Lean Forward helps organisations establish a culture of learning where decisions are based on data but with a clear vision and purpose

Lean Forward is a framework for shaping products customers love.

 

It is designed to be easily integrated with an Agile process such as Scrum.

 

Teams working with Lean Forward focus on outcome rather than delivery of features. They are data driven and put customer first.

 

Using Lean Forward, organisations can become learning organisms that are constantly innovating and growing.

 

The Lean Forward Process

Lean Forward is all about establishing a learning organisation and the core of the process is what we call the LUNA, Meaningful Learning Loop.

The loop has 4 organisational habits:

  • The habit of learning through experimenting and data scouting.
  • The habit of understanding through modelling and simulating.
  • The habit of navigating through outcome focused, strategic metrics.
  • The habit of assuming and making assumptions that are assessed and challenged.

Read more about the LUNA Loop here.

Working with Lean Forward teams

There are two main categories of Lean Forward teams:

 

  1. Explore teams who focus on discovering new business or product benefits. They seek to broaden the scope of a product or find new niches that it can fit in with. They are the engine of innovation and long term growth.  Their  goal is to discover product/market fit.
  2. Growth teams who focus on growing the reach of an existing product by either widening the audience or building retention – often a combination of both. Their goal is to fuel traction and rapid growth.

 

Sometimes these teams overlap and they can be hard to distinguish from each other but generally speaking, Explore teams are working with more immature ideas and concepts while Growth teams work with mature products.

A Portfolio of Teams

Lean Forward suggests a balance of the two categories of teams in a portfolio setup. The framework is designed to minimise the risk of exploring, to ensure an organisation that is always ready to take the next step.

 

The roots of Lean Forward

Lean Forward has its roots in lean product development methodologies such as Lean Startup, Design Thinking, Lean UX and Customer Development and in marketing tactics such as Growth Hacking.

Do you want Lean Forward in your company?

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