Introduction to Lean Startup

Course Outline

Section 1: Welcome

• Summary: General logistics for the class
• Topics covered:
  • Housekeeping
  • Course Objectives
  • Introductions
  • Instructor Bio
  • Agenda
  • Kanban Parking Lot

Section 2: The Case for Change

• Summary: Gain an overall understanding of the background, principles, and benefits of Lean Startup along with how it differs from traditional new product development. Review similar methodologies practiced in organizations today.
• Topics covered:
  • What is Lean
  • Lean Concepts
  • What is Lean Startup
  • Why Lean Startup
  • How Lean Startup differs from traditional approaches
  • Lean Startup Alternatives
• Objectives From Summary:
  • The difference between traditional methods and Lean Startup
  • Common misunderstandings and pitfalls of Lean Startup
  • How Lean Startup differs from traditional new product development
  • Understand the value of leveraging Lean Startup practices

Section 3: Lean Startup Overview and Concepts

• Summary: Learn the foundation of Lean Startup concepts, principles, and terminology of a Lean Startup. Explore the Build-Measure-Learn in more detail.
• Topics covered:
  • Lean Startup Principles
  • What is a Startup
  • Lean Startup Model
  • Lean Startup Phases
  • Growth Engines
  • Lean Startup Team
  • Role of Product Owner
  • Build-Measure-Learn Loop
  • Pivot or Persevere
• Objectives From Summary:
  • The Lean Startup concepts, principles, and terminology
  • The Lean Startup Model and the power of Visioning
  • Understand the stages of Lean Startup
  • To apply the Build-Measure-Learn Loop to get faster feedback from product experiments
  • Using experiment results to decide whether you should Pivot or Persevere
  • The Minimum Viable Product's role in new product development
  • Apply the Build-Measure-Learn Loop
  • The role of the Minimum Viable Product
  • Leveraging Experimentation to drive product development
  • Conducting Pivot or Persevere decisions
  • Understand different types of pivots

Section 4: The Lean Startup Stages

• Summary:
  • Walk through the stages of Lean Startup (based on the simpler Lean Analytics stages). Go into further detail on the contents of each stage.
  • Lean Canvas is a one-page model used to describe the most important aspects of a business. Using the Lean Canvas to describe your overall business model and to identify the problems worth solving.
  • Learn how to develop user personas and write users stories in order to successfully build out and manage a product backlog.
• Topics covered:
  • Stage Overview
    • Lean Canvas
    • Understand your customer, Archetypes
  • Empathy
    • Minimum Viable Product
  • Stickiness
  • Virality
  • Revenue
  • Scale
• Objectives From Summary:
  • Learn to build a Vision
  • How to develop a Lean Canvas

Section 5: Enterprise and Intrapreneurs

• Summary: Explore how Lean Startup principles apply to enterprises and intrapreneurs. Intrepreneurs work within a large organization to apply innovative approaches to develop new products, behaving like an internal entrepreneur. These large organizations present special challenges to the Intrapreneur exercising Lean Startup.
• Topics Covered:
  • Enterprise
  • Intrapreneur Stages and Challenges
• Objectives From Summary:
  • How "startup" applies to both public products and internal company products
  • Learn how Lean Startup is used by entrepreneurs and by intrapreneurs
  • Practices to create a more successful entrepreneurial business

Section 6: Innovation Accounting

• Summary: Discuss and understand how metrics and reporting differs in a Lean Startup, dubbed "Innovation Accounting". Lean Analytics supports Lean Startup by measuring and analyzing data as you progress, with a focus on data-driven decisions. Learn how Lean Analytics works in conjunction with Lean Startup.
• Measuring your results is essential in any business endeavor. In a startup, however, you use Innovation Accounting and Lean Analytics to measure your progress towards obtaining a sustainable product. Find the One Metric That Matters and learn how that metric may change as you go through the Lean Startup stages. Apply metrics to test your business model and understand when to pivot or persevere.
• Topics covered:
  • Innovation Accounting Overview
  • Lean Analytics
  • Vanity vs Actionable Metrics
  • The One Metric That Matters
  • How Metrics Change in Stages
• Objectives From Summary:
  • The use of Lean Analytics and Innovation Accounting to lead product development
  • Apply metrics to test your business model and understand when to pivot or persevere.
  • Learn the value of Lean Analytics, Innovation Accounting, and Validated Learning
  • The One Metric That Matters
  • How metrics change as you go through the stages
  • Difference between Actionable metrics and Vanity metrics

Section 7: Lean Startup and Agile Teams

• Summary: Review how Lean Startup and Agile teams work together. Lean Startup and Agile must exist in the same space, it is not an either/or decision. Learn ways Agile teams embrace Lean Startup and how they co-exist and enhance each other.
• Topics covered:
  • Early Stages
  • Team interaction
  • User Stories & Validated Learning
  • Iterative Design & Experimentation
• Objectives From Summary:
  • How Lean Startup works with Agile development
  • How Lean Startup impacts Agile development

Section 8: Summary

• Summary: Summarize key takeaways.
• Topics covered:
  • Review Key Takeaways
  • Review Kanban objectives board
  • Survey Information

Videos

• Topics covered:
  • Curly's One Thing
  • Rumsfeld's Known Unknowns
  • Kid President

In-Class Exercises

• Summary: In-class exercises help to reinforce the fundamental principles of Lean Startup and the techniques that will increase their effectiveness. With our exercises, you will learn ways to manage your startup with various types of metrics; learn to lead your product to achieving sustainability.
• Topics covered:
  • Lean Canvas preparation
  • Visioning
  • Archetypes/Personas
  • Identify and test Assumptions