Möbius
Gabrielle Benefield
evolvebeyond.com
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What is Möbius?
Möbius is an outcome delivery framework.
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The left side of Möbius sets the strategic outcomes.
The right side delivers ideas rapidly and measures their impact.
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We can use
the Möbius
canvas to
model the
steps.
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The first step
is to create the
vision and
strategic
objectives.
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The deep dive
is for rapid
research and
learning.
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The next step
is to create
Target
outcomes to
measure value
against
progressively.
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Once we have
the target
outcomes, we
can think of
potential
solutions that
might help us
achieve them.
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Delivery is
where we
work on the
options.
Options could
be things we
choose to
implement or
to test out an
idea with an
experiment.
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As options and
experiments
are delivered,
the results are
measured
against the
target
outcomes.
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The teams
adapt
continuously,
delivering
more
outcomes and
creating more
options.
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Möbius works in a continuous flow. Teams don’t have to go in
a sequence but can move where they need to around the
loop.
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This is an example from an
e-commerce company.
Often the initial objectives
and vision are not very
clear nor measurable. They
also point to solutions or
symptoms rather than
targeting the real
problems.
Objectives for an e-commerce platform
1.
2.
3.
Increase shopping cart conversions
Make it user friendly
Help users find what they need quickly
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The deep dive will help us
understand what is really
going on and where to
focus.
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To get information for the
deep dive, we combine
data gathering and
customer research to build
a clear picture.
We find out what the
problems are, what is really
going on, why it is
happening and who is
impacted.
To answer:
Who do we target?
What problems are we solving?
What’s really going on and why?
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45% leave at
checkout-shipping
The system data tells
us where we are losing
a lot of customers.
29% leave at checkoutpayment
15% leave at
checkoutconfirmation
Our customers
tells us
the website is
way too slow
and frustrating
to use.
11% proceed
to checkoutcomplete
11% total
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Next we create Target
outcomes.
These help us measure
value progressively at
multiple levels and tell us
when we have reached our
business objectives.
To answer
1. What are the target outcomes?
2. How will they be measured?
3. Who will measure them?
4. When will they be measured?
5. What baseline are we measuring against?
6. Is there a desired target? Why?
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Creating measurable outcomes
Outcomes are the desired results that deliver value.
Examples
• Increase revenue by 15%
• Increase checkout conversion rates by 19%
• Decrease time to create a report by 4 minutes
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We create a descriptive
name of what we want to
improve.
Increase checkout conversion rates
Then we set the baseline
(starting point) to measure
progress against.
Starting point
Target
Currently only 11% of people
complete checkout
30% of people complete
checkout
The specific measurement
is less important than
creating alignment and
clarity of what the business
really needs.
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Creating measurable outcomes
Not all outcomes have to be quantified in a lot of
detail.
Outcomes at the beginning of a new piece of work
might be to learn and uncover deeper outcomes.
Another outcome might be to prove that you can
deliver the work by building a small end-to-end
slice as proof that it is possible.
We can also turn the quality levels and constraints into
target outcomes so these don’t get forgotten.
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Once we have the target
outcomes, we can think of
potential solutions that
might help us achieve
them.
To answer:
1.
What can we do to meet the target outcomes?
2.
Which options can we implement or run an
experiment on?
3.
How can we compare our options?
4.
How do we prioritise the options?
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Options are not a promise
to deliver, they are the
paths we can take to
achieve our goals. Until we
test and measure them
they are merely a guess.
We don’t fix our options in
advance as we want to take
advantage of new
opportunities quickly.
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Start with the
Target Outcome
Decrease page load times
To create options, we
generate ideas based on our
deep dive research that might
help achieve the outcome.
Option A:
We should build an extra
datacenter for our customers
in other countries.
Cost: $$$
In this example, we think that
the slow website pages might
be causing our users to
abandon their purchases so
we need options to fix this.
Option B:
Maybe it’s the network.
Shouldn’t we test that out
first?
Cost: $$
Option C:
What if we simply
compressed or cached the
images better?
Cost: $
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We now want to deliver
our options rapidly by
running an experiment or
releasing something to our
users.
We try to deliver value
rapidly where value is
learning, risk reduction,
and outcome generation.
Actions to take
1.
Implement and release an option
2.
Run an experiment to validate value
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Option A:
Implement
image
caching.
Option C:
Experiment
with a
sample set
of users
Option B:
Run a
network
trace route
to diagnose
issues.
We might decide to implement
Option A. This is low cost and
low risk so we just push that
live and measure the results.
For Option B, we have to do
some more research to see if
the network is causing any
problems before we start to
work on it.
For Option C, Instead of
building a new datacenter
which is very expensive, we
can run an experiment by
renting a small piece of a
datacenter locally and testing
it with a small percentage of
our users.
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Our team tries to get feedback and hit the outcomes with the least
amount of effort. Goal mapping helps us set a goal and find the
simplest path to reach it.
TO
Step
Step
Search for
book
Call and pay
Goal
Find one book and
get it shipped
Decrease time to find
a book
TO
Step
Enter payment
details
Decrease time to pay
Step
Save payment
details
Step
Pay with a one
step pay
button
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Goal
Setup one step pay
option
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Teams track outcomes and options visually during delivery.
Outcomes
Options
Decrease time
to
find products
Option
Decrease page
load
time
Redesign
search results
In Progress
Done
Research
Research
Clickstream
analysis
Split test
redesign
Option
Research
Setup local
datacenter
Datacenter split
test Australia
Option
Research
Research
Cache page
elements
Test caching
one page
Trace route
analysis
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As options and
experiments are delivered,
the results are measured
against the target
outcomes.
Measure progress
1.
Did we positively impact the target outcome?
2.
By how much?
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How much progress
did we make?
Decrease time to find products
Current:
5 minutes
We saved 2
minutes
Baseline:
Target:
7 minutes
< 3 minutes
Decrease page load time
Current time: 9 seconds
Baseline:
12 seconds
We reduced
page load
speed by 3
seconds
Target:
< 4 seconds
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How much value
did we deliver?
Increase checkout
conversion rates
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The improvements
impacted conversion rates
by 6%. This will increase
revenue by $7.2 million
annually.
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I can create some forecasts
of outcomes delivered over
time to report back to
management.
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We are constantly adapting
our model based on
feedback.
When we see the value
diminish, we can choose
other options or outcomes
to explore
Point of diminishing returns
Outcomes
(value)
x
Time
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The more we increase our ability to
learn and improve, the faster we go
around the loop.
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Blog at:
http://evolvebeyond.com/blog/
Download the canvas at:
http://evolvebeyond.com/resources/
Read more about Mobius at:
http://www.mobiusmodel.org/
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