what-does-good-look-like.md

What does good look like?

Doing The right thing and Doing it the right way

As with anything we do, Inceptions are based on principles and paradigms we know make the difference:

• We validate that our solution is desirable, viable and feasible. Note that we use Discovery to find opportunities and define valid value propositions, but Inceptions to validate and this and find the best way of delivering.
• We deliver the most valuable outcomes when we focus on problem / opportunity and solution / outcomes.
• We achieve this by applying product thinking to focus us on the user; lean principles to work efficiently, and agile approaches to deliver in an environment of change and uncertainty.
• We gain certainty by formulating hypotheses and validate by measuring outcomes.
• We deliver most successfully when all stakeholders are aligned, risks are identified and mitigated early, and trust within the team is high.

These principles permeate everything we do during Inception – but also during the subsequent delivery and business as usual.

The outcome of a successful Inception

By following these principles, we aim to gain confidence that

• We are doing the right thing
• We will be doing it in the right way
• We know what to do next
• We can hit the ground running
• We have minimised risk as much as possible

We know we have been successful when we proceed with high confidence and ease; we will recognise this early on, but we may also want to periodically review once we are a bit into delivery proper to ensure we are on track and not just ‘bumbling along’.