporting can be brutally simple and straightforward and still be compelling. At this point, the only thing you care about is answering the question of whether your initial hypothesis was right or wrong.

If it was right, illustrate why you think that was, and what factors contributed to its success. If you were more successful than you imagined, analyze and discuss what assumptions made your initial estimates conservative, and how the reality of the project’s execution and adoption may have turbo charged the results.

If you were wrong, remember that there are varying degrees. Were you completely wrong, and you got a handful of blog subscribers and no leads whatsoever? That’d be missing the mark completely. Or did you miss the mark by a few degrees that indicate more that you need refinement rather than abandonment? That’s an important distinction. What factors do you think contributed to not getting the results you wanted? (Hint: be sure your analysis is brutally honest, which includes not just external factors, but things that YOU could have done better or differently).

7. Transition

Just what it sounds like, this is the part where you execute the transition plan.

You’ll likely need to repeat your initial business case presentation to management, this time wrapping in your learnings from the experiment, and outlining your longer execution strategy (revisiting all of the impact factors we talked about in step 2).

Why This Matters

For those that are struggling to make a long term, predictive business case for a new initiative, this is the stop gap. It’s the bit in between that helps management teams see that they’re not committing to forever, they’re just endorsing testing the waters.

This is going to be much more of a culture sell for you than anything else. You’ll have to understand the personalities involved and whether they’re going to see the risks or the potential first, and tool your presentation and updates accordingly. But the purpose is to buy yourself a proving ground, a safe sandbox where you can tinker with some things based on ideas you have and be accountable for the outcomes, which makes it beneficial for everyone involved.

So what do you think? Have you tried this approach as an alternative to the full-blown megaproject? Is your culture open to this kind of thing, or are you already seeing how they’re going to resist it?

Let’s talk about it in the comments.

image credit: Christian Haugen

A post from Brass Tack Thinking
7 Steps to Executing a Pilot Project

Yep.

Why? Because they’re not equipped, ready, or open to evolve or change the way they’ve been doing things.

Sometimes, it’s because change is complex, as in industries that are highly matrixed, or have complex regulatory or compliance issues that will require lots of detailed, nuanced, and potentially frustrating conversations with the powers that oversee such things.

Sometimes, it’s because we just can’t seem to find a solution for the things standing in our way. We’re not prepared to have the conversations, or ask the hard questions, or make staffing or operational changes to make change happen.

Sometimes, it’s because of out and out fear of the unknown, and the unwillingness to risk known quantities and accepted norms for things that are unproven or lack precedent and success standards.

Sometimes, it’s the inability or unwillingness to reallocate human and capital resources to something that doesn’t have established procedures and processes that ensure some level of efficiency out of the gate.

Sometimes, it’s because we misunderstand or haven’t thought through all of the implications – both positive and negative – for new ideas, and aren’t willing to spend the time doing so.

Sometimes, it’s just willful ignorance.

Innovation isn’t everyone’s bag, and we are still in the phase with social media where the companies that are doing this at scale and with long term intent are deserving of the label of trailblazers. Not every company is prepared to be first. Not every company is prepared to take the risks that come with trying something new or different. And you know what? That’s okay.

Yes, there’s proof that social media works. More and more of it. But the critical mass of proof is going to be different for every organization’s culture and risk tolerance level.

If you are working in or with one of the organizations that is digging their heels in, you have two choices, and two only.

You can continue to work in small, progressive steps toward re-engineering your organization in whatever capacity you can. You will have to find like minds, recruit help, teach, re-teach, show, try, demonstrate, explain, justify, negotiate, compromise. You will need to be fiercely committed to the idea you are the translator and the illustrator, but it’s only time and tenacity that will help you make strides. Some will be small. Some steps will be backward. And eventually, you may find that you have either inched forward, or uncovered a lost cause.

The alternative is to walk away. Let them be. For some of you, that means being brave enough to go find a new job if this matters enough to you. For some, that means saying no to a client because they’re not yet ready to take advantage of what you can help them do. But sometimes, this is the only right answer. Not everyone is ready yet, nor should they be.

The only filter for deciding which situation you’re facing? You. Your experience and intuition and tolerance level.

Am I passionate about this? You bet I am. But there are plenty of people and organizations passionate but uneducated. Ready, but who need guidance. Curious, but who need reassurance and some help along the way. I’m ready to concentrate on them – the ones with the mindset if not the framework – and let the other folks find their way when they’re ready. I can’t save them all, and neither can you.

Our job is to illustrate and inform. Theirs is to choose. You can only lead the horse.

image by Allen Dale Thompson

A post from Brass Tack Thinking
You Can Only Lead the Horse