Image source: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/three-ways-companies-can-make-co-creation-pay-off#/
Product Managers often approach me and ask how can they best:
- deal with uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity?
- achieve alignment when there are many stakeholders with divergent perspectives?
- when it's not possible to select the “one best idea” because all the ideas are actually quite good and can realistically achieve desired outcomes?
(Sometimes, there are instances when no bad ideas exist and no single idea provides "the biggest bang for the buck")
- when there is too little data or too much data such that you can use the same data to simultaneously justify and defend multiple points of view?
(This is sometimes known as the 49/51 problem)
In these cases, traditional approaches such as prioritization frameworks, alignment with vision, alignment with strategy(corporate, business unit, and product), and impact on metrics and OKRs stop working.
Frequently, I have to convey to them that this is simply how the real world works.
Fortunately, the way to overcome this is through Co-creation, a proven approach that has been used to successfully tackle these types of situations.
It’s been used successfully in government, social enterprise, and in b2b/b2c settings by companies such as Starbucks, Cisco, Dell, Procter & Gamble, Sony, and Unilever.
During a recent ITX podcast, I had the privilege of discussing Co-creation and how Product Managers can use it to break though impasses with the host, Paul Gebel.
Listen to the conversation at the link below!
https://lnkd.in/eMV2ehvc
What is Co-creation?
Co-creation, in a nutshell, is an extension of collaboration so that we deepen and widen the surface area of value that we create.
It increases the range and power of our radar so that we can better detect green blips and red blips.
What this means practically is that we:
- increase the surface area of our understanding of the problem space and opportunity space
- leverage the collective wisdom that exists within our communities of practice or business functions
- apply systems thinking in a practical way to create Ecosystems of Value
- break though impasses without breaking up relationships
Reference: https://hbr.org/2010/10/building-the-co-creative-enterprise