Step 1: Setup (Phase II)

1. Purpose

Before diving into a Playground, align expectations and the research frame with your Project Sponsor, Team Manager, and Team Coach. Use the Project Charter "Exploration" to sharpen a common understanding. Talking for hours about why this Playground matters and how best to explore it is easy — writing it down in three clear sentences is much harder.

2. Key Activities

1. Secure sponsor backing: Every Business Design project needs legitimacy and resources behind it, and that starts with a Sponsor. Look for someone internally with real standing in the company and a genuine interest in the project. Pick a sponsor who fits the focus of the Playground: for a market-driven Playground, someone from sales or marketing; for a technological one, the person responsible for development.

2. Define project focus: Getting clarity on the objective early on helps ensure the outcome is valuable for the company. Work through the Project Charter "Exploration" together with your sponsor: pin down the exploration focus, agree on milestones, and take the time to check in on how committed the sponsor really is to the project.

3. Build a curious team: A mix of perspectives helps you get a more holistic view of your project focus. Aim for Team Members with different backgrounds and seniority levels and match them to the focus of the Playground as well: a market-driven Playground needs people close to customers, a technological one people close to development.. Ask your sponsor for input on the team constellation, and make sure the people you choose bring the right expertise and can dedicate enough time over the coming weeks.

4. Prepare Kick-off Workshop: Get-to-know calls with the Team Manager and each Team Member give you a feel for the team before everyone sits in one room. Use them to collect what people already know about the Playground, and to prepare the groundwork the research will need: possible interview partners, experts to approach, and how to get hold of the data — internally or externally. Then prepare everything else a successful Kick-off Workshop needs.

3. Formats

• Alignment with Project Sponsor

• "Get-to-know" calls with Team Manager and Team Members

• Preparation of Kick-off Workshop

4. Tools & Material

• Project Charter "Exploration"

5. Participants

• Project Sponsor

• Team Manager

• Team Coach

• Later: Team Members

6. Q&A

1. What is a good research frame? You cannot explore the whole world — all your customers, markets, competitors, technologies — in one project. It's tempting to try, but that's exactly the trap. A good research frame starts by going back to the Playground: the boundaries you already agreed on for where your project is allowed to look.

   Frame your exploration so it's realistic — narrow it down to a scope your team can actually cover in the time you have.

2. What is a suitable team for an exploration project? This question is difficult to answer and not fully explored yet. We usually try to build project teams of three or four members. All members should have expertise in the project focus with diverse backgrounds ranging from sales, product management, strategy to technology. All team members should have time capacities of at least 1 to 2 days a week over 6 weeks.