5*5: A Systematic Approach to Pilots/Prototype Projects

This series of posts introduce a 5*5 systematic approach to pilot/prototype projects.  

From Idea to Pilot: A 5x5 Approach

From Pilot to Reflection: A 5=5 Method

From Reflection to Report: A 5<5 Report


 Keep an eye out for the 5*5 icon to find posts on pilot/prototype projects on this blog.

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a snapshot...

From Idea to Pilot: A 5x5 Approach

Pilot/Prototype 

1) What do I want to test? 
2) What is the headline if it is a success?
3) What is the best method for this pilot/prototype?
4) Will the method lead to the headline identified? 
5) What is the milestone/time frame to evaluate?

From Pilot to Reflection: A 5=5 Method

1) Brainstorm 5 successes & 5 failures
2) What surprised me?
3) What touched me?
4) How is my understanding different?
5) Based on this experience, what question will I ask myself next time?

Personal-Professional Development

1) What do I want to learn?
2) What is my role? What part reflects a learning edge?
3) Who are the smart people that I want to learn from/with? 
4) How can I assess my learning? 
5) Does this approach allow the learning I want? 

1) Brainstorm 5 successes & 5 failures
2) What surprised me?
3) What touched me?
4) How is my understanding different?
5) Based on this experience, what question will I ask myself next time?

From Reflection to Report: A 5<5 Report

Checklist of 5 things that I wish someone had told me before I started in <5% of the time spent on the project.

Attribution: this approach reflects a mashup from brilliant mentoring, modeling, discussions with many people... including Bruce Ettinger, Nancy Dubler, E. Nathaniel Gates, David Karshmer, Rachel Remen, Edward Harran, Andrew Lyon, Ian Page, and many more.

How do you approach pilots and prototyping?  What have you discovered that works?