# Fluid Innovation Thinking > Fluid Innovation Thinking is the methodology for keeping your company continuously adaptable in the AI era. The Fluid Innovation Thinking Flywheel is its engine: four wheels (Research, Development, Marketing, Service) and sixteen steps your people run, turn after turn. By Dan Calinescu. Source: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com ## Wheel 1: Research To figure out what’s worth building. ### Step 1: Trends Find the signal in the noise: what people in your spaces increasingly want, rising or falling. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/research/trends/ #### What it is You listen. Trends finds the signal in the noise: in the spaces the owner chooses, it watches where people talk, what is written about them, and the data, every day or at whatever rhythm the owner sets. What you are listening for is a **fluid trend**: something people in one vertical increasingly want, before it is obvious. Garages want predictive maintenance. People want analogue experiences, and snail-mail clubs are growing. A trend is always driven by humans, and it is always heading somewhere: rising or falling, in how much people talk about it and in how they feel about it. The filter is simple and strict: behaviour, never opinions. “I would totally pay for that” is noise. “I have been doing this by hand every week” is signal. #### How to run it ```phases Step Choose the spaces | The owner decides what to look at, and how often to update. Everything else follows from that. Find where they talk | Subreddits, Substacks, Telegram channels, forums, newsletters, news and data: start from a default list, keep adding, and rate each source for how useful it has been. Climb from events to trends | An event is one thing that happened. Events that say the same thing are a pattern. A pattern that keeps repeating is a signal. A signal that keeps repeating is a trend. Recommend a direction | In this vertical, people want this. The owner says follow it, or not yet, and can tweak anything. ``` Keep as many trends as the owner wants, each with its heading, its early adopters, their own words, and what would change your mind. #### What you produce The Compass: find the signal in the noise. See which trends are rising or falling in the spaces you care about, who is driving them, and which way to go. #### Examples ```examples Four hobbies, one current | Snail-mail clubs, sticker collecting, paper journaling and vinyl look like four unrelated hobbies. Clustered, they point at one want: analogue experiences in a digital world. Talk about it was rising, and the feeling was warm. That became the direction. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Opinions instead of behaviour | What people say they would do is noise. What they already do, again and again, is signal. Calling an event a trend | One post is an anecdote. Only a pattern that keeps repeating, from more than one source, is a trend. Watching the wrong places | If you only read what your own industry reads, you hear what everyone hears. Go where these people actually talk. Falling in love with a trend | Write what would change your mind before the evidence arrives, or you will bend the evidence to fit. ``` #### What it hands on Trends never leave the Compass; they keep moving there. The Storyboard watches them from the moment one starts to form, and finds the people driving it. #### The tool: The Compass Find the signal in the noise. See which trends are rising or falling in the spaces you care about, who is driving them, and which way to go. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/compass.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **Spaces we watch.** Name the spaces to watch (verticals, kinds of people, kinds of problems) and what you're looking for in each. 1: One vague space (“AI”). 3: Two or three named spaces, each with what you're looking for. 5: Clear spaces, each with what's in and out of scope, reviewed this month. 2. **Sources.** List where these people talk online, and the news and data that cover them. 1: A couple of websites you already knew. 3: Places they talk, plus news and data, each with a link. 5: The full map: communities, newsletters, feeds and data, each rated for usefulness, new ones added this month. 3. **Events.** Capture what happened: a post, a review, an article, a number. Keep the link and the date. 1: A handful, without links. 3: Events from several sources, each linked and dated. 5: A steady flow at your rhythm, from every kind of source, each linked, dated and tagged to a space. 4. **Patterns.** Group events that say the same thing, and name each group. 1: Events loosely sorted. 3: Named patterns, each with three or more events. 5: Every event sits in a pattern or is marked as noise; patterns draw on more than one source. 5. **Signals.** Mark the patterns that keep repeating over time. 1: A pattern seen once, called a signal. 3: Signals that repeated across several updates. 5: Each signal shows how often it repeats and in how many independent sources, and is still repeating. 6. **Trends.** Name each repeating signal as a trend: what people want, in one vertical. Mark excitement and sentiment as rising, steady or falling. 1: Buzzwords (“AI is big”). 3: Trends written as what people want, each with a heading. 5: Each trend in the people's own terms, with its heading over time and the signals behind it. 7. **Early adopters.** Name the people and groups creating the early demand, and the tools they're adopting. 1: “Early adopters” in general. 3: Named groups or public voices for each trend. 5: For each trend: named public voices and communities, what they use and where they talk. Ready for the Storyboard. 8. **Their words.** Save what they say, word for word, with the source. 1: Paraphrases. 3: Several quotes per trend, each with its source. 5: Quotes for every trend, sourced and dated, showing the pain and the want in their own language. 9. **Direction.** Recommend one direction: in this vertical, people want this. The owner says follow it, or not yet. 1: A vague direction, or everything at once. 3: One direction, with the trend behind it. 5: One direction backed by a rising trend, its early adopters and their words, with the owner's decision and the date. 10. **What would change our mind.** For the direction and each top trend, write the evidence that would make you drop it. 1: A vague worry, nothing you could check. 3: One line for the direction. 5: Specific, checkable lines for the direction and every top trend (“if talk falls three months running…”), checked at every update. ### Step 2: Stories Find the real people driving each trend, and understand their world and their pain. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/research/stories/ #### What it is If a trend is real, humans are driving it. Stories finds those people, the real early adopters, and tells their story with them as the hero. You are still listening. Nothing gets designed here and nothing is offered. First understand their world and their pain, right now; then let the story sketch where they want to go. The customer is the hero, not your product and not your platform. #### How to run it ```phases Step Find the humans | The real people behind each forming trend, as many as you can find, guided by the owner. Public posts, or people who agreed to talk. Understand their world now | Where they work and live, what a normal day looks like, and the tools and people around them. Name their pain, three ways | What is in the way, how it feels, and why it shouldn't be this way. Then what is at stake if nothing changes. Sketch where they want to go | What success looks like to them, and who they want to become: from → to, in their own words. ``` Every card grows as its trend moves on the Compass: forming, then clear, then confirmed or ruled out by the Simulator. #### What you produce The Storyboard: find the humans behind the trend. Find the real people driving each trend, and understand their world and their pain before anything else. #### Examples ```examples The teacher and the letter | One early adopter was a primary-school teacher who posted photos of the letters she wrote to her pupils' families. Her pain was not nostalgia; it was that nothing she sent home was ever kept. From: ignored notes in book bags. To: letters families pinned to the fridge. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Personas instead of people | “Aged 35–50” produces nothing. A hero is a real person with a world and a pain. Skipping to solutions | The moment someone says “we could”, the hero stops being the subject. Hold every idea about helping. Inventing the voice | A voice you wrote yourself will only ever agree with you. Source every quote. The convenient pain | A hero whose problem happens to fit what you already have is not a hero. It is a sales deck. ``` #### What it hands on The Map watches the Storyboard: each hero's world, pain and from → to are where its journeys begin. #### The tool: The Storyboard Find the humans behind the trend. Find the real people driving each trend, and understand their world and their pain before anything else. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/storyboard.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **The trend.** Pick the trend from the Compass that this hero is part of. 1: A topic, not a trend from the Compass. 3: A named trend from the Compass. 5: A named, rising trend from the Compass, with the signals that point to this hero. 2. **The hero.** Name a real person in the trend: someone who posts in public, or who agreed to talk to you. 1: A type of person (“small business owners”). 3: A real, named person, with where you found them. 5: A real, named person, with where you found them, what they do and why they belong in this trend. 3. **Their world now.** Describe their world as it is today: their work, their days, the tools and people around them. 1: A line or two of guesses. 3: A clear picture of a normal day, partly from what they've said. 5: A vivid, specific picture of their world, built from what they've said and done, with sources. 4. **What's in the way.** Write the practical problem that stops them, in plain words. 1: A vague problem (“it's hard”). 3: One clear, practical problem. 5: A clear, practical problem, with examples from their own words and how often it happens. 5. **How it feels.** Write how the problem makes them feel, in their language. 1: A generic feeling (“annoyed”). 3: A specific feeling, linked to the problem. 5: Specific feelings in their own words, with the moments that trigger them. 6. **Why it's wrong.** Write why this problem is unfair or shouldn't exist, as they see it. 1: Left vague. 3: A clear reason, in plain words. 5: A clear, felt reason, in their own words, that anyone like them would recognise. 7. **What's at stake.** Write what they lose if nothing changes: time, money, people, pride. 1: A guess. 3: One clear loss. 5: Concrete losses, big and small, in their own terms. 8. **Where they want to go.** Sketch where they want to be, in their words. Nothing about us. 1: A wish that's really our product. 3: A clear goal, in their words. 5: A vivid picture of success as they would describe it, with no product in it. 9. **From → to.** Write who they are today and who they want to become. 1: Two labels. 3: A clear before and after. 5: A before and after they'd recognise, in their own words, showing the change in who they are. 10. **Their words.** Save what they say, word for word, with the source and the date. 1: Paraphrases. 3: Several quotes, each with its source. 5: Quotes for every section of this card, sourced and dated, in their own language. ### Step 3: Journeys Invent the ideal journeys those people would love, moment by moment, unconstrained. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/research/journeys/ #### What it is Now, for the first time, you invent, and our side begins: the directions we are interested in. Take a hero and imagine the ideal journeys they would love, as a path of moments: first they go here, then there. Each moment is a real situation in their life: where they are, what happens, what they feel, and the value they get. No feasibility yet: “can we build this?” and “what would it cost?” wait until Development. Nobody wants your product; they want what happens to them. #### How to run it ```phases Step Start from the hero | Their from → to, their pain, and their words, from the Storyboard. If they have a path today, sketch it as you understand it. Invent the moments | Moment by moment: where they are, what happens, what they feel, what value they get. End where they wanted to go. Be bold | Write plenty of journeys, and plenty of bold ones, as long as each makes sense in the hero's story. Write what must be true | The assumptions each journey rides on, each with a confidence, so the Simulator can test them. Then weed out and refine as time passes. ``` #### What you produce The Map: invent the journeys they'd love. Imagine ideal journeys for each hero, moment by moment, and the value each moment gives them. #### Examples ```examples The letter in the mailbox | She walks to the mailbox in her pyjamas: a thick, hand-addressed envelope, unlike anything in the pile. She reads it standing in the kitchen. Her day starts differently now. Value: a moment that is hers, every month. The bold one | Letters written as smuggled correspondence from 1950s Romania: aged paper, one corner burned. Feasible? Worth $10–15 a month? Nobody knows yet. That is what the Simulator is for. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Feasibility leaking in | “We could do that on the existing platform”, and ten minutes later the journeys are a feature list. Keep cost and building out. Products disguised as journeys | If you can build it straight from the sentence, it is a feature, not a journey. Only safe journeys | A set of safe journeys produces no new value. Keep the bold ones until the Simulator rules them out. Moments with no value | If nothing of value happens in a moment, there is nothing to test. ``` #### What it hands on The Simulator watches the Map, and tests each journey before anything is built. #### The tool: The Map Invent the journeys they'd love. Imagine ideal journeys for each hero, moment by moment, and the value each moment gives them. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/map.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **The hero.** Pick a hero from the Storyboard. 1: A type of person. 3: A hero from the Storyboard. 5: A hero from the Storyboard, with their pain and their words open beside you. 2. **From → to.** Copy the hero's from → to from the Storyboard. The journey must get them there. 1: Left out. 3: Copied from the Storyboard. 5: Copied from the Storyboard, and the journey clearly ends at their “to”. 3. **Today, as we understand it.** If they have a path today, sketch its moments and the biggest friction. It may not exist. 1: Left vague. 3: Today's main moments and the biggest friction. 5: Today's path moment by moment, from what they've said, with where it hurts most, or a note that no path exists yet. 4. **The moments.** Invent the journey as a row of moments: where they are, and what happens. 1: One moment, or a list of features. 3: Three or more moments in order. 5: A clear path of moments, each a real situation in their life, from where they start to where they end. 5. **What they feel.** Write what they feel at each moment. 1: Left out. 3: A feeling for most moments. 5: A specific feeling for every moment, rising to the end. 6. **The value they get.** Write what value they get at each moment: something they keep, learn or feel. 1: None, or vague. 3: Value named for most moments. 5: Real value at every moment, specific enough to test. 7. **Where it ends.** Describe the last moment, where they become who they wanted to be. 1: A vague ending. 3: A clear final moment. 5: A vivid final moment that matches their “to”. 8. **What must be true.** List what must be true for this journey to work, each with how confident you are. 1: One vague hope. 3: Two or three assumptions, with confidence. 5: Every key assumption, with a confidence, written so the Simulator can test it. 9. **How bold.** Mark how bold this journey is. Keep plenty of bold ones, as long as they fit the story. 1: Not marked. 3: Marked. 5: Marked, with a line on why it fits the hero's story. 10. **Status.** Keep the journey's status up to date as you weed out and refine. 1: Not marked. 3: Marked. 5: Marked and dated, with why it changed. ### Step 4: Pilots Simulate each journey with synthetic personas and real people, before anything is built. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/research/pilots/ #### What it is Pilots finds out whether a journey would be valuable before anything is built. It runs each journey as a simulation: first past a panel of synthetic personas built from the real heroes, then past real early adopters, who are shown the journey as a simulation, never a product: “if you went here, and then there, what would you think?” One question, asked of both: is this journey valuable to you? A journey passes when the panel and the real people agree. When they don't, it goes back to the Map with what was learned. A journey that doesn't pass is a result, not a failure. #### How to run it ```phases Step Build the panel | Synthetic personas from the heroes' words, the trend's language, your imagination and the owner's notes, with behaviour guidelines so they can't simply agree with us. Run each journey past them | Moment by moment, with a vote and feedback from every persona. Show it to real people | Early adopters from the Compass, each shown the same simulated journey, each asked the same question. Call the verdict | Both agree it's valuable: on to Development. Not yet: back to the Map, with what you learned. ``` This is the BUILD handoff. Development starts once a journey shows some validation and someone says go; it doesn't have to be perfect. #### What you produce The Simulator: test the journey before you build it. Find out whether a journey would be valuable, first with synthetic personas, then with real people, before anything is built. #### Examples ```examples The letters, simulated | The panel loved the monthly letter and shrugged at the smuggled one. Real early adopters agreed on the first, and several asked whether they could write back. One journey went on to Development; the question went back to the Map. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps A panel that only agrees | Personas built from your own hopes will say yes to everything. Build them from real words. Showing a product | Real people are shown the journey as a simulation. A demo tests your demo, not the journey. Asking friends | Colleagues and friends are kind. Ask the early adopters who are driving the trend. Hiding the no | A journey that doesn't pass teaches the Map something. Write it down. ``` #### What it hands on The Sketchbook starts from journeys that passed, and from what the Simulator learned. #### The tool: The Simulator Test the journey before you build it. Find out whether a journey would be valuable, first with synthetic personas, then with real people, before anything is built. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/simulator.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **The journey.** Pick the journey from the Map you're testing. 1: A loose idea. 3: A journey from the Map. 5: A journey from the Map, with its moments and what must be true. 2. **The hero.** Name the hero from the Storyboard this journey is for. 1: A type of person. 3: A hero from the Storyboard. 5: A hero from the Storyboard, with their words and their pain. 3. **The personas.** Build synthetic personas from the hero's words, the trend's language and the owner's notes. 1: One generic persona. 3: A few personas, built from the hero. 5: A panel of personas with clear behaviour guidelines from real words, so they can't just agree with us. 4. **Panel votes.** Run the journey past each persona, moment by moment, and record their vote. 1: A single vote. 3: A vote from every persona. 5: A vote from every persona, at every moment, with how sure they are. 5. **Panel feedback.** Record what each persona said about the journey. 1: A summary. 3: Feedback from every persona. 5: Specific feedback per moment, in the personas' words, with what they'd change. 6. **Real people.** Show the journey to real early adopters as a simulation: “if you went here, then there…”. Never a product. 1: Friends or colleagues. 3: A few real early adopters. 5: Real early adopters from the Compass, each shown the journey the same way. 7. **Their votes.** Record each real person's vote. 1: A single yes. 3: A vote from every person. 5: A vote from every person, with what they did next. 8. **Their feedback.** Record what each person said, in their words. 1: A summary. 3: Quotes from every person. 5: Quotes from every person, sourced and dated, with what they'd change. 9. **Verdict.** Decide: the panel and real people both find it valuable, or it goes back to the Map. 1: A guess, without both sets of votes. 3: A verdict. 5: A verdict backed by both sets of votes and feedback, with the owner's decision and the date. 10. **What we learned.** Write what this test taught you, so the Map gets better either way. 1: A vague impression. 3: One or two lessons. 5: Clear lessons for the Map and the Storyboard, written as changes to make. Handoff: BUILD, from Pilots to Blueprints. ## Wheel 2: Development To make it. ### Step 5: Blueprints Figure out what you're going to build before you build it, in small chunks. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/development/blueprints/ #### What it is Blueprints figures out what you are going to build before you build it. Before you build a house, you draw it: the whole thing, its floor plan, its rooms, how they connect, what it stands on, and the order it goes up in. Here the rooms are **chunks**: small parts a person in the journey can touch, small enough to build in days, each able to change or be dropped without breaking the others. Fluidity is the number of things allowed to move on their own. #### How to run it ```phases Step Start from what passed | The journey, its validation from the Simulator, and who said go. What it proved is known; everything else is a question. Draw the whole | What you are building, in a line or two, and the shape of it, like a floor plan. Cut it into chunks | Each tied to a moment in the journey, each with the one question it must answer, and connected to the others as loosely as possible. Build on what you have | Your people, data, customers and tools come first. Then only what is truly new, in the order you'll build it. ``` #### What you produce The Sketchbook: draw it before you build it. Figure out what you're going to build before you build it: the whole thing, cut into small chunks that can each change on their own. #### Examples ```examples The monthly letter, drawn | The journey cut into chunks: the writing, the paper and printing, the collectible sticker, and the subscription. Each can change without the others. The sticker has to prove it brings people back the next month, or it goes. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps A feature list with a new name | If the plan reads like a backlog, the journey has been lost. Every chunk traces back to a moment. Chunks too big | If a chunk takes months, it isn't a chunk. Cut it again. Welded chunks | Chunks that can only ship together will only ever fail together. Demolishing to rebuild | Rebuilding what you already have costs quarters. Rearranging it costs weeks. ``` #### What it hands on The Canvas designs each chunk, and the Foundry builds them, in the order written here. #### The tool: The Sketchbook Draw it before you build it. Figure out what you're going to build before you build it: the whole thing, cut into small chunks that can each change on their own. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/sketchbook.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **Ready to move.** Name the journey that passed the Simulator, what showed it's ready, and who said “go”. 1: A journey nobody has tested. 3: A journey with some thumbs up from the Simulator. 5: A journey with thumbs up from both the panel and real people, and the owner's “go” with the date. 2. **What we're building.** Say what you're building and who it's for, in one or two plain lines. 1: A feature list. 3: A clear line on what it is. 5: One or two lines anyone could repeat: what it is, who it's for, and the moment it serves. 3. **The shape of it.** Sketch the whole thing and its main parts, like a floor plan. 1: A list, not a shape. 3: A simple sketch of the main parts. 5: A clear sketch where every part traces back to a moment in the journey. 4. **The chunks.** Cut it into chunks: each one something a person can touch, small enough to build in days. 1: Big parts that take months. 3: Several small chunks, each tied to a moment. 5: Small chunks that each stand alone, can be built in days and dropped without breaking the rest. 5. **How they connect.** Write what each chunk needs from the others, and keep it as little as possible. 1: Everything depends on everything. 3: The main links between chunks written down. 5: Only the links that must exist, so each chunk can change, ship or be dropped on its own. 6. **What each chunk must prove.** Give every chunk one question it must answer once built. 1: No questions, just tasks. 3: A question for most chunks. 5: A clear, checkable question for every chunk, written before anything is built. 7. **What we already have.** List the people, data, customers and tools you can build on. 1: Starting from nothing. 3: The main things you can reuse. 5: Everything you can rearrange first, matched to the chunks that will use it. 8. **What's new.** List only what you must build new. 1: Everything is new. 3: A short list of new things. 5: A minimal list, each new thing justified by a chunk nothing else can serve. 9. **Order.** Number the chunks in the order you'll build them, starting with what's riskiest or most valuable. 1: A rough guess at an order. 3: An order. 5: An order that builds the riskiest, most valuable chunk first, with a line on why. 10. **What we don't know yet.** List what's still open, and the result that would make you drop each chunk. 1: A vague worry. 3: The main open questions. 5: Every open question, each with the result that would drop the chunk it belongs to. ### Step 6: Designs Design what each chunk looks and feels like to the hero, before anyone builds it. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/development/designs/ #### What it is Designs decides what each chunk looks and feels like to the hero, before anyone builds it. If the Sketchbook is the blueprint, the Canvas is the interior design: what each room is like when you walk in. You are designing what happens to a person, not screens. A screen, a letter, a voice, a person or an object are only the carriers. One Canvas per chunk, covering the moments it serves. #### How to run it ```phases Step Walk the moments | Where the hero is, what they see and do, step by step from their side, and what they feel. Name the value | What they get at each moment, in their words, not yours. Choose the carrier last | Sketch it, then pick what carries it: whatever fits where the hero is. Test it, protect the peak | Show it to the Simulator's personas and to real people. Keep the detail that makes it special. ``` #### What you produce The Canvas: design the moment, not the screen. Design what each chunk looks and feels like to the hero, moment by moment, before anyone builds it. #### Examples ```examples The kitchen moment | The peak was reading the letter standing in the kitchen. So the envelope opens with one hand, the letter fits on a single folded sheet, and the sticker falls out last, as a small surprise. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Designing screens instead of moments | A tidy interface can still deliver nothing. Start from what happens to the person. Losing their words | Once the team writes in its own voice, the design drifts toward the company. Testing only with the team | The personas and the real people are the fastest judges of whether it still delivers. Sanding off the peak | Polishing usually removes exactly the strange detail people loved. ``` #### What it hands on The Foundry builds each chunk from its Canvas. #### The tool: The Canvas Design the moment, not the screen. Design what each chunk looks and feels like to the hero, moment by moment, before anyone builds it. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/canvas.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **The chunk.** Pick a chunk from the Sketchbook and list the moments of the journey it covers. 1: A screen, not a chunk. 3: A chunk from the Sketchbook. 5: A chunk from the Sketchbook, with every moment it covers named. 2. **Where the hero is.** Describe where the hero is and what's going on when this happens. 1: A guess. 3: A clear situation. 5: A vivid, specific situation taken from the hero's own words. 3. **What they see and do.** Walk through what they see and do, step by step, from their side. 1: A feature list. 3: The main steps, from their side. 5: Every step from their side, simple enough that nobody needs to be told what to do. 4. **What they feel.** Write what they feel as they go through it. 1: A generic feeling. 3: A feeling for each moment. 5: A specific feeling for each moment, rising to the peak. 5. **The value they get.** Write what they get from it, in their terms. 1: Value for us, not them. 3: A clear value for them. 5: Real value at every moment, in their words, that the Simulator's people confirmed. 6. **Their words.** Write the words it uses, taken from how they talk. 1: Our jargon. 3: Mostly their words. 5: Every word on it in their language, with where it came from. 7. **The carrier.** Choose what carries it, last: a screen, paper, a voice, a person, an object. 1: Chosen first, out of habit. 3: A carrier that fits. 5: The carrier that best fits where the hero is, chosen after the moment was designed. 8. **The look.** Sketch it, or attach a mockup. 1: Words only. 3: A rough sketch. 5: A sketch or mockup clear enough for someone else to build from. 9. **Tested with.** Show it to the Simulator's synthetic personas and to real people, and write what they said. 1: Only the team. 3: Personas or real people. 5: Both personas and real people, with what they said and what you changed. 10. **The peak.** Name the detail that makes it special, and protect it. 1: Not named. 3: Named. 5: Named, explained, and still there after every change. ### Step 7: Builds Build it one chunk at a time, and keep, change or drop each one on what happens. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/development/builds/ #### What it is Builds makes it real, one chunk at a time. Whatever does the work, people decide what is worth making and whether it worked. There is one Foundry for the whole build, kept current. Each chunk is built at its smallest, put in front of people as soon as it can be touched, and kept, changed or dropped on what happens. #### How to run it ```phases Step Build the smallest chunk | The least you can build that still answers its question. Never the whole thing at once. Reuse before you build | Build each chunk from what already exists wherever you can. One named person decides. Put it in people's hands | Personas and real people touch each chunk before the next one depends on it. Keep, change or drop | Against the question the Sketchbook gave it. What you learn goes back to the Sketchbook and the Canvas. ``` #### What you produce The Foundry: build it one chunk at a time. Build each chunk for real, put it in front of people as soon as it can be touched, and keep, change or drop it on what happens. #### Examples ```examples The sticker that stayed | The first printed batch went to the real people from the Simulator. The letter and the paper held up; the sticker was the reason several of them talked about it with friends, so it stayed, and grew into a small collectible series. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Building the whole thing first | A finished thing nobody has touched is a launch with a large budget. Letting the tools decide | Machines can make almost anything. Deciding what is worth making is the human part. Keeping chunks out of kindness | A chunk that failed its question and survived costs more every release. Speed as the goal | A faster build of the wrong chunk is the most expensive kind of fast. ``` #### What it hands on The Launchpad takes the kept chunks and gets them ready to launch. #### The tool: The Foundry Build it one chunk at a time. Build each chunk for real, put it in front of people as soon as it can be touched, and keep, change or drop it on what happens. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/foundry.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **What we're building.** Copy what you're building from the Sketchbook, in a line or two. 1: Unclear. 3: Copied from the Sketchbook. 5: Copied from the Sketchbook, and everyone building it can say it in their own words. 2. **The chunks.** List every chunk and mark it: not started, building, or ready to touch. 1: A to-do list. 3: Every chunk with a status. 5: Every chunk with an honest, current status, and its question beside it. 3. **Building now.** Name the chunk being built now, and the smallest version that answers its question. 1: Several things at once. 3: One chunk at a time. 5: One chunk, cut to the smallest version that still answers its question. 4. **Who builds.** Name who is doing the work, the tools they use, and the one person who decides. 1: Nobody named. 3: Builders and a decider named. 5: The builders and their tools named, and one person deciding what's worth making and whether it worked. 5. **What we're reusing.** List what each chunk reuses from what you already have. 1: Built from scratch. 3: The main reused parts. 5: Every chunk built on what exists wherever it can be, with what was saved. 6. **Ready to touch.** List the chunks people can actually try now. 1: Something half-working, shown to a few. 3: At least one chunk. 5: Every finished chunk in people's hands before the next one depends on it. 7. **Who touched it.** Write who tried each chunk: synthetic personas and real people. 1: Only the team. 3: Some real people. 5: Personas and real people from the trend, for every chunk. 8. **What happened.** Write what happened with each chunk, compared with what it had to prove. 1: Opinions. 3: A result for each chunk. 5: A result for each chunk measured against its question, with what people did, not just said. 9. **Decisions.** Decide for each chunk: keep, change or drop. A person decides. 1: Everything kept. 3: A decision for each chunk. 5: A decision for each chunk, made by a person on the evidence, with the date. 10. **What we learned.** Write what the build taught you, as changes to the Sketchbook and the Canvas. 1: A vague impression. 3: One or two lessons. 5: Clear lessons, written as changes to make in the Sketchbook and the Canvas. ### Step 8: Releases Get it ready for launch: versions, released to small circles, compared. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/development/releases/ #### What it is Releases gets it ready for launch. This is not the launch itself; that is Marketing. It is the checks and test runs on the pad: versions, released to small circles of people, compared, and the best one picked. Each version has a number and a list of what changed. Different circles get different versions; you watch what people actually do with each, and keep a way back to the last good version. #### How to run it ```phases Step Number the version | What's in it, and what changed since the last one. Release to small circles | The team, the Simulator's real people, a small slice of others. Each circle gets its version. Compare A and B | One clear difference, and what people did with each: did they come back without being asked? Decide: ready, or not yet | Enough real, repeated use, not perfection, and someone says go. Keep a tested way to roll back. ``` This is the LAUNCH handoff. Marketing starts once a version is ready and someone says go. #### What you produce The Launchpad: get it ready for lift-off. Prepare what's built for launch: release versions to small circles of people, compare them, and pick the one that's ready. #### Examples ```examples Two versions of the letter | Version A arrived on the first of the month; version B arrived on a random day with a note saying so. Both circles kept reading, but B's readers wrote back twice as often. B went to Marketing. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Launching here | A big release from the Launchpad skips Marketing, and the people it's for never hear about it properly. Versions you can't tell apart | If nobody knows what changed, nobody can learn from the result. Counting sign-ups | Sign-ups measure curiosity. Repeated, unprompted use measures value. No way back | If a version breaks, you need the last good one within minutes, not days. ``` #### What it hands on The Newsroom starts from what the Launchpad made ready. #### The tool: The Launchpad Get it ready for lift-off. Prepare what's built for launch: release versions to small circles of people, compare them, and pick the one that's ready. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/launchpad.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **What's ready.** List the kept chunks from the Foundry and what they add up to. 1: Unfinished chunks. 3: The kept chunks. 5: The kept chunks, adding up to the journey's main moments. 2. **The version.** Give the version a number, list what's in it and what changed since the last one. 1: Versions you can't tell apart. 3: A numbered version with its contents. 5: A numbered version, its contents and every change since the last, so anyone can tell versions apart. 3. **Who gets which version.** Decide which circle gets which version: the team, the Simulator's real people, a small slice of others. 1: Everyone at once. 3: Two or more circles. 5: Small, named circles, each with its version, widening only as each one proves out. 4. **What we're testing.** Write what's different between version A and version B, and what you expect to learn. 1: Two versions with no clear difference. 3: A clear difference. 5: One clear difference, with what you expect and what result would settle it. 5. **Version A.** Describe version A and who has it. 1: Unclear. 3: Described, with who has it. 5: Described, with who has it, since when, and how many. 6. **Version B.** Describe version B and who has it. 1: Unclear. 3: Described, with who has it. 5: Described, with who has it, since when, and how many. 7. **What people did.** Watch what people did with each version: did they come back without being asked? 1: Compliments. 3: Usage for each version. 5: Repeated, unprompted use for each version, measured the same way. 8. **The winner.** Pick the version that worked better, and say why. 1: A favourite. 3: A winner. 5: A winner chosen on what people did, with the numbers behind it. 9. **Ready to launch.** Decide whether it's ready for Marketing: enough real use, not perfection. Someone says go. 1: Launched without a decision. 3: A decision. 5: A decision backed by real, repeated use, with who said go and the date. 10. **If it goes wrong.** Write how you'll go back to the last good version if something breaks. 1: A hope it won't break. 3: A way back. 5: A tested way back to the last good version, and who can trigger it. Handoff: LAUNCH, from Releases to Messages. ## Wheel 3: Marketing To show it to the people it’s for. ### Step 9: Messages Say what the new thing does for its people, in their own words, in one breath. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/marketing/messages/ #### What it is Messages finds the one line that says what the new thing does for its people, in their own words, in one breath. It is the first step of Marketing. A message is not a slogan or a feature list. It is what a hero would say to a friend about what happened to them. It is also where we first speak: how we help, the simple plan we offer, and the one thing we ask. Every tool is partly their side and partly ours. #### How to run it ```phases Step Gather their words | Everything people actually said, in every tool so far. The message is already in there. Say what happens to them | Not what the thing is: what changes for the person, and when they notice. Then how we help, the plan, and the next step. Cut it to one breath | If it needs a second sentence, it isn't finished. Write down what it will not say. Read it to the people it's for | The line they repeat back without being asked is the message. ``` #### What you produce The Newsroom: say it in their words. Find the one line that says what the new thing does for its people, in their own words, and that they repeat back without being asked. #### Examples ```examples A letter worth opening | The team's draft said “a curated monthly correspondence experience”. An early reader had said, “It's the one thing in my mailbox I open standing up.” That became the message. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps The company's voice | Words nobody outside the building would use. If a customer wouldn't say it, nobody will repeat it. Describing the product | What it is, rather than what happens to the person who has it. Writing for everyone | A message for everyone moves no one. Write it for the hero. Promising more than you'll deliver | Write what the message doesn't say, so nobody adds it later. ``` #### What it hands on The Giftbox gives people something to hold while they hear it. #### The tool: The Newsroom Say it in their words. Find the one line that says what the new thing does for its people, in their own words, and that they repeat back without being asked. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/newsroom.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **Ready to launch.** Name what the Launchpad made ready, and who said go. 1: Something not yet ready. 3: A version marked ready. 5: A version marked ready on real, repeated use, with who said go and the date. 2. **The hero.** Name the hero from the Storyboard this message speaks to. 1: Everyone. 3: A hero from the Storyboard. 5: One hero from the Storyboard, with their world and their pain beside you. 3. **Their words.** Gather what people said in every tool so far, word for word. 1: Our own words. 3: A handful of real quotes. 5: Many real quotes from the Compass, Storyboard, Simulator and Launchpad, each with its source. 4. **What happens to them.** Write what changes for them, and when they notice. Not what the thing is. 1: A feature list. 3: A clear change. 5: A specific change they would notice, in their words. 5. **How we help.** Write why they can trust us to help: what we understand about them, and what we've done. 1: A boast. 3: A clear reason to trust us. 5: A reason to trust us that shows we understand them, backed by what real people did. 6. **The plan.** Write the two or three steps they'd take with us. 1: Many steps, or none. 3: Clear steps. 5: Two or three steps so simple anyone could follow them. 7. **The next step.** Write the one thing we ask them to do next. 1: Several asks. 3: One clear ask. 5: One small, easy ask that follows naturally from the gift. 8. **What it doesn't say.** Write the claims you will not make, so nobody adds them later. 1: Left open. 3: A few limits. 5: Clear limits, so the message never promises more than we'll deliver. 9. **The message.** Write the message in one breath, in their words. 1: A slogan in our voice. 3: One clear line. 5: One line a hero would say to a friend, that people repeat unprompted. 10. **Repeated back.** Read it to the people it's for, and count who says it back without being asked. 1: Read only to the team. 3: Read to real people. 5: Read to many real people, with how many repeated it and what they changed. ### Step 10: Gifts Give something of real value first, so people meet the work before the pitch. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/marketing/gifts/ #### What it is Gifts gives the people it's for something of real value first, with nothing asked in return. A gift is a real piece of the experience, whole on its own. It is how a new thing earns attention honestly. People believe what they have held more than anything they have been told. #### How to run it ```phases Step Find the piece worth giving | A real moment from the experience, small enough to give away and good enough to remember. Make it whole on its own | A gift that only works if they buy the rest is a sample with a hook. Give it, and ask for nothing | To the early adopters from the Compass, where they already are. No form before it, no pitch after it. Watch what people do | Who keeps it, uses it, passes it on and comes back, against numbers set before you gave it. ``` #### What you produce The Giftbox: give before you ask. Give the people it's for something of real value first, with nothing asked in return, and watch what they do with it. #### Examples ```examples One letter, posted | A single real letter, sent to people in paper-journaling groups, with a note: “No subscription. This one is yours.” Many wrote back. Some posted photos of it. That was the campaign before there was a campaign. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps A discount is not a gift | Money off is still asking them to buy. Give them something real. Strings attached | A form before or a pitch after turns the gift into a trade. Giving to your old list | Give it to the people driving the trend, not the customers you already have. Not deciding what it must show | Set how many must keep and pass it on before you give it, or any result will look like success. ``` #### What it hands on The Lighthouse carries the message and the gift to where these people gather. #### The tool: The Giftbox Give before you ask. Give the people it's for something of real value first, with nothing asked in return, and watch what they do with it. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/giftbox.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **The hero.** Name the hero this gift is for. 1: Everyone. 3: A hero from the Storyboard. 5: One hero, and the early adopters like them on the Compass. 2. **The message.** Copy the message from the Newsroom. 1: Our slogan. 3: The Newsroom's message. 5: The Newsroom's message, repeated back by real people. 3. **The gift.** Pick a real piece of the experience, small enough to give away and good enough to remember. 1: A discount or a brochure. 3: A real piece of the experience. 5: A real moment of the experience people would keep even if they never came back. 4. **Why it matters to them.** Write why it's valuable to them, in their words. 1: Why it matters to us. 3: A clear value for them. 5: A value they'd describe the same way, taken from what they said. 5. **Whole on its own.** Check it works on its own, with nothing to buy and no hook. 1: A sample with a hook. 3: Useful on its own. 5: Complete and useful on its own, with nothing held back to force the next step. 6. **Who receives it.** List who gets it, from the Compass's early adopters, and how many. 1: A mailing list. 3: Early adopters from the trend. 5: Named early adopters and communities from the Compass, with how many in each. 7. **How it's given.** Decide where and how you give it: no form before, no pitch after. 1: Behind a form. 3: Given freely. 5: Given where they already are, with nothing asked before or after. 8. **What it must show.** Write how many must keep, use and pass it on, before you give it. 1: Decided afterwards. 3: A number set in advance. 5: Clear numbers for keeping, using and passing on, set before the first gift. 9. **What people did.** Count who kept it, used it, passed it on and came back. 1: A feeling. 3: Counts for each. 5: Counts for each, compared with what it had to show, with names where people agreed. 10. **What it costs, and if it falls short.** Write what each gift costs, and what you'll do if it falls short. 1: A hope. 3: A cost and a plan B. 5: A cost per gift, and a plan B decided before giving. ### Step 11: Campaigns Take the message and the gift to the people whose behaviour started it, not to the old sales list. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/marketing/campaigns/ #### What it is Campaigns takes the message and the gift to the places the trend's people already gather, not to the old sales list. The Compass already knows where those places are. A campaign is honest and peer-to-peer: the story of a hero, in their words, told by people like them. You count who took the gift and answered, not who saw it. #### How to run it ```phases Step Go where they gather | Up to three places from the Compass's sources to start, each with who's there. Tell the hero's story | Someone like them, the moment, and what changed for them. The customer is the hero, not the company. Let people like them tell it | People from the Launchpad's circles and the Simulator's real people, with us in support. Count answers, not reach | Who took the gift and answered, in each place, against numbers set in advance. ``` #### What you produce The Lighthouse: go where they already gather. Take the message and the gift to the places the trend's people already gather, told by people like them, and count who takes the gift and answers. #### Examples ```examples Where the paper people are | The letter was not advertised to the company's existing customers. It went to paper-journaling and snail-mail groups, told as the story of one reader and her kitchen, and shared first by the people who had tested it. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Buying reach | Attention you paid for leaves when the budget does. The trend's own community stays. Telling the company's story | Nobody shares a company's story. They share a person's. Too many places | Three places done well teach you more than twenty done thinly. Counting views | Views measure the campaign, not the people. Count who answered. ``` #### What it hands on The Roundtable answers everyone who answers. #### The tool: The Lighthouse Go where they already gather. Take the message and the gift to the places the trend's people already gather, told by people like them, and count who takes the gift and answers. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/lighthouse.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **The message.** Copy the message from the Newsroom. 1: Our slogan. 3: The Newsroom's message. 5: The Newsroom's message, the one people repeated back. 2. **The gift.** Copy the gift from the Giftbox. 1: A discount. 3: The Giftbox's gift. 5: The Giftbox's gift, with what it showed so far. 3. **The trend it rides.** Name the trend this campaign rides. 1: A buzzword. 3: A trend from the Compass. 5: A rising trend from the Compass, with its early adopters. 4. **Where they gather.** Pick up to three places from the Compass's sources where these people already talk. 1: Where we already advertise. 3: Places from the Compass. 5: Up to three places from the Compass, each with who's there and why it fits. 5. **The story we tell.** Tell the story of someone like them: the moment, and what changed for them. 1: Our story. 3: A hero's story. 5: A real hero's story, in their words, that people in each place would recognise. 6. **Who tells it.** Name who tells it: people from the Launchpad's circles, the Simulator's real people, and us. 1: Only us. 3: Some real people. 5: Real people like them, telling it in their own words, with us in support. 7. **When.** Set when it runs in each place. 1: Whenever. 3: Dates for each place. 5: Dates that fit how each place works, spaced so you can learn between them. 8. **What must happen.** Write how many must take the gift, and how many must answer, before it starts. 1: Reach and likes. 3: Numbers set in advance. 5: Numbers for taking the gift and answering, per place, set before it starts. 9. **What happened.** Count who took the gift and who answered, in each place. 1: Views. 3: Counts for each place. 5: Counts for each place, compared with what had to happen. 10. **If it falls short.** Write what you'll do if a place falls short. 1: A hope. 3: A plan B. 5: A plan B for each place, decided before it starts. ### Step 12: Conversations Talk with everyone who answers, one at a time, and learn who is ready for more. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/marketing/conversations/ #### What it is Conversations talks with everyone who answered, one at a time, and learns who is ready for more. It is the last step of Marketing, and the one that hands people to Service. A conversation is not a sales call. It is a person from the team listening to someone who has held the gift and wants to say something about it. #### How to run it ```phases Step Answer everyone who answers | Every reply gets a reply. Silence teaches people not to write. Listen for what happened to them | What they did with the gift, who they told, what they wish it did. Ask what they'd want next | Not “would you buy it”. What would they want more of, and how often? Mark who is ready | Some want more now. Some are just being kind. Write down which is which, and why. ``` This is the ENGAGE handoff. Service starts once some people are clearly ready and someone says go. #### What you produce The Roundtable: answer everyone who answers. Talk with everyone who answered, one at a time, listen to what happened to them, and learn who is ready for more. #### Examples ```examples “Can I write back?” | Of the people who answered the letter, a third asked the same thing: could they send a letter back? Those were the ones ready for more. The question itself went back to the Compass. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Selling in disguise | If every conversation ends with a pitch, people stop answering. Leaving people waiting | A reply three weeks later says the answer didn't matter. Answering with a script | People can tell a script from a person. Trust lost here doesn't come back. Mistaking kindness for readiness | People who were only polite will be polite in Service too. Mark them not yet. ``` #### What it hands on The Workbench starts with each person who is ready, and what they asked for. #### The tool: The Roundtable Answer everyone who answers. Talk with everyone who answered, one at a time, listen to what happened to them, and learn who is ready for more. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/roundtable.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **Who answered.** List everyone who answered the Lighthouse. 1: A few names. 3: Everyone who answered. 5: Everyone who answered, with where and when. 2. **Every reply answered.** Reply to every person, honestly and by name. 1: Some left waiting. 3: Everyone answered. 5: Everyone answered quickly, honestly, and by name. 3. **What they did with the gift.** Ask what they did with the gift. 1: Assumed. 3: Asked of most. 5: Asked of everyone, with what they actually did. 4. **Who they told.** Ask who they told or passed it on to. 1: Not asked. 3: Asked of most. 5: Asked of everyone, with who those people are. 5. **What they wish it did.** Write what they wish it did, in their words. 1: Our guesses. 3: Their wishes. 5: Their wishes in their own words, grouped by what comes up again and again. 6. **What they'd want next.** Ask what they'd want more of, and how often. Not “would you buy it”. 1: Asked “would you buy it”. 3: What they'd want next. 5: What they'd want next and how often, for everyone who answered. 7. **Their words.** Save the words worth keeping, with who said them and when. 1: Paraphrases. 3: Several quotes. 5: Quotes from many people, sourced and dated. 8. **Not yet, and why.** Mark who isn't ready, and why. 1: Everyone marked ready. 3: Some marked not yet. 5: Everyone marked, with an honest reason for each not yet. 9. **Ready for more.** Mark who is ready for more, and why. When enough are, someone says go to Service. 1: Everyone who was polite. 3: Some ready, with reasons. 5: The clearly ready, each with a reason in their words, and who said go. 10. **What we learned.** Write what the conversations taught you, as changes for the Newsroom, the Giftbox and the Compass. 1: A vague impression. 3: One or two lessons. 5: Clear lessons, written as changes for each tool. Handoff: ENGAGE, from Conversations to Explorations. ## Wheel 4: Service To serve the people it’s for, so they choose to stay. ### Step 13: Explorations Work out with each interested customer what it would change for them, before any price. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/service/explorations/ #### What it is Explorations works out, with each person who is ready, what the new thing would change in their week, before any price. It is the first step of Service. You are not there to persuade; you are there to understand what would make their week better. If you both can see their moment of value, the offer writes itself. #### How to run it ```phases Step Start from their week | What they do today, what it costs them, and what they asked for in the Roundtable. Find their moment of value | Where the new thing would matter most in their life. Try it on together | Walk through their real week with the real thing in it, wherever you can. Agree what success looks like | In their words, and measurable. Then decide together whether they're ready for an offer. ``` One Workbench per person, agreed with them. #### What you produce The Workbench: listen before you offer. Work out with each person who's ready what the new thing would change in their week, before any price. #### Examples ```examples A letter for a classroom | A teacher who had answered the gift didn't want a letter for herself. She wanted one a month for her class, to read aloud on Fridays. The exploration found her moment of value, and it was not the one the team had designed for. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Pitching in disguise | If you already know the answer, it isn't an exploration. Listen for the moment you didn't expect. Talking about the product | Talk about their week. The product only matters where it changes it. Skipping to the price | A price before the value is clear is a number to argue about. Exploring with the unready | People who were only being kind will be kind here too. Serve the ready ones. ``` #### What it hands on The Promise turns what success means to them into an offer they can say yes to. #### The tool: The Workbench Listen before you offer. Work out with each person who's ready what the new thing would change in their week, before any price. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/workbench.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **Ready for more.** Name the person from the Roundtable, and what they asked for. 1: Someone who was only kind. 3: A person marked ready. 5: A person marked ready, with what they asked for in their words. 2. **The person.** Write who they are and their situation. 1: A type. 3: A named person. 5: A named person, with their work, their days and who's around them. 3. **Their week today.** Describe their week as it is: what they do and what it costs them. 1: Guessed. 3: A clear picture. 5: A clear picture from their own words, with the time, money or worry it costs. 4. **What they asked for.** Write what they asked for, in their own words. 1: Our words. 3: Their words. 5: Their exact words, with when they said them. 5. **Their moment of value.** Find where the new thing would matter most in their life. 1: Our favourite feature. 3: A moment in their week. 5: A specific moment in their week they recognise straight away. 6. **Trying it on together.** Walk through their real week together, with the new thing in it. Use the real thing where you can. 1: A demo. 3: A walk-through of their week. 5: Their real week, with the real thing, done together. 7. **What would change.** Write what would change for them. 1: Vague benefits. 3: A clear change. 5: A concrete change they'd notice, agreed with them. 8. **What success looks like.** Agree what success looks like, in their words and measurable. 1: Our success. 3: Their success. 5: Their success in their words, with a way to check it. 9. **Ready for an offer?.** Decide together whether they're ready for an offer. 1: Decided without them. 3: A decision. 5: A decision made with them, with the reason. 10. **What we learned.** Write what this person taught you, as changes for the Map and the Storyboard. 1: A vague impression. 3: One or two lessons. 5: Clear lessons, written as changes. ### Step 14: Offers Write the promise of what you will do for a customer, and what it costs, so they can say yes. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/service/offers/ #### What it is Offers writes down the promise: what you will do for a person, by when, what it costs, and what you will do if you fall short. It comes straight out of the Workbench. An offer is not a product sheet or a pitch. A person should be able to say yes to it in one reading, without being sold to. #### How to run it ```phases Step Write what will happen | To them, in their words, and by when they'll notice. Set a fair price and simple terms | What it's worth to them, not what the market will bear. Simple enough for one reading. Say what you'll do if you fall short | A promise with no consequence is just marketing. Read it to them | If they need a second reading, simplify it. Name the one person who keeps the promise. ``` #### What you produce The Promise: promise what you'll do. Write down what you'll do for a person, by when and for what price, and what you'll do if you fall short, clearly enough to say yes to in one reading. #### Examples ```examples One letter a month | “One letter a month, and a sticker for the fridge. Cancel any time; keep every letter. If a letter is late, the next month is on us.” One price, one promise, one owner. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Pricing hope instead of evidence | If the Workbench didn't find a moment of value worth this much, the price is a guess. The feature sheet | People choose what will happen to them, not a list of what the thing contains. Folding it into the old catalogue | People paid to sell the old thing will smother the new one. A promise nobody keeps | Without one named person who keeps it, the promise is broken by default. ``` #### What it hands on The Handshake turns the yes into something both sides keep. #### The tool: The Promise Promise what you'll do. Write down what you'll do for a person, by when and for what price, and what you'll do if you fall short, clearly enough to say yes to in one reading. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/promise.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **Ready for an offer.** Name who the Workbench marked ready. 1: Someone not asked. 3: A person marked ready. 5: A person marked ready with them, with what success means to them. 2. **Who it's for.** Write who it's for in one line. 1: Everyone. 3: One kind of person. 5: One line a person would recognise as about them. 3. **What will happen.** Write what will happen to them, in their words. 1: A feature list. 3: A clear outcome. 5: A clear outcome in their words, taken from the Workbench. 4. **By when.** Write when they'll notice the difference. 1: Someday. 3: A date or timeframe. 5: A specific timeframe they agreed is right. 5. **The price.** Set a fair price: what it's worth to them, not what the market will bear. 1: A guess. 3: A price. 5: A price grounded in what it changes for them. 6. **The terms.** Write the terms simply enough to decide in one reading. 1: Small print. 3: Clear terms. 5: Terms so simple nobody needs to ask a question. 7. **If we fall short.** Write what you'll do if you don't deliver. 1: Nothing promised. 3: A clear remedy. 5: A remedy that costs us something real, so the promise means something. 8. **The evidence.** Write why you believe you can deliver it, from the Workbench and the Simulator. 1: Hope. 3: Some evidence. 5: Evidence from real people who tried it, with sources. 9. **Their answer.** Read it to them. If they need a second reading, simplify it. Write their answer. 1: Not read to anyone. 3: Read to them, with their answer. 5: Understood in one reading, with their answer and why. 10. **Who keeps the promise.** Name the one person who keeps this promise. 1: The company. 3: A team. 5: One named person the customer can reach. ### Step 15: Commitments Turn a yes into a commitment both sides keep: what you will deliver, and what they give in return. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/service/commitments/ #### What it is Commitments turns a yes into a commitment both sides keep: what we will deliver and when, written first, and what they give in return. A commitment binds the company first. Payment is how a person says the service is worth it. The first moment of value comes soon after the yes, not after the paperwork. #### How to run it ```phases Step Write our promise first | What we'll deliver, and when, in plain words, and what we'll do if we fall short. Agree theirs | What they pay, and for a real period. Name who keeps it | One person on our side, by name, and how they can be reached. Make the start easy | Both sides agree, and the first moment of value goes in the diary. ``` #### What you produce The Handshake: both sides keep their word. Turn a yes into a commitment both sides keep: what we'll deliver and when, written first, and what they give in return. #### Examples ```examples Twelve letters, paid ahead | The teacher's school paid for a year of letters for three classes. The company committed to a letter by the first Friday of every month, and a free month for any letter that arrived late. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Calling sign-ups commitments | A free account or a “yes, in principle” is not a promise on both sides. A one-sided promise | If only the customer commits, it is a purchase. Write down what you owe them, first. A slow start | The longer the gap between the yes and the first moment of value, the more commitments quietly end. Nobody owns it | A promise with no named keeper is broken by default. ``` #### What it hands on The Pulse watches every commitment, and whether it was kept. #### The tool: The Handshake Both sides keep their word. Turn a yes into a commitment both sides keep: what we'll deliver and when, written first, and what they give in return. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/handshake.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **Their yes.** Name who said yes, and to which Promise. 1: A maybe. 3: A clear yes. 5: A clear yes to a named Promise, with the date. 2. **What we'll deliver.** Write what you'll deliver and when, first, in plain words. 1: Vague. 3: Clear deliveries. 5: Every delivery with a date, in words the customer would use. 3. **The first moment of value.** Set the date of the first moment of value. 1: After the paperwork. 3: A date. 5: A date soon after the yes, already in the diary. 4. **If we fall short.** Copy the remedy from the Promise. 1: Nothing. 3: A remedy. 5: The Promise's remedy, agreed by both. 5. **What they give.** Write what they pay, and for how long. 1: Unclear. 3: A price and a period. 5: A price and a real period, agreed in plain words. 6. **Who keeps the promise.** Name the one person on your side who keeps it. 1: The company. 3: A team. 5: One named person, with their name on this page. 7. **How they reach us.** Write how they reach that person. 1: A general inbox. 3: A way to reach the team. 5: A direct way to reach the named person. 8. **Making the start easy.** Write what you removed so value comes before paperwork. 1: Forms first. 3: A simpler start. 5: A start so easy the first moment of value comes before any admin. 9. **Agreed by both.** Both sides agree, with names and the date. 1: One side only. 3: Both agreed. 5: Both agreed, with names and the date. 10. **What happens next.** Put the first moment of value in the diary, for the Pulse. 1: Left open. 3: In the diary. 5: In the diary, with the Pulse watching for it. ### Step 16: Experiences Serve what was promised, again and again. That is Adoption, and what it teaches feeds Trends. Page: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/service/experiences/ #### What it is Experiences keeps the promise, again and again. That is adoption: people coming back without being reminded, because it keeps doing for them what it promised. It is also where the loop closes. What it teaches about who stays, who leaves and what they ask for next goes straight back to the Compass, and the next turn begins. #### How to run it ```phases Step Keep the promise | Every time, on time. Count the promises kept. Measure who comes back | Unprompted, repeated use is adoption; everything else is activity. Ask everyone who leaves | Write down what they actually did, not just what they said. Send the signals to the Compass | What people now do, and ask for, is the next turn's first signal. ``` This is the LEARN handoff. Research starts again from what the Pulse sends the Compass. #### What you produce The Pulse: keep the promise, again and again. Keep every promise, see who keeps coming back and who leaves, and send what you learn to the Compass to start the next turn. #### Examples ```examples What the letters taught | Most readers stayed; many asked whether they could send a letter back. That behaviour, people wanting to write, not just read, went straight to the Compass as a signal. The next turn started there. ``` #### Where it goes wrong ```traps Calling sign-ups adoption | Adoption is repeated, voluntary use that people keep choosing. Nothing else counts. Buying retention | Discounts to stop people leaving hide the signal they were sending. Ignoring who leaves | The people who leave know exactly what is missing. They are the cheapest research you will ever get. Ending the loop here | If nothing goes back to the Compass, it was a project, and projects end. ``` #### What it hands on The Compass reads the Pulse, and Research starts again. #### The tool: The Pulse Keep the promise, again and again. Keep every promise, see who keeps coming back and who leaves, and send what you learn to the Compass to start the next turn. PDF: https://fluidinnovationthinking.com/tools/pulse.pdf Ten sections, each scored 1 (started), 3 (good) or 5 (excellent); the score is out of 50. 1. **What we promised.** List the commitments from the Handshake. 1: Some of them. 3: All of them. 5: All of them, with each first moment of value. 2. **Promises kept.** Count how many promises were kept on time, as written. 1: A feeling. 3: A count. 5: A count for every promise, with each one that slipped and why. 3. **People served.** Count the people served this month and last month. 1: A guess. 3: Both months. 5: Both months, with who joined and who left. 4. **Came back unprompted.** Count who came back without being reminded. 1: Sign-ups. 3: A count. 5: A count of unprompted, repeated use, measured the same way each month. 5. **What they do now.** Write what people do now that they didn't do before. 1: Assumed. 3: A few changes. 5: Real changes in what people do, with examples. 6. **Who left, and why.** Ask everyone who leaves why, and write what they actually did. 1: Not asked. 3: Some asked. 5: Every leaver asked, with what they did, not just what they said. 7. **Their words.** Save what they say, with who and when. 1: Paraphrases. 3: Several quotes. 5: Quotes from stayers and leavers, sourced and dated. 8. **What they ask for next.** Write what they ask for next, in their words. 1: Our roadmap. 3: Their requests. 5: Their requests in their words, grouped by what comes up again and again. 9. **Signals for the Compass.** Write what customers now do and ask for, and send it to the Compass to start the next turn. 1: Kept to ourselves. 3: Some signals sent. 5: Clear signals sent to the Compass, dated, with their sources. 10. **What we'll change.** Write what you'll change in how you serve them. 1: Discounts to stop leavers. 3: A few changes. 5: Changes that answer why people left and what they asked for. Handoff: LEARN, from Experiences to Trends. ## The charter Fluidity: The ability to adapt continuously, without breaking. The Flywheel tells you what to do. The charter tells you why: the five things we will never give up, and the twelve things we have learned about how the world works now. ### Five values: Five things we never give up. - **Behaviour, never opinions**: “I would totally pay for that” is noise. “I have been doing this by hand every week” is signal. Everything is made of what people already do, never of what they say they would do. Payment is the only opinion that counts. - **The customer is the hero**: Not your product, not your platform, not your org chart. Every real trend has humans driving it; the work is to find them and lead with their story. - **Evidence outranks rank**: Nothing gets pitched without evidence, and evidence beats opinion regardless of whose opinion it is. - **Missionary, not mercenary**: Missions attract co-creators; mercenaries attract nobody. Everything is permitted to change except why you exist. - **Create value for people, not from them**: Extraction burns the trust that adoption travels through. Put AI everywhere in the work and humans firmly on the value decisions. ### Twelve principles: How the world works now, and so how the Flywheel works. #### Why companies freeze What made you successful is what holds you in place. - **Success crystallizes**: The winning playbook becomes process, process becomes structure, structure becomes identity. In the AI era, that hardening is fatal. - **Fluidity is not strength**: A company that only gets stronger defends what it already has. The walls that keep competitors out also keep change out. - **Fluidity is not speed**: A crystallized company that accelerates builds the wrong things faster. It was a shape problem all along. - **Outlearn the world or be outlived by it**: An organization survives only while its learning keeps up with the change around it. #### What fluidity is Not a project, not a pace: a shape your company can keep changing. - **Fluidity is how many things can move independently**: Can pricing change without the product changing? Can a product die without a career dying with it? Each is a degree of freedom. - **Make many small bets you can undo**: A fluid company places many small, reversible bets instead of one big one it cannot take back. What can be undone can be decided quickly. - **There is no refreeze**: Nothing settles any more. Whatever you build must be permanent, running and self-measuring: infrastructure, not initiative. - **Retrofit, don’t demolish**: Diamond and graphite are the same carbon. Your people, data and customers do not need replacing, only rearranging. #### How the Flywheel works The four rules every step of the Flywheel is built on. - **Aim at fluid trends**: Real behaviour that is accelerating but not yet obvious, named or crowded. By the time it is crystal clear, it has crystallized. - **Design experiences, not products**: Nobody wants your product; they want what happens to them. Write the scene first. - **Decide in advance what would kill it**: A pilot without a threshold agreed in advance is a launch with a modest budget. - **Adoption is the only verdict**: Innovation is something new that gets used, repeatedly and voluntarily. Everything else can be produced by an organization achieving nothing.