Pivot
Planning

This technique helps you to strengthen ideas and enable the team to pivot considering a critical weakness.

When would you use Pivot Planning?

Pivot planner is a tool that can, and should, be used iteratively throughout the product development. Once the team has established a solid concept, the pivot planner can be used to focus on the weaknesses in the concept in order to improve it. Pivot planning will often follow the killer assumptions and also the concept analyzer exercises. The findings of the pivot planning exercise should be used to revise your lean canvas and/or the concept pitch slide deck.

Here’s where Pivot Planning can be a difference maker:

You are working a project and you’ve reached an impasse and want to ensure that your project doesn’t stall
You are working as an agile team on a project and you need to ensure that your team can rapidly iterate when results aren’t always positive
Your team is facing a crisis and needs to align everyone on immediate pivots

How does Pivot Planning work?

1
Prioritize the biggest weaknesses in your idea based on your research and/or concept analyzer chart
2
List Out specifically WHY the idea might fail because of those weaknesses
3
Conduct an idea burst to produce ways to improve the idea – i.e., what can you do now to ensure success
4
Revise your Lean Concept Canvas with your new & improved concept

Download the full Pivot Planning guide

Get access to instructions, templates, a case study, and more

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Deliberate Innovation Pivot Planning Tool Guide

Top Pivot Planning Tips

Complete the tool for each KILLER assumption – one at a time
“What we can do today” is not about planning tests. Answers should focus on actions to lessen the risk
Ensure people understand the criteria before using the tool. Don’t assume everyone has the same definition.
Determine the most realistic risks and plan for scenarios that are most likely to occur
Assign accountability for upfront mitigations as soon as possible

More Pivot Planning Tips & Stories

Storytelling is at the heart of our teaching and is essential for understanding new concepts. Here are some short stories and tips to continue to bring this tool to life.

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