Last week’s discussion was about social venture ideation and
different methods in assessing the feasibility of an idea. One of the articles
from the required readings, “Making Social Ventures Work”, mentioned the
Discovery-Driven Planning tool which I wanted to look into further. The tool
provides a good framework to develop a plan for new venture ideas.
There are five disciplines to the tool: 1) framing 2)
benchmarking 3) strategic translations of operations 4) assumption testing and
5) managing to milestones.
The Discovery-Driven Planning tool is about creating a plan
that is not built on hard evidence as the venture is knew and unknown. Benchmark
parameters should be established so that the team knows what the market should
be like in order for the venture to be successful. The key to this tool is that
once new evidence is found, it has to be incorporated in the plan. From there
tasks and milestones can be adjusted, as needed. Keeping a list of the most
critical assumptions is also important because the assumptions will have to be
tested. After the assumptions are tested, they should be supported by solid
data and be incorporated into the evolving plan. Once a firmer base has been
established, major investments can take place.
As an individual, new to the social entrepreneur world,
learning about this tool is very valuable. From what I have learned,
understanding the market of interests can make or break your venture. You could
have the greatest product or service in the country but if the market is not
right, it will not succeed. What the Discovery-Driven Planning tool addresses
is that it is ok for activities to deviate from the original plan. Markets are
always changing. Therefore you should do everything you can to mitigate risk in
order to make your venture successful.
My question is at what point in a venture is it too far to
turn back? What other successful tools are used to analyze the market?
Source: http://ritamcgrath.com/ee/images/uploads/Discovery_Driven_Planning.pdf
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