The Challenging Fuzzy Front End
One of the biggest challenges we find in innovation is managing the Fuzzy Front End(1) – that complex challenging space at the earliest stages of innovation. Often, we come across organisations with a broad brush understanding of what they intend to develop, but find it difficult to articulate it in detail.
This becomes even more of a challenge as innovation becomes more diverse – with a single product needing to successfully integrate a wide range of disciplines and outlooks. How do we move from the ‘feel’ of what’s needed to something concrete, whilst maintaining a creative approach? How do we ensure everyone is aligned around the same mission, though they come at it from different directions? Moreover, how do we ensure that what we deliver meets the customer need, and not simply our perception of it?
The TPP Cascade
Figure 1: The TPP cascade
A way we’ve often addressed these challenges is through the use of a TPP cascade. The requirements, needs and research required in the early stages of a project are often hard to capture in a quantified form. The TPP cascade addresses this via introducing a staged process of definition, from top level target down through various levels of detail (from cloud to concrete). At the same time, it is structured to build a common understanding (mission) among diverse disciplines and functions, support creativity in the earliest project stages, and ensure that customer needs are understood and met as the project priority.
A key to the success of the TPP cascade is that it operates in what we call the Stage 0 of a project – focusing on concept and feasibility, and sitting before formal design controls, whilst still implementing a strong quality management approach. It is in essence an information gathering and decision-making framework, which leads directly into, for example, the formal design input requirements which kickstart good development processes.