Desirability, Viability, FeasibilityYour recipe for successful physical/digital innovation

How to capitalise on aphysical/digital market
opportunity

Contents

Everyone knows that technology innovation has the power to transformbusiness, propel growth and create new market leaders. But not everyone
knows how to get started – or has the confidence to get started. Hesitancy isof course understandable. Diving into the unknown without a firm belief in a
successful outcome is daunting and potentially imprudent. What’s the answer?

DVF – the learn-fast paradigm

When a physical/digital opportunity begins to emerge, the perfectly
understandable instinct is to develop a concept and test, re-test it and test
it again. Actually, that’s the right attitude – but we believe it needs a robust,
structured approach to really make the idea fly. Without doubt, the best
approach is the design thinking process known as DVF (Desirability, Viability,Feasibility.) Tracking the development of an innovation project against thesekey criteria ensures much greater efficiency in terms of both time and budget.

How DVF works in practice

It’s a process that was formulated several decades ago, but in recent years
we have honed it for technology-driven opportunities. CC teams use DVF toinstil confidence in ambitious clients and help bring bold, new-to-the-world
ideas to market. In this eBook, I plan to reveal the methodology, benefits
and practical applications of DVF, and explain how it can unlock the next
generation of physical/digital products and services.

Jennifer Gomez

SVP – Digital Transformation
Cambridge ConsultantsMore than a process, it’s all about expertise
Three streams flourishing in parallel

Why is iteration important?
When development projects go wrong
The 5 key CC principles for adopting DVF
About Cambridge Consultants

DVF – the learn-fastparadigm
The DVF approach represents a learn-fast paradigm that activates
success through three parallel streams in an iterative way. It is particularly
well suited to physical/digital innovation – that is when companies reachbeyond traditional physical products to incorporate technology to expand
their business.
At CC, we’ve coined the term Product+ for this area of innovation. For
us it emphasises the additive value that digital services innovation canbring to brands and companies with strong physical product heritage.
Many such organisations find the Product+ challenge hard. And many
have been kicking the innovation can down the road. The uncertainty isunderstandable, but it can mean that the market moves on without them.

Design thinking and the origins of DVF
Design thinking is rooted in the idea of building creativity into the processof innovation. It was coined in the 1950s by John E. Arnold, MIT and later
Stanford professor. In the 1980s, its practical application was championed
by design and consulting firm IDEO who translated the early principles into apractical process – DVF – which has been successfully adopted for a wide
range of business challenges beyond product design and engineering.

A word on getting it right...
We know that DVF is particularly well suited to
Product+ innovation because – frankly – it is an area
where we’ve seen the most time, effort and money
wasted on poorly structured initiatives. When thishappens it’s often because they were missing out on
at least one of the DVF lenses during development(we share some examples of getting it wrong laterin the eBook). But another classic failure is to workthrough the lenses sequentially. The key is to work inparallel, with continual iteration.

More than a process,it’s all about expertiseThis process is nothing without expertise. DVF works best when it is driven
by people with hands-on experience of running all three streams highly
proficiently. In our experience here at CC, it pays to take a multidisciplinary
approach across your team and ours, marrying industry insight with deep
tech expertise.
There is great value in defining and scoping opportunities by blending
engineering, technology, design and market sector perspectives. Such an
approach is especially relevant for Product+ solutions, where the seamlessintegration of hardware, software and application (the user need) can makeor break an initiative.

Three streams flourishingin parallel
Innovation tradition says that either the user-driven concept or new
technology come first – followed in sequence by each of the missing elements
needed to achieve a breakthrough. But this can constrain thinking and lead to
the wasted time, effort and money that I’ve already referred to. Worryingly, it
can also lead to pursuit of a dead-end opportunity.

D

Desirability - the user need... what is the value

VViability - the business impact… can we make a

We believe that the answer to this conundrum is to activate the DVF approachand progress the three separate but interconnected workstreams:

F

Feasibility - the technical requirements… can we create

Opportunity

Viability

Proposition

proposition that answers an important need?

sustainable business out of it?

a solution that functions as needed?

PilotyDesirability
Feasibility

Consider all three perspectives when identifying
and prioritising new opportunities

DVF applied by allocating a dedicated owner to each track. This owner represents the needs
and requirements of each of their tracks throughout the design and development process

Scalable development

How DVF works in practice
The innovation opportunity is planned and executed through the three lensesof DVF. Each of these lenses, or streams, is led by an expert matched to therequirements of the opportunity who drives the details and delivery in theirarea. The streams work independently but at regular points converge to shareinsights and apply their colleagues’ relevant learning as they go. Oversightfrom an opportunity owner ensures the streams maintain this connection andno major insight is lost.

desirability
expertNot only does the process provide a more robust answer to your original
market opportunity hypotheses, but it delivers it much faster than if you
were following a sequential development path. Using this approach, we’vedelivered fully tested and approved product into customer hands less than 24
months from the initial concept vision.

Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility
We’ve talked a lot about the power of running the three streams of adevelopment project in parallel rather than sequentially. But that does notmean the approach is inflexible. On the contrary, agility and flexibility are vital,
because not all three streams will have the same weight of importance atevery given moment. For example:

viability
expertfeasibility
expertIf the hypothesis is based on a well-established customer need but apotential technology solution is unknown, the programme may lean moreheavily into the Feasibility stream
Sometimes the tech is obvious, but the use cases that will drive Desirability
are not well defined – resulting in a higher focus on user needOversight from
opportunity ownerWhy is iteration
important?
Running DVF in parallel and in a highly iterative way will reveal implications
that each workstream must incorporate to ensure a harmonious, holistic
solution that is more likely to succeed. I’ve sometimes witnessed companies
utilising siloed project groups for each stream. A big mistake. Open andconstant collaboration is vital to achieving a balanced iterative approach.
A monthly catch-up simply won’t cut it.
Say, for example, the new iteration of your concept promises autopersonalisation for any user, But the Feasibility team has not included user
identification in the specification. And the Viability team can’t accommodate
added technology cost in the business case. It’s important all teams areaware so that all assumptions can be tested.

When development projects go wrong
In these examples, at least one element of DVF wasn’t up to scratch – resulting in failure

Google Glass

Airbus A380

Amazon Fire Phone

Wearable ‘smart glasses’ designed to augmentuser reality. Launched 2013, production ceased
2015, launched Enterprise version 2017.

World’s largest passenger plane launched in2007 but production ceased just 12 years later
due to falling market demand. Airbus invested
more than $25bn into the total development andit took eight years of production to be able todeliver a single aircraft without making a loss.

Smartphone with a ‘Firefly’ feature which
effectively acted as a mobile pricecomparison tool for customers. Launched 2014,
discontinued 2015.

What went wrong?

What went wrong?

What went wrong?

The concept lacked the clarity on why theproduct should exist

The airline hub-and-spoke model couldn’t
win over point-to-point travel

Not enough focus on the user
It met business objectives but not user need

Value proposition and user need were illdefined… a fashionable device for everyday
use or specific utilitarian functions

Convenience (point-to-point) was key forcustomers, and they were willing to pay more
for itUnappealing design, poor UX

Rising fuel prices meant airlines chose smaller
engines over larger jets
A mismatch between D and F

A mismatch between D and V

A mismatch between D and V

The 5 key CC principles for adopting DVF:
01.

02.

03.

Aim for integrated decisionmaking

Learnings trump hypotheses

Pro-actively articulate andmanage unknowns

Thoroughly consider each of the DVF
lenses during shortlisting and prioritising,and be mindful of teams’ natural biases
and associated gaps and risks.

Facilitate early, frequent learning and userdriven iteration, but also communicate thescope of activities and be clear on which partsof it are critical to keep consistent.

Be systematic and diligent in capturing thedifference between known facts and hypotheses,
to demonstrate progress and guide prioritisation
when it comes to next steps and research needs.

04.

05.

Carefully consider validation
toolkit

Culture as critical enabler for DVF tosucceed

Specifically for breakthrough ideas,
adopt experience-based, contextual andfuture focussed validation methods andaim to consider all three lenses whendefining research requirements.

Be consistent and pro-active in encouraging
collaboration, open-ness and clear
communication; draw on tools and provenmethods to facilitate this specifically in theearly days of adopting a new process.

Ready to get started?
Launching major transformative projects can be daunting,particularly where established processes inadvertently constrain
current thinking. The DVF approach provides the certainty innavigating crucial paths. Drop me a note if you want to know more
about how we help companies take each vital step – and how we
can be a partner with you on your journey.
jennifer.gomez@cambridgeconsultants.com

About Cambridge Consultants
CC has an exceptional combination of people, processes,
facilities and track record. Brought together, this enables
innovative product and services development and insightful
technology consulting. We work with companies globallyto help them manage the business impact of the changing
technology landscape.
We’re not content to deliver business strategy based ontarget specifications, published reports or hype. We pride
ourselves on creating real value for clients by combining
commercial insight with engineering rigor. We work with someof the world’s largest blue-chip companies as well as with
innovative start-ups that want to change the status quo fast.
With a team of around 800 staff in Cambridge (UK), Boston(US), Singapore and Tokyo, we have all the inhouse skills
needed to help you – from creating innovative concepts rightthe way through to taking your product into manufacturing.

UK — USA — SINGAPORE — JAPAN

DVF_w2(12)www.cambridgeconsultants.com
Cambridge Consultants is part of Capgemini Invent,the innovation, consulting and transformation brandof the Capgemini Group. www.capgemini.com

Meet the author
Jennifer Gomez
SVP – Digital Transformation
If you’re a business leader intent on transforming digitallyand growing in entirely new ways, then Jen’s got your back.
She is able to draw upon more than 20 years of experience inbrand and global business management and has a passion
for breakthrough innovation and launching new platform
opportunities. As her record with brands like Colgate proves,
Jen is adept at turning great ideas into in-market success –thanks to her personal experience of designing, developing
and commercialising products and services.

jennifer.gomez@cambridgeconsultants.com