Agile and CX

Mark O'Brien
Sep 17
2 min read

This week I gave an intro to Innovation and Agile product development to a group of organizational leaders. This session was focused on Testing Business Ideas, and was specifically poignant for this group of leaders. This team runs a very successful organization that has a rich history of leading the way in their industry. It's amazing to see what they've done in their industry when you hear stories. However, because of their pedigree, they often feel the need for every project they work on to be successful. The bar is extremely high.

Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't care about successful projects. I desire EVERY project I work on to be successful. However, when you care so much about it getting it perfect, you lose your ability to test.

And how do you make a DELIGHTFUL customer experience - you TEST! If anyone is familiar with the agile project methodology, this next part will be nothing new.

How do you know if a specific customer segment likes flowers, and the other chocolates? How do you know if one group likes eye contact, one is fine with email. What about if one wants white glove service or one wants fast turnaround?

You test.

Your strategy does not come down from on high.

It does not work because you thought of it.

Or because you said so.

It works because at one point in time, you were comfortable with tinkering. With trying new things, with testing a new approach. All people do, naturally.

Let the revealed truth speak for itself through your experience. (Hopefully structured somewhat with an Agile Methodology, Sprints, Build - Measure - Learn Feedback Loops, User Stories, Jobs to Be Done Frameworks, and more).

Try a novel approach and see what works.

We are creative beings. We receive feedback constantly on how to adjust or amend our message to give our counterparts a better sense of belonging (if we're smart).

Yet all of this takes a certain amount of RISK.

A certain amount of flexibility in NOT BEING SO SURE OF YOURSELF.

A little HUMILITY. A little continuous improvement drive.

We can never be so scared of doing something wrong, that we don't do anything at all.

Our largest regrets are usually regrets of inaction. Wishing we would've tried something, but were too scared to fall.

Fall, a little. Try, a little. Test, a little something new today. Build Something (then measure, then learn - don't overthink it).

Start small. Make it simple. But test how your could make something better.

Those tiny tinkerings make ALL the difference. Build!

Find what works for you to Delight your customers!

There's a million directions this conversation could go from here.

-How to Test Business Ideas

-How to Stay Clear on Who you are and your value prop, while also adjusting for the market.