Keynote given at the Magic IT Summit, May 2016

1. THE AGILE FORMULA:
BUILDING A DIGITAL NATIVE
BUSINESS
NEIL PERKIN
FOUNDER, ONLY DEAD FISH

2. AGILITY =
(VELOCITY X FOCUS X
FLEXIBILITY)

3. VELOCITY

7. "The most interesting tech companies aren’t
trying to sell software to other companies.
They are trying to reshape industries from
top to bottom”
Chris Dixon
The ‘Full-Stack’ Start-up

8. Source: Ofcom

10. ‘The great management
dilemma of the 21st century
is the relationship between
these two curves: technology
is changing faster than
organizations can absorb
change.’
http://chiefmartec.com/2013/06/martecs-law-technology-changes-exponentially-organizations-change-logarithmically/

11. FOCUS

12. ‘Everyone has a plan
until they get punched
in the face’

13. …cash cows generated a
smaller share of total profits
(25% lower than in 1982),
and were proportionately
fewer, with the life span of
this stage declining
BCGs Growth-Share matrix

14. 1. Policy
2. Process
3. Systems
4. User
5. Stasis
1. Users
2. Service (re)design
3. System development
4. Policy check
5. Feedback
1. Start with needs
2. Do less
3. Design with data
4. Do the hard work to make it simple
5. Iterate. Then iterate again
6. Build for interaction
7. Understand context
8. Build digital services, not websites
9. Be consistent, not uniform
10. Make things open, it makes things better
New processOld process
Design principles

15. “Startups operate under conditions
of extreme uncertainty.”
Eric Ries

16. "A big piece of the story we tell ourselves about who we are, is that we are willing to invent.
We are willing to think long-term. We start with the customer and work backwards. And, very
importantly, we are willing to be misunderstood for very long periods of time. I believe if you
don’t have that set of things in your corporate culture, then you can’t do large-scale invention."
‘Stubborn on vision,
flexible on details’

17. ‘Chess, like business, is a
balance between the
mundane and the
unthinkable’

18. ‘Drink before you’re
thirsty, eat before
you’re hungry’

20. Spotify – Tribes, Chapters, Squads

21. FLEXIBILITY

23. FASHIONISTAS DIGIRATI
BEGINNERS CONSERVATIVES
http://www.capgemini-consulting.com/the-digital-advantage/

25. AUTONOMY

32. MASTERY

33. 'A policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has
lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the
policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he lost them in the park.
The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, "this is where the light is."'
The tyranny
of ‘best-
practice’

35. http://mattfollows.com/W-K-Embrace-Failure
Jim Collins:
Empirical Creativity

36. PURPOSE

37. “
The stronger the culture, the less process a company needs.
When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the
right thing. People can be independent and autonomous.
They can be entrepreneurial. And if we have a company that
is entrepreneurial in spirit, we will be able to take our next
‘(wo)man on the moon’ leap. Brian Chesky

38. CUSTOMER-CENTRIC
Development that is driven by
customer need, orienting
organizational structures,
processes and strategies towards
aligning a seamless customer
experience.
ADAPTABLE AND AGILE
A strong vision for where the company is
going allied to an ability to adapt
strategies, organize around opportunity
and embrace uncertainty
CURIOSITY/CONTINUOUS
LEARNING
Hunger for continuous learning and
improvement. Exploring, seeking
mindset wanting to understand
TECHNOLOGY LITERATE
Understanding the potential of,
integration and application of technology
to business
COMMERCIALLY-FOCUSED
In the approach to strategies,
prioritization, capability development
and decision-making
INNOVATIVE/ENTREPRENEURIAL
Willingness to take risks, approaches to
new ideas, a desire to find and solve
customer problems, prioritisation of new
initiatives
DATA/INSIGHT-DRIVEN
Adept in the use of data to drive decision-
making, particularly in product
development or prioritising investment
VISIONARY
Ability to encapsulate, articulate and
communicate a strong vision and
demonstrate this through behaviours and
decisions
OPEN/TRANSPARENT
Embracing transparency, no hidden
agendas

39. Creating the culture
to move fast

40. Vision
Vision
Vision
Vision
Vision
Action Plan
Action Plan
Action Plan
ActionPlan
Action Plan
Resources
Resources
Resources
Resources
Resources
Incentives
Incentives
Incentives
Incentives
Incentives
Skills
Skills
Skills
Skills
Skills
= Success
= Confusion
= False starts
= Frustration
= Resistance
= Anxiety

41. AGILITY =
(VELOCITY X FOCUS X
FLEXIBILITY)

42. @neilperkin
www.onlydeadfish.co.uk