A "Hothouse" is an agile innovation process that combines the principles of Build-Measure-Learn from Lean Startup, design thinking, and agile development to cut through the corporate overhead and solve important business challenges that ordinarily would take months in just a few days. More info at http://wp.me/pQmRk-9B.

1. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
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How to Make the Tortoise Dance
A Lean Innovation Process to Make a Big Company Move Like
a Startup
Shardul Mehta
Presented at ProductCamp DC, May 11, 2013

2. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
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Important Stuff!
1
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View the license at
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3. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
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Hi. I’m Shardul.
• Almost two decades years building and launching tech/software products
• Early career: software developer – Honeywell, First USA Bank (Chase)
• Co-founded cloud based healthcare dot-com start-up in 2000
• Product management, product marketing, product development
– Small business
– Mid-sized company in consumer services and retail that grew from $250M to $1B
– Led digital product management for Capital One’s Card online UX
• Founded ProductCamp DC in 2010: largest product professionals community
in the Mid-Atlantic
• MBA, Tepper Business School, Carnegie Mellon
• B.S., Computer & Information Sciences
2
@shardulmehta http://www.linkedin.com/in/shardulmehta
http://streetsmartproductmanager.comshardulmehta@gmail.com

4. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
3
What’s a big ship look like?

5. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
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4
What we wish for

6. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
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5
Reality

7. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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The challenge of getting things done in a big company
• Lots of stakeholders
• Many affected parties and vested interests
• Many opinions
• Many approvals
• Takes too long!
6

8. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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The challenge of getting things done in a big company
7
Source: http://www.ultimus.com/Blog/bid/39286/Don-t-Just-Consider-Complex-and-Complicated-Processes-for-Automation

9. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
The result…
8
Email overload
Too many
socialization meetings
Tons of
documentation
Needless deck work

10. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
What we really want is a process that…
 Accelerates solution development
 Spurs decision making
 Involves senior decision makers and the project team
 Keeps all parties aligned
 Can be implemented quickly

11. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Our insight!
We need to apply lean thinking to the process of gaining
consensus on key business decisions
10

12. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
The solution!
Agile innovation process: “Hothouse”
A 2-3 day workshop in which executive leaders
collaborate with product development teams in a series
of iterative sprints to solve key business problems
11

13. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
The Hothouse
Why do it?
• The intent is to dramatically accelerate decision making and ensure
alignment across all stakeholders and teams
– What typically takes weeks or months is completed in days
How does it work?
• Takes place over 2-3 days
• 1-3 small teams sprint to rapidly build solutionswhich are shared
and judged by senior leaders each day
– Creative Sprints: teams do work
– Design Reviews: teams receive feedback on work
• The output of the Hothouse establishes the foundation for the
project work post-Hothouse
12

14. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
The Hothouse follows Lean Startup’s Build-Measure-Lean loop
13

15. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Sample agenda for 2-day Hothouse
•08:30 – 09:00 Kickoff: Welcome/Intro
•09:00 – 10:00 Business Problem Overview
•10:00 – 12:00
•Demo Current State and/or Prototype
•Share any VOC Feedback
•Initial Design Review (#0)
•12:00 – 04:00 Creative Sprint #1
•04:00 – 05:00 Design Review #1
•08:30 – 12:00 Creative Sprint #2
•12:00 – 01:00 Design Review #2
•Initial IT Delivery Assessment (if
applicable)
•01:00 – 04:00 Creative Sprint #3
•04:00 – 05:00 Final Design Review (#4)
•05:00 – 05:15 Wrap Up, Gifts/Awards, Thank
You
• Creative Sprints: team takes the feedback from the judges to produce the next iteration of the
prototype
• Design Reviews:team demos the latest iteration for stakeholder feedback
• Lunches will be working sessions
Day 1 Day 2

16. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Sample agenda for 3-day, 2-team Hothouse
• 09:00– 11:00 Hothouse Kickoff
• Welcome
• Hothouse Overview & Agenda
• Business Problem Overview
• Design Review #0
• Next Steps & Sprint Team
Logistics
• 11:00 – 03:30 Creative Sprint #1
4.5-hr sprint. Sprint teams receive
lunch
• 03:30 – 05:00 Design Review #1
45 mins each team.
• 08:30 – 11:30 Creative Sprint #2
3-hr sprint.
• 11:30 – 01:00 Design Review #2
45 mins each team. Lunch served.
• 01:00 – 04:00 Creative Sprint #3
3-hr sprint
• 04:00 – 05:30 Design Review #3
45 mins each team
Day 1 Day 2
• 08:30 – 11:30 Creative Sprint #4
3-hr sprints
• 11:30 – 01:00 Design Review #4
45 mins each team. Lunch served.
• 01:00 – 1:15 Wrap-Up,
Gifts/Awards, Thank You’s
• 1:15 – 02:00 Retrospective &
Next Steps
Teams or team leads
Day 3
• Creative Sprints: team takes the feedback from the judges to produce the next iteration of their work
• Design Reviews:team presents the latest iteration for feedback from the Judges

17. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
A Hothouse combines lean principles across different disciplines
16
Build Measure
Learn
Agile
Development
Design
Thinking
Hothouseo
• Reframing the business
challenge
• High collaboration
between business and
developers
• Ideation
• User-centric thinking
• Synthesis
• Rapid prototyping
• Iterative workflow
• Continuous delivery
• Face-to-face
communication
• Product owner /
customer champion
• Team retrospections

18. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
A Hothouse can deliver multiple tangible outputs
17
INPUTS
• Business problem
• Research and user
feedback
• Current state materials
• SME knowledge
HOTHOUSE
• Creative Sprints
‒Demos / Prototypes
‒Key IT/Engg deliverables
‒Non-IT deliverables (e.g.,
marketing plans)
• Design Reviews
‒Senior leader feedback and
approval
OUTPUTS
 Key business decisions
and priorities
 Approved prototype(s)
 System impacts
 High-level delivery
estimates
 Rollout strategies
 Communication plans
 Other key deliverables

19. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Real-life implementations at F500 companies
• Re-design of a web page
– 1.5-day Hothouse
• Design of a user flow through an application
• Development of specific online capabilities, such as customer
enrollment and onboarding
– 1 team, 2 days
– UI deliverables: wireframes, prototypes
– IT deliverables: platform impacts, system flow, data flow
– High-level delivery estimates
• Full site re-design
– 3 teams competed over 2.5 days
– Winning design laid the foundation for future UX work
18

20. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Real-life implementations at F500 companies
• A complex re-platforming project involving migration from an
old system to a new one with considerations for customer and
business impacts
– 2 teams in 1 room for 2.5 days
– 4 complex business problems, 8 inputs
– Through 4 rounds of intense, agile iterations (Creative Sprints), they
progressed from:
• Ideas and research to
• Spreadsheet analysis and process maps to
• Wireframes and screen mockups to
• Critical UX decisions and a high-level migration approach
– Each team had 30-40 mins in each Design Review to wow 8 tough
judges
• GM/Business, Sales, Marketing, Ops, IT
19

21. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Real-life implementations at F500 companies
• An acquisition between Fortune 1000 companies
– 3 teams in 1 room for 3 days
– 8am – 7pm every day
– Business challenges tackled:
• Onboarding of acquired company’s customers
• Collision resolution of user credentials
• Login badge UI
• Single sign on
• Branding incorporation
• Mobile app
• Customer communications
• High-level delivery estimates
20

22. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
What success looks like
Solution Development
• Tangible progress
– Time-boxed session force action and
reduce “analysis paralysis”
• Innovative, creative solutions
• Decisions that directly impact go-to-
market strategy
• Early assessment of IT impacts,
bottlenecks, and delivery trade-offs
• Baseline clarity across everyone on:
– Business problems and goals
– Proposed solution
– Priorities and next steps
People & Process
• Active participation and buy-in from
executive leaders
– They feel a part of the process
• Clarity for delivery team on forward
direction
– Immediate feedback to the team
• Team building
• Mindshare across all departments
• Framework established for closer
collaboration between executives and
delivery team
21

23. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Benefits
 The folks most directly impacted are fully represented
– Senior decision makers
– Project team
 Ideation without being limited by existing technology or entrenched
business practices
– Rapid prototyping pushes the envelope on what’s possible
 Accelerated solution development
 High degree of collaboration and cooperation
 High use of visual artifacts (mockups, screenshots, prototypes, etc.) forces
“customer first” thinking and more actionable feedback
 Faster time-to-market
22

24. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Hothouse Agile Innovation Process
Combines lean & agile practices with executive
level decision making to accelerate solution
development on critical business challenges
23

25. © Shardul Mehta 2013
http://streetsmartproductmanager.com
This work describing the Hothouse Agile Innovation Process by Shardul Mehta is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900,
Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
Want to make your tortoise dance?
• Overview Talk/Presentation
• Hothouse Training
– ½-day and 1-day versions available
• Hothouse Planning, Organization and Facilitation
– Planning meeting
– Agenda preparation
– Preparation of Kick-Off and Final Day Wrap-Up Materials
– Logistics
– Check-ins
– Workshop facilitation
• Including post-workshop retrospective
– Final report
24
@shardulmehta http://www.linkedin.com/in/shardulmehta
http://streetsmartproductmanager.comshardulmehta@gmail.com
More tips & techniques
on applying lean
concepts available