This document summarizes highlights from the Planningness 2011 conference. It discusses themes from presentations on production as strategy, designing businesses around the user experience, lean strategy and briefs for behavior change. The conference brought together incredible speakers and participants to share ideas around empathy, generosity, making over saying, and putting the user at the center of business design. It thanks all involved in the conference for contributing to its success and warm, generous community.

1. planningness 2011
meet the makers.

2. preface
here’s a smattering of highlights and insights from
planningness 2011. wish I could sum up (and have
attended) all the sessions, but it’s just not possible in
one measly deck. I assure you, all were full of
awesome this year.
also, a big thank you to all the people who made this
year amazing and to all the new (and old) friends in
this warm, generous little planningness community.

3. our ethos (at planningness)
get excited and make stuff.

4. the secret recipe.

5. for an effective
planningness conference
1/3 cup incredible speakers
1/3 cup fun, eclectic personalities/participants
1/3 cup workshops and lecture
+ generous dash optimism, perseverance and people
who love working as a team

7. themes.

8. empathy. generosity.
make > say.
you know this.
so more specifically...

9. start thinking like/with a producer
put the user in the middle of
business design
work lean
“brief” for behavior change

10. start thinking like/with a
producer
producers are vital partners to making.
working closely and quickly with our
producer counterparts help us optimize
our work in real-time.
@adrianho
production as strategy

11. products and experiences
often reveal new
opportunities for usage after
they’re built.
- adrian ho, zeus jones
http://www.slideshare.net/zeusjones/production-as-strategy?from=ss_embed production as strategy

12. http://www.slideshare.net/zeusjones/production-as-strategy?from=ss_embed production as strategy

13. we don’t work in a vacuum.
optimization shouldn’t be reserved for
retrospect -- we have to build with the
intention to change.
we must plan with the assumption of
unpredictability and create an
environment where adaptive change is
not only possible, but required.
http://www.slideshare.net/zeusjones/production-as-strategy?from=ss_embed production as strategy

14. designing a business
for awhile now, planner folks have said
“it’s not what you say, it’s what you
do...” but putting to practice is not
always easy (particularly in the ad biz).
@colincolin
designing a business

15. best case scenario: think
about how to design the
business from the inside out,
putting the user in the middle.
designing a business

16. “when we “design a business” we
create a platform for an experience.
by putting the experience first, we’re
creating a user-centered business,
(because the business is the vehicle to
deliver the experience)”
- colin raney, IDEO
http://www.slideshare.net/colinraney/planningness-2011
designing a business

17. http://www.slideshare.net/colinraney/planningness-2011
designing a business

18. brands that live with experience at it’s
core:
...any surprise that most of these live solely in the
digital space? the challenge persists to apply this
ethos to “offline”consumer goods/services.
which requires radically re-thinking our business
offerings and models.
http://www.slideshare.net/colinraney/planningness-2011
designing a business

19. lean strategy.
start-ups, design firms and many other
“makers” have lean processes
ingrained into their DNA. time and
money are often scarce (sound
familiar?) so it’s about faster learning.
key to making it work is letting go of
our traditional long-winded, waterfall
processes and learning to be a bit more
more flexible.
@farrahbostic
http://www.slideshare.net/flbostic/how-to-do-lean-planning lean strategy

20. why lean? why now?.
expectations have shifted:
client’s have less money, less
patience. couple this with consumer’s
expecting more utility and usefulness
from brands than ever before.
http://www.slideshare.net/flbostic/how-to-do-lean-planning lean strategy

21. “you need to add value in
people’s lives. not just
expect them to participate
because you goddamn
asked them to.”
- mel exon, bbh labs
http://www.slideshare.net/flbostic/how-to-do-lean-planning lean strategy

22. this is a messy process.
it’s intentionally not linear. it’s a web of
ideas, mapped against central pain
points and behaviors. it’s about solving
problems. fast.
http://www.slideshare.net/flbostic/how-to-do-lean-planning lean strategy

23. key tenants
i. generate the pain points/problems
your audience encounters, formulate
hypotheses to solve
ii. test hypotheses on a small number of
individuals
iii. you should be proven wrong a few
times. rinse, repeat.
iv. get involved in building prototypes for
the solve(s) that bubble to the top
http://www.slideshare.net/flbostic/how-to-do-lean-planning lean strategy

24. “we become so obsessed
with being noticed that we
forget to be useful”
- ed cotton, bssp
@cotton
behavioral briefs

25. brief for behavior change.
framing/finding the question is often
the hardest part.
i. determine the pain points.
ii. understand the behaviors that
contribute and act in tandem with the
pain to get to useful solutions
iii. determine barriers
iv. frame up the opportunities
behavioral briefs

26. the founders of instagram on solving the “right” problem
behavioral briefs

27. sounds simple.
it’s not.
...but it’s certainly not impossible.
behavioral briefs

28. we were tasked with one of
the hardest problems any of
us had.
going home.
behavioral briefs

29. planningness has become a safe haven
for open thinking and idealistic dreams.
we love our jobs, but it can be hard to
leave the cocoon...
so we wrote the brief to re-position
planning in 2015
behavioral briefs

30. the results.
well, you’ll have to wait and see...
behavioral briefs

31. stop trying to own things
and start making them
instead.

32. the presentations:
since i’ve done (maybe) a mediocre
job summing up some great
presentations, please do yourself a
favor and check them and more out
here:
http://planningness.com/planning-ness-2011-presentations/
http://www.slideshare.net/zeusjones/production-as-strategy?from=ss_embed
http://www.slideshare.net/jmarshallroberts/how-to-overcome-cynicism-with-scientific-psychobabble
http://www.slideshare.net/flbostic/how-to-do-lean-planning
http://www.slideshare.net/colinraney/planningness-2011

33. #plannagram

35. ...because every presentation should
end with a horse wearing a monocle.
#hellyeah