This document discusses the pitfalls of large companies applying "lean" principles to new product development incorrectly. It provides three case studies of companies that failed to properly implement lean: Company A wasted $70M over 3 years by not doing customer discovery and ramping up teams too quickly. Company B wasted $1M over 8 months with upfront design meetings but no customer development. Company C is investing in an add-on product without ensuring existing products are successful first. The document argues companies need to focus on iterative customer development and avoid big upfront planning to successfully apply lean principles.

1. Dinosaurs Don’t Do Lean!

2. Lean Applies to Companies and
Product Teams!

3. Case Study: Company A
— Large up front design, meetings all over the country, to discuss
features, architecture, do estimates
— Ramp up team in India!
— No Customer Discovery/Development – “We already know
everything”
— Stand behind Partnerships with Fortune 50 companies as to why
the product will be good
— Distract sales and marketing team away from cash cows
— Multiple layoffs – Cash cow sales suffer, New Product just didn’t
_________________.
— Estimated Waste: $70M, 3 years

4. Case Study Company B
— Large up front design discussions, ppts, etc, large
budget, meetings all over the country, to discuss features,
architecture, do estimates
— No Customer Discovery/Development – “We already
know everything”
— Distract engineering away from paying projects and
products
— Angst and frustration because product demos are behind
schedule
— Estimated Waste: $1M, 8 months

5. Case Study Company C
— Existing product having minimal success in the market
place
— Enthusiasm about add on product
— Company decides to use R&D resources to fund
integration instead of continued product discovery for
existing product
— Company would rather discuss overhaul of product
architecture for new add-on versus invest in sales &
marketing activities for existing product
— Estimated Cost: Nothing Material Yet

6. What am I up against: Dinosaurs?
Dinsosaurs: Organizations and/or managers that are
couched in the culture of “big upfront”:
— Upfront manager/committee discussions that drag on for
weeks and months – typified by let’s hop a jet and meet at
City XZY
— Upfront drawn out architectural committee meetings and
estimation activities – typically these architects don’t write
code anymore
— Large and complex NPI stage-gate processes
— “If we build it it will sell”
— We don’t need to really evaluate our customer interactions,
feedback, etc

7. 75% Startups Fail: How about
Products?

8. There’s a Difference Between Knowing
the Path and Walking the Path
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz40vwcTGFo

9. The Conflict Between
Knowing and Doing
“Kings, heads of government, and corporate
executives have control over thousands of people and
endless resources, but often do not have mastery over
themselves”. Daft, Richard L. (2010-06-29). The
Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide for
Building Inner Excellence (p. 5). John Wiley and Sons.
Kindle Edition.

10. If My Dev Team Does Agile
Aren’t I OK?

11. Isn’t This How It’s Done?

12. Say it Again!

13. What Can I Do?
— Educate Managers and Higher Ups on Lean –
Books, Meetups, Seminars
— Point to Importance of Marketing Doing Iterative
Work just as Dev Does Iterative Work
— Change companies?
— Start your own Company, but not using traditional
methods, Do Lean!