I didn’t send this newsletter for a while.
The first reason why I’ve been silent is to practice a virtue that I preach: focus. I started sending this biweekly newsletter in August 2020, and I really enjoyed the writing process and the private conversations that ensued. But 2021 brought a couple of extra-challenges at work. By April, it became obvious that I was struggling to make everything fit in. Something had to give. It was this newsletter that took the hit.
The second reason why I’ve been silent is… a secret project. But before I share it with you, let me ask you a question: When was the last time you created something from scratch?
The joyful exploration of the future
At the beginning of a project, you have an intent. As you start to work on it, ideas appear. Good ideas, funny ideas, funky ideas, crazy-at-first-glance ideas, smart ideas, terrible ideas, a-little-bit-provocative ideas. You keep the best ones, and your project starts to look interesting.
Your motivation is high. More ideas keep flowing. You are in the middle of what designers call the divergent phase. That’s the phase where you explore a wide range of possibilities. During that phase, the objective is to aim for quantity. You want to generate way more ideas than what you need, to remove the bad ones, and to assemble the rest together.
At one point, you reach a stage where the flow of new ideas slows down. If you’ve done a good job at diverging, you’re left with an incredible amount of valuable material. It feels like you’re 90% done with your project. Yet, you’re only halfway there, because the hard part begins.
The painful exercise of editing
This second phase is called the convergent phase. While the divergent phase is about exploring, the convergent phase is about deciding.
What is the essence of your project? What are you trying to do? What are you really trying to do? Of all the ideas you selected, which one is absolutely necessary? What role do the other ones play? Why do you have two things that do the same job — can’t you remove one? What happens when you remove that word? And that one? Actually, why not delete the entire sentence? OK, it breaks the whole flow, bring it back. What could you hide? What could you reduce further? What about this element, does it deserve to exist? Those two pieces seem to send opposite messages, which one are you trying to convey? What is the hierarchy between this part and that one? OK, it’s looking good. Wait, one more detail. (…)
This convergent phase is not a fun one. It’s killing all the joy that happened in the divergent phase. It’s the equivalent of turning on the lights during a party: ladies and gentlemen, the party’s over!
And while everyone will agree with the fact that this convergent phase is needed, the same people generally avoid going through it. Lots of good excuses will cover the plain reality — it’s just too painful.
Mastering this convergent phase is a life-long quest that I made mine. Over the past decade, I have tried to get better at it, practicing it whenever the occasion came by. Curating, editing, simplifying, reducing, trimming down, pruning. Along the way, I developed a few convictions, especially in the context of digital innovation. This year, I decided to share those convictions widely.
A method to address the problem
With Tristan Charvillat, we decided to write a book about this topic. The book unveils a method we have developed during the 12 years we have been working together.
The book is called Discovery Discipline, and is edited by Thiga. It aims at helping anyone involved in digital product development before the product actually gets coded, the delivery phase. In the tech industry, we call this the discovery process, because it aims at discovering what is the product we should deliver. Anyone who has attempted a discovery process knows how easy it is to get lost into it.
The special sauce we bring to the table is the discipline aspect. Many discovery processes focus on the divergent phase. We believe that’s the easy part. The hard part is the convergent phase, and that’s what the Discovery Discipline addresses well. It’s a 7-step process, with one short deliverable per step. It’s not a magical process, but it’s a highly effective one. It’s not easy to follow, but it works — if you follow it with discipline.
I need your help
The book is available for sale since this morning (only in French for now, English version will come very soon).
Just like the number of tickets sold on the first day predicts quite accurately the long term success of a movie, the number of books ordered during the first week will massively influence the destiny of this book.
If you’d like to support this project, here are three things you can do:
Share the book website with a person who could be interested by the book: discovery-discipline.com
Like this post on Linkedin
Thank you for your help! And you have any questions about this project, just reply to this email.