Dear Leaders, something I am passionate about is making the most out of time and energy around ideas generated individually or as a team.
Zooming out: The computer, the laptop, iPhone and the AirPods wouldn’t have been created and revisited if the ideas were not captured, considered and then strategically picked up and prioritised to come to market.
Let’s be honest, most ideas end up in the recycling or more recently on a Google Sheet, onto someone's camera roll or worse still… a Miro board you’ll never revisit or review.
Sharing Is Caring: As previously discussed, the best companies in the world share their knowledge, they encourage discussion and keeping ideas alive by having references to them and keep a searchable history of campaign success, a live updated section for ongoing projects and roadmaps and product launches centralised in the knowledge centre.
Despite what you have been conditioned to lately, asynchronous worked tremendously well and encouraged deliberate discussion versus forcing “real-time meetings”.
Recommended Framework: There is a process I often recommend to clients, especially cross-functional teams
Here is the framework I built and recommend:
(Review &) Promote
A great idea that needs to be rolled out
Likely needs a tweak and prioritisation to promote this idea
Needs full distribution plan (internal and external)
(Review &) Optimise
Good idea that lands well but needs some time to be optimised and made more relevant
The idea will need work to optimise and then planning to release
(Review &) Revisit
Good idea that is not a right now idea.
An idea that requires work and a time to revisit.
Likely an idea that is more seasonal or would land better at a different time of year
Without giving away all of my secret sauce, here are a few factors to apply to (Review &) Promote, (Review &) Optimise, (Review &) Revisit.
Follow On Factors:
☑️ Right now idea vs not right now idea
☑️ Time Sensitivity - Date Sensitivity
☑️ Resources
☑️ Quality of idea
☑️ The Reward Vs The Effort
☑️ Cost
(A) “Personal Project” vs “Another Professional Project” Cost
(B) Internal Project Cost
(C) External Project Cost
There are many methods we waste time, we squander resources and delevel the collaborative work (the impact of reducing collaboration is a serial culture killer), don’t allow short-term thinking or first-order thinking negatively impact your department or your businesses ways of working.
This week improve your work and working environment by making the most out of ideas and the times you co-create and problem solve.
Thanks and have a great week ahead.
Danny Denhard
P.S A quick cheat, search slack, teams and your emails for ideas and flick through your notebook(s) for ideas that were great and you did nothing with. Pick the best and resurface the idea and use the framework above to create an optimised working standard.
A sneak peek into a future newsletter — friend of leaders’ letters Bruce Daisley (the best-selling author and technology leader) has a special newsletter on fortitude!
Other Great Ideas Resources