A viable solution is born
A viable solution is born from a tailored creative and agile process called Opportunity Space Methodology. The methodology adapts to your situation and focuses on solving complex problems. The output is a deep understanding of possible courses of action needed to reach specific objectives or solve particular problems.
The Opportunity Space Methodology results from our military legacy and management experience. It carries a strong DNA of well-proven principles to create operational effects on all levels and in all dimensions under extreme conditions.
Combined with the best management practices, scientific theories, and evidence, it is our foundation for our way of working. On top of that, we can place any tool you want to drive the process further. What exact tools are required, are defined by the shape of your problem, knowledge and are chosen in collaboration with you to assure that we can work efficiently together.
Often our clients have their ways of working, and we think it’s better to adapt to that and maybe tweak them if they lack functionality. It’s a way of sharing our knowledge and expertise. The Opportunity Space Methodology will still be our baseline approach to get successful work done.
What’s an Opportunity Space?
In our work, we start from something called the opportunity space. Simply put, the opportunity zone describes what is possible to do in any given situation. It describes the action alternatives you have as a manager. As we all know, you rarely have unlimited room for maneuver.
Most often, various factors complicate or prevent what you want to do and shrink the room for maneuver. Financial frameworks, organizational, competence, legal, or technical conditions all set limits for what is possible to do in any given situation. They are limiting factors, and their values set limits on what is likely to achieve in the given situation.
Therefore, a large part of our work consists of identifying the limiting factors and what they allow and do not allow for opportunities for action in the given situation.
Field of safe travel, 1938
The opportunity space is not something we invented ourselves. Still, it is a further development of a theoretical concept that has its origins in an article by Gibson and Crooks from 1938, which describes what a car driver must do to drive a vehicle safely in traffic and what information the driver requires.
Gibson and Crooks considered that the information needed was information about what they called ”the field of safe travel,” which is simply the area of the traffic environment where the driver can drive without colliding with any obstacles such as houses or other cars.
The Opportunity Space Methodology
To maximize customers satisfaction, we deliver our services in 5+1 modules. Each module creates a specific value and ends with a go/no go option for the next step. It allows for incremental commitment and evaluation of the utility of our services.
Module ZERO
Shape the Opportunity Space
Module ONE
Explore and validate problems
Module TWO
Create a viable solution
Module THREE
Design a fluid plan to operationalize the solution
Module FOUR
Operationalize the viable solution
Module FIVE
Use and improve the solution
Support
Blocking fallbacks with nudging
Explanation of general work in each module
MODULE ZERO
Shape the Opportunity Space
General Work
Determine what is possible to do in the given situation and what factors limit the opportunity space, how they interact, and how they can impact. The opportunity space iteratively takes shape along the process and will, in the end, contribute to enabling dynamic leadership throughout the execution. It will also help create a mutual understanding of the situation and make relevant communication easier.
General Output
- What is possible to do at different times
- What factors limit the opportunity space
- How is it possible to monitor and impact the limiting factors to open up the opportunity space
MODULE ONE
Explore and validate problems
General Work
Understand and define the root causes, context, and interrelations between different observations that sum up to the challenges that are in focus. It can also be relevant to question the reason for us to engage at all – But why are you doing this?
General Output
- Common problem understanding
- Validation of problem
- Written problem statement
- But Why? workshop
MODULE TWO
Create a viable solution
General Work
Creating a solution to the problem, considering the design rules for a viable solution. This creative work anchors the understanding of what will become objectives, direction, and guidelines and is subject to operationalization by the organization. In this step, you will choose between different courses of action, supported by the opportunity space.
General Output
- Defined viable solutions
- Validated opportunity space
- Risks & opportunities
- Direction & Guidelines for operationalizing design
MODULE THREE
Design a fluid plan to operationalize the viable solution
General Work
Based on the solution, we design a foundation for the work. We place a modularized and fluid plan on this stable foundation that describes prioritized and coordinated activities to achieve the effects needed to make the viable solution a reality. It will consider the limited resources and the limitation set by the possibility space.
General Output
- Concept for Operationalizing
- Fluid plan* of sequenced objectives, tasks, and opportunities
- Description of organization design, knowledge and expertise, way of working, governance processes, and critical technology.
* If situations, ideas, or plans are fluid, they are not fixed and are likely to change, often repeatedly and unexpectedly
MODULE FOUR
Operationalize the Viable Solution
General Work
The viable solution is tested, and the transformation is executed in line with the Concept for Operationalizing and the fluid plan that supports it. The first steps can include pilot testing with minimal viable products to verify and adjust parts of the concept. Stepwise the new capabilities are generated and deployed in a DevOps manner. Depending on the problem scope the effects and activities will be different. There isn’t one solution for everything.
General Output
- Refined and validated Concept for Operationalizing
- Refined and validated viable solution
- New capabilities
MODULE FIVE
Use and improve your viable solution
General Work
Your viable solution to your problem is operational and entirely under your control. It delivers the expected effects and continuously improves your organization as the circumstances change.
General Output
- New capabilities and effects
- Assessment of result and progress to adjust the solution
- Updated possibility space to support dynamic decision-making
SUPPORT
Blocking fallbacks with nudging
General Work
Depending on the scope of your problem, the level of change needed will differ. Small or big, change take time, and there is a significant risk of returning to what was before, risking losing traction and not succeeding as expected. Even if we wish to stay enough to make sure the solution is implemented correctly and resources are not wasted on just PowerPoints, your organization must execute the change and be held accountable. Because we have an outside perspective, expert knowledge of your solution, and an independent position, we can help you block fallbacks and fill in the gaps.
General Output
- Less waste in implementation, better return on investment
- Assessment of result and progress to adjust the solution
- Updated possibility space to support dynamic decision-making