Customer and Chef in a Japanese Restaurant

Who Owns the Experience?

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We have all heard the concept of Experience Economy that dominates the evolution of our world today. Most companies have realised the importance of thinking in terms of experience and have started adapting, focusing on Customer Experience as one of the critical drivers for success. People have been nominated Chief Experience Officers, a number of design tools are put in place to support this, a number of other more focused “experience” concepts are appearing around (Content Experience, User Experience, Product Experience, Digital Experience, Employee Experience, Supplier Experience…) but one question comes over and over again.  Who Owns the Experience? Most of the resources I’ve accessed state that we need to create some ownership at a very senior level (like the already mentioned Chief Experience Officer or Chief Customer Officer).  Think of this person as being like a film director (…). Just as a film director is responsible for producing a cohesive and engaging film, your “director” of customer experience is in charge of building a cohesive and engaging customer experience program. Roy Barnes and Bob Kelleher, Who Owns Customer Experience Unfortunately, stating that just one person “owns” …

Book Review: Scrum 101 by David Lowe, James Wyllie and Jiten Vara

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There are moments in which you need a practical handbook to guide you through the tools of a specific topic in an easy to read and accessible format. This is Scrum 101 by David Lowe, James Wyllie and Jiten Vara, a book that we can genuinely define nimble and agile in the way it delivers context and clarification on the Scrum methodology.  Scrum is the fundamental methodology to deliver agile in organisations, yet it is often one of the most misunderstood frameworks.  The book provides answers to the most frequently asked questions about Agile with Scrum. It is based on real questions through the workshops that the authors have facilitated and thus has an efficient focus. Most of the chapters are therefore framed into a question, making this very much resemble a FAQ collection. Although the Scrum framework is well defined, it is flexible so that it can be turned to your individual circumstances. This is part of the Scrum’s beauty. Unfortunately, although Scrum seems simple in theory, putting it into practice is not so easy. Scrum 101, page 126 This book …

Build your Skills: Systems Thinking

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I’ve always been fascinated by pictures of Planet Earth from outer space, especially those at night. You recognise the planet, then the plethora of illuminated cities. The largest ones seem globes of light in the night. Smaller cities look more like bland spots. In some areas, you can also see the main roads connecting the towns. Sometimes you see an isolated light place in the middle of the night. You still own a clear perception of the planet versus the deep black of the outer space. Perceiving this, the whole composed of the parts, as well as the relationship between the components, is System thinking, the critical skill that I will illustrate in this post.  In a recent post, I wrote about the dangers of Thinking in categories. I pointed out that to overcome the limits of categorical Thinking, it is necessary to drive models and tools of what is called “Systems Thinking”. However, it’s not just a question of means: I genuinely believe that Systems Thinking should be seen as a skill, and ability to foster and develop, and that …

Book Review: Measure what Matters by John Doerr

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Appeared in 2018, the book “Measure what Matters” is undoubtedly a foundational work in understanding the practice of using OKR as a way to align performance and improve innovation in an organisation. The book is very well written and documented and serves as an excellent tool for any manager or practitioner that approaches OKR for the first time. What is interesting is also the case studies, heavily based on interviews with key stakeholders at the various companies. Altogether, they help understand the fact that OKR is a framework that adapts to the company culture, and that can support building innovation in the teams. The book is then complemented by several resources available on the WhatMatters.comwebsite. What is OKR? OKR is short for Objectives and Key Results. It is a collaborative goal-setting protocol for companies, teams and individuals. OKRs are not a silver bullet. They cannot substitute for sound judgement, strong leadership, or a creative workplace culture. But if those fundamentals are in place, OKRs can guide you to the mountaintop. John Doerr, Measure what Matters, page 7 Why …

The key dangers of Thinking in Categories

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In a fascinating article on HBR by the title “The Dangers of Category Thinking”, Bart de Langhe and Philip Fernbach, analyse the critical issues related to thinking in categories in several domains. Humans tend to simplify reality by splitting items into groups, and in its nature, it derives from our capability to survive. Your mind is a categorization machine, busy all the time taking in voluminous amounts of messy data and then simplifying and structuring it so that you can make sense of the world. This is one of the mind’s most important capabilities; it’s incredibly valuable to be able to tell at a glance whether something is a snake or a stick. Bart de Langhe and Philip Fernbach, The Dangers of Category Thinking, HBR Fall 2019 Derek Cabrera further states that, in many ways, categories are useful structures for organising information. “There are many ways in which thinking is an act of classification, so categories are embedded in cognition itself. Because they help us situate and structure information, using categories can make us feel like we …