EPISODE B2.002: The Agile Startup - Operations

Introduction
New week, same perspective with greater conviction.

After being attentive to the weekend news about the continued arbitrary government response to COVID19, there is only one course for the business owner - ignore their word salad of concern and work around it. 

Being passive and waiting for the right decision will put you out of business. There are only two ‘people’ who have that right - you and the customer.

IBGR is committed to your success and our programming is for legal aggression (OK, I’ll make it nicer - assertiveness) to open, stay open, and be profitable.

Unlike the rest of society - we have your back.

Listen>Apply>Engage
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Show Objectives
We are combining 2 similar but different approaches to running a business. Agile is based on increasing speed where you trade some margin for quickness. Lean is based on decreasing cost or increasing margin where you trade speed for profitability. Neither of these are right or wrong answers - it is a matter of which fits the current environment.

3 Key Issues:

1. What does agile startup mean?
2. What does a lean start up mean?
3. How does it combine with lean?

What You Need to Know
What is an Agile Startup?

• Focus on a Narrow Objective - agile allows for scope creep because you don't have all of the answers at the start, but you cannot let the objective expand - just the details;
• Act with Urgency - you don't have much time between concept and selling, get your business open in the least amount of time possible without comprising due diligence;
• Keep everything Small - number of people on a team, duration of that team, what you are trying to accomplish at each step.

What is a Lean Startup?

• Having a Process - create a product development process first;
• Working Smarter - the critical question is not "can this product/service be built at the required price point?", rather (1) "should it be built at all?" and (2) "can we build a sustainable business around it?";
• Develop the Minimal Product (Service) Possible - identify the customer problem that needs solving and then build the minimal product (service) possible, get it into customers hands and learn the upgrades from usage;
• Build>Measure>Learn - validate the minimal product/service or upgrade.

What You Need to Do
Agilean

1. Required Processes - (1) Problem Solving & Decision Making, (2) Teamwork
2. Specifications for Minimal Product (Service) - keep the output tight but allow for scope creep in the individual sprints.
3. Go Small Over Short Periods - accept the concept you don't know what you don't know at the start and will learn it by the conclusion of this step.
4. Manage the Process by Facilitating the Teams - control comes from the group using the same problem solving and decision making tools.

Shows

• ​Previous: EPISODE B2.001 OVERVIEW OF OPERATIONS FOR STAGE II BUSINESSES
• Next: EPISODE B2.003 Stage II Operational Plan and Sprints