Think big, start small!
I have been working for a big international corporate for fifteen years now. I was happy in the job I was in. I did not see a need for change. But somethings started nagging at the back of my brain when six years ago one of the CEOs mentioned innovation was a key part of the business. At the time, I was mostly busy with project managing enhancements to existing products not with developing new products for the customers. So I decided to send him an email questioning why I did not experience innovation on the work floor. He took the question seriously.
So what happened? He asked me to initiate innovation on the work floor. How? By identifying an ideation tool, creating a process and an organization around it. I first started with identifying the tool. There were millions. I used the product evaluation matrix for this, a typical corporate tool but very effective. I ended up with IdeaScale. It complied with the key components I had in mind: workflow, social interaction, moderation, rewards, and governance. This was the easy part. My colleagues noticed that this took my attention away from my daily work. One of them became curious and got involved too. Then another from the US, and the UK. We started up our own corporate startup. Most of the work was done in the evenings and weekends, but after half a year, we had created our MVP: a tool where colleagues could enter their ideas, vote for ideas and comment on them or collaborate on them. The ideas being modified by moderators who also become our ambassadors for the process and governors of the tool. The startup grew to include more than 3000 colleagues working with it and with ideas turning into real products.
Now this all was happening within the corporate in 2013. I ended up organizing innovation campaigns, moderating ideas, working on agile teams. Exciting times!
However the corporate climate changed as it often does. The plug was pulled out of the innovation project (currently 300 users still use our ideas which is fairly good I think). Attention moved towards updating backend systems and maintenance. Working on agile teams stayed.
But once you have caught the startup virus you want more!
Lean startup was introduced into the corporate two years ago. All teams including myself were taught the methodology. Some teams started up very enthusiastically but ending up moving in circles. Reasons being: endless discussions if the prototype was good enough to be tested with customers, others got stuck in surveys and more surveys .Fear of experimentation hit us. Sounds familiar? This happens throughout the corporate world.
After two months I quit the lean startup team I was in and decided it was time for change.
Today is November 10th 2017. It is exactly one year to date when I decided to move out of my private corporate circle. No, I did not leave my job as you may think. I started going to meetups with startups, talking to lean experts in other corporates. Sharing knowledge and experiences. I learned more than I could have imagined and it brought me more than I anticipated.
I started my own blog on Medium and ended up being a writer for Lean Startup Co. I went to a meetup of the Dutch Lean Startup Leadership Platform and ended up as a co-founder. I had a phone call with a new contact Carine Schneider and ended up as a moderator of a panel at WFF connect. And there are more exciting things to come which I cannot share yet.
That’s the life of uncertainty I am in currently. Six years ago I could not have imagined this. But I am perfectly happy with it.
