Story Telling technique and workshop, for teams, entrepreneurs, product people, agile practitioners, UX designers and researchers, marketing persons, design thinkers, lean startuppers

1. www.erlang-solutions.com
Nicolas Vérité, Nÿco
nicolas.verite@erlang-solutions.com
nicolas.verite@gmail.com
@nyconyco
Krakow, Tue 1st August
Story telling
for Product People!
(TopSol Playbook)

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If we all agree:
▸ Ice breaker 10 min
▸ Presentation 30 min
▸ Workshop 30 min
▸ Retrospective 30 min
If we all agree:
▸ Self-discipline
▸ Focus, focus, focus
▸ Merciless benevolence
WARNING: dense!
Planning?

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0.
Ice breaker

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▸ Meet every single person
▸ Find 3 common points
▸ Extra-professional
In 10 minutes

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▸ Round table
▸ 30 seconds per person
▸ ...
In 5 minutes

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Selfie?

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1.
Presentation
TopSol Playbook

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No...
▸ Once upon a time...
▸ Novel
▸ Screenwriter
▸ Elevator pitch
Yes...
▸ Products & services
▸ Startup & corporate
▸ Non-profit
▸ Spirit: lean & agile
Not too disappointed?
1.1 Expectations...

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1.2 What is the TopSol Playbook name?
▸ Playbook
▹ Humble
▹ Simple
▹ Game
▹ Fun
▸ TopSol
▹ To
▹ to: (target)
▹ P
▹ Problem
▹ Sol
▹ Solution

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1.3 The TopSol Playbook recipes
▸ Basic story
▸ Expand the story
▸ Inspire people
▸ Shrink to value proposition

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▸ Target
▸ Problem
▸ Solution
Basic story

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▸ Target
▹ Who is it for?
▹ What types/roles of people?
▹ Personas? Profiles?
▸ Problem
▹ TRAP! NOT the lack of solution
▹ Spend most time here
▹ Problem shaping
▸ Solution
▹ Spend less time here
▹ Spend less time here
▹ Spend less time here (trust me)
Basic story: detailed items

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▸ Target
▹ Entrepreneurs, product people
▸ Problem
▹ Miscommunication
▹ Misalignment
▸ Solution
▹ Recipes for story telling
Basic story: example with TopSol Playbook

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▸ Target
▹ Empathy
▸ Problem
▹ Consequences
▸ Solution
▹ Benefits
Expand the story

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▸ Target: Empathy
▹ What do they live every day/month?
▹ What do they need/want?
▹ Walk in their shoes
▸ Problem: Consequences
▹ Impact of this problem on their life
▹ NOT the problem
▸ Solution: Benefits
▹ Harder, better, faster, stronger
▹ Numbers? Facts?
Expand the story: detailed items

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▸ Target: Empathy
▹ Want consistency
▹ No surprise
▸ Problem: Consequences
▹ Silos
▹ Conflicts
▹ Low quality
▸ Solution: Benefits
▹ Easy
▹ Simple
▹ Fast
▹ Flexible
Expand the story: example with TopSol Playbook

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Context
▸ Target
▹ Empathy
▸ Problem
▹ Consequences
▸ Solution
▹ Benefits
Why
Inspire people

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Context
▸ In what environment does the
target evolve?
▸ Location? Sector? History?
Why
▸ Change the world
▸ Mission:
▹ Self
▹ Team
▹ Organisation
Inspire people: detailed items

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Context
▸ Startup, scaleup
▸ Product and/or service
▸ Multiple teams, people
▸ So many goals
Why
▸ Make communication a better place
▸ Fluidify & accelerate
▸ Lower boundaries
▸ Fun
Inspire people: example with TopSol Playbook

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▸ One liner, 7 seconds
▸ KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid
Shrink to value proposition

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▸ One liner, 7 seconds
▹ Target? Problem? Solution?
▹ Empathy? Impact?
▹ Benefits? Why?
▸ KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid
▹ Remove everything
▹ Keep nothing
▹ Add only the absolute necessity
Read it aloud, twice
Not a punchline!
Dynamic! (pitch and adapt, A/B testing)
Shrink to value proposition: detailed items

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Product Story Telling
Story Telling for Product people
Clean and fast Story Telling for your startup
Get your message right!
Structured set of recipes for Story Telling
Shrink to value proposition: example with TopSol Playbook

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Context
▸ Target
▹ Empathy
▸ Problem
▹ Consequences
▸ Solution
▹ Benefits
Why
Mix & match
Re-order
Add magic
Summary?

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Standing on shoulders of giants
▸ Lean Canvas
▸ Why, how, what
▸ Monomyth, Hero’s journey
1.4 Sources of inspiration

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▸ Agile
▹ Epics, themes, not User Stories
▸ Lean Startup
▹ Value prop, landing page, confirm
vs invalidate
▸ Design Thinking & Design Sprints
▹ Empathy, ideation
▸ UX research & strategy
▹ Understanding, exploration,
testing, briefing
▸ CX, customer success
▹ Onboarding, retention, co-creation
▸ Sales
▹ Empathy, alignment, fit
1.5 Application to various approaches

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▸ The story of the TopSol Playbook
1.6 Let’s try

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▸ Startup, scaleup
▸ Product and/or service
Environment
Context

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▸ Product creators
▹ Product Owners
▹ Scrum Masters
▹ Developers
▹ Business analysts
▹ Business developers
▹ QA
▹ UX designers
▸ Sales
▸ Marketing
▸ Management
For
Target

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▸ Sync & align
▹ Devs
▹ QA
▹ Mkt
▸ Coherence, consistency
▸ No surprise
Need, want
Empathy

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▸ Too different
▹ Job
▹ Goal
▹ Message
▹ Language
▹ Methods
▹ Principles
▹ Philosophies
There are some issues...
Problem

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▸ Silos & interfaces
▸ Conflicts
▸ Broken outcome
Consequences
Consequences

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▸ Story telling
▸ Recipes
▸ Flexibility & adaptabiliy
▸ Like pieces of a puzzle
Why not?
Solution

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▸ Easy
▸ Simple
▸ Rapid
▸ Flexible
▸ Common language
▸ Alignement
Awesomeness
Benefits

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▸ Better place
▸ Fluidify & accelerate
▸ Lower boundaries
▸ Fun
Communication
Why? Change the world

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Story telling
for product people
Value proposition

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Once upon a time...
▸ Snow White
▹ Young, naive beauty
▸ Queen, jealous
▹ Poisonous apple
▸ Charming prince
▹ They lived happily ever after
Villainy brings you nothing
1.7 Let’s try ANOTHER story

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1.9 Let’s try YOUR STORIES

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2.
Workshop
Practice, challenge

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3 rounds
▸ Basic 05 min
▸ Elaborate 10 min
▸ Complete 20 min

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1st round: basic - 5 min
▸ Target
▸ Problem Love++
▸ Solution Keep it low
Warm up
Fast

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2nd round: elaborate - 10 min
▸ Target
▹ Empathy
▸ Problem
▹ Consequences
▸ Solution
▹ Benefits

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Context
▸ Target
▹ Empathy
▸ Problem
▹ Consequences
▸ Solution
▹ Benefits
Why
3rd round: complete - 20 min

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3.
Retrospective

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Retrospective
▸ MAD
▹ What I hated
▸ SAD
▹ What I suggest to improve
▸ GLAD
▹ What I like

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Takeaways?
▸ What did I learn today?
▸ What will I apply tomorrow?

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4.
Homework

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DONE
▸ Learning
▸ Applying
▸ Warm reaction
TODO
▸ Cold thinking this week
▸ Apply & experiment!
▸ Improve
Homework

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Selfie?

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5.
Thank you
Nicolas Vérité, Nÿco
nicolas.verite@erlang-solutions.com
nicolas.verite@gmail.com
@nyconyco