Innovation Catalyst Challenge Game

Photo by christian buehner on Unsplash

Innovation Catalyst Challenge

Imagine introducing C-Level executives—or anyone unfamiliar with Product Mindset, Design Thinking, Innovation, and Customer Centricity—to the core of these concepts. Now imagine doing it in just 20 minutes. Sounds like a daunting task, doesn’t it?

That’s the challenge I recently faced. The goal was to design a game that would not only engage these C-Level executives but also offer a concise yet comprehensive experience of these vital business concepts.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through the game’s essential elements, provide step-by-step instructions, and offer facilitation tips for those eager to take the lead. And, there are ready-to-print PDFs waiting for you to bring this game to life. Dive in and enjoy!

Considerations, Planning and Preparation

Below are my considerations while planning and preparing this game:

Crafting the Scenarios

Designing the game scenarios requires meticulous preparation. It’s not a task to rush—ensure you are well-prepared.

1. Scenario Development: Dedicate time to curate scenarios resonating with your target audience. Ideally, prepare a minimum of three scenarios for each industry. This offers participants a choice, ensuring engagement, and serves as a contingency should some scenarios not resonate with all.
2. Deep Dive Research: For each scenario, develop a clear Hypothesis, OKRs, Personas, Touch Points & Considerations, Feature Sets, Dependencies, Tech Stack Options, and Product Release Strategies.

Materials Needed

1. Timer
2. Whiteboard (or Flip chart)
3. Whiteboard Markers
4. Permanent Markers
5. Sticky notes
6. Game coins

Game Play: Step-by-Step Guide

1. Starting Choices: Lay out the three Key Scenarios on the table, allowing each team to select their preferred challenge.
2. Forming Teams: Once a scenario is selected, segment the participants into dynamic teams, ideally comprising 3-4 members each.
3. Scenario Briefing: Distribute a scenario card to each group. This card paints the picture of a distinct industry challenge, complete with the nuances of the digital solution it demands and the objectives that must be fulfilled.
4. Rule Book: Take a moment to elucidate the game’s rules, ensuring all participants are clear on the game’s mechanics and expectations.
5. Beat the Clock: Initiate a 20-minute countdown, signaling the start of the creative process.
6. Collaborative Brainstorming: Motivate teams to engage in vibrant brainstorming sessions, challenging and building upon each other’s ideas. Equip them with tools like Sticky notes, Whiteboards, or Flip charts to map out their thoughts.
7. Facilitator’s Role: As they immerse themselves, maintain an active presence. Wander around, observing the teams’ dynamics and progress. While your primary role is as an observer, be available for guidance or clarity, yet allow participants the autonomy to steer their discussions.
8. Show and Tell: Once the timer rings out, it’s time for each team to step into the spotlight. Invite them to share their digital solution with everyone, emphasizing the problem they’re addressing, the innovation behind their solution, and how they’ve woven in principles of product mindset, design thinking, and customer centricity.

Game Rules & Guidelines

Here are the rules of the game:

1. The Clock is Ticking: Teams have just 20 minutes to brainstorm and propose a digital solution based on their specific scenario. Efficiency and focus are key.
2. Core Principles: Solutions aren’t just about quick thinking—they must also embody principles of product mindset, design thinking, and customer centricity. The final proposal should reflect these considerations.
3. Resource Management: Every tool and insight comes with a cost, detailed in the table below. Teams will be allotted 15 Innovation Catalyst Game Coins ICG to purchase resources they need during the game. Resourcefulness is rewarded—the winning team may well be the one that manages its ICG$ most effectively.
4. Against the Clock: Need more time? Teams can opt for a 2-minute extension, but it comes at a price—deducted from their ICG$ balance.

Price Chart: Expenditure Guide for Resources

Sample Game Play

Considering many of my participants come from the Financial Services Industry, I will now share a unique scenario I created specifically for the Banking sector.

Financial Wellness Platform

Here is a brief description of the “Financial Wellness Platform” scenario that I created for my participants.

Scenario: Financial Wellness Platform

Hypothesis

1. Customers who are actively seeking to reduce debt or save for specific goals (e.g., retirement, home purchase) will be more engaged with the platform and more likely to recommend it to others.
2. Access to educational resources on financial literacy and well-being positively impacts users’ financial behaviours and decision-making.
3. Customers prefer personalised financial advice tailored to their unique financial situation and goals, rather than generic advice and recommendations.

Success Metrics

To validate the success of the hypothesis, let’s identify the Objectives and the Key Metrics.

Objective 1: Increase user engagement and satisfaction

Objective 2: Expand the user base and market presence

Persona

Creating a persona is the next step to empathise and understand the actual needs.

Pain points, Preferences, and Behaviours

For our demonstration, let’s choose “Retirement Ready Robert”.

Retirement Ready Robert

Touch points and Considerations

Mapping the customer journey for the Financial Wellness Platform involves identifying each step users take while interacting with the platform and noting the touch points and areas for improvement. We will consider the customer journey for each persona.

Personal Financial Management & Planning Solution

1. Personalised dashboard: Allows Robert to get an overview of his financial situation, especially concerning his retirement savings and investments.
2. Comprehensive financial management tools (budgeting, expense tracking, savings goals, investment tracking): These will provide Robert with a holistic picture and help him track and manage his retirement savings and investments.
3. Goal setting and tracking: With his goal to maximize retirement savings and diversify investments, Robert would greatly benefit from tools that allow him to set, monitor, and adjust his financial goals.
4. Financial advice:
   • Personalised financial advice based on data analytics and machine learning algorithms: Helps Robert in making informed decisions about his investments and retirement savings.
   • Educational resources to improve financial literacy and promote financial well-being: Assists Robert in understanding the intricacies of retirement planning and other financial topics.
   • In-house wealth management services or robo-advisory features: Provides expert guidance tailored to Robert’s financial situation and retirement goals.
5. Community features: As someone who seeks professional guidance on retirement savings, Robert can benefit from social sharing and community features, which allow him to interact with peers and experts, share experiences, and learn from others.
6. Enhanced User Experience & Integration: Robert would appreciate a platform that integrates seamlessly with other financial services, offers inclusive features suitable for a diverse range of users, and provides multilingual support.
7. Specialised Financial Management: Given Robert’s pain points and preferences, specialized tools focusing on retirement planning, irregular income management (as a small business owner), and other financial tasks would be essential. Features such as tax planning would be particularly valuable for him as a high earner.
8. Offline Consultation & Personalised Services: Access to exclusive promotions and discounts from financial institutions would appeal to Robert, given his substantial income. Furthermore, the option of physical branches or offices would cater to his preference for seeking professional guidance, allowing him to have face-to-face consultations.

In the touchpoints and considerations:

1. Awareness: The “Community features” can be leveraged here, as Robert hears about the platform from a friend.
2. Consideration: Emphasise “Specialized Financial Management” tools and features as Robert reads about the retirement planning options.
3. Sign-up: Ensure the “Personalised dashboard” and “Comprehensive financial management tools” are highlighted to Robert.
4. Exploration: Robert can benefit from “Financial advice” features, especially the educational resources and personalised advice based on machine learning.
5. Engagement: “Goal setting and tracking” features, along with specialised retirement planning resources, would be most relevant.
6. Feedback & Support: The in-house wealth management and advisory features would be vital here, as Robert seeks advice.
7. Advocacy: The “Community features” can come into play again, as Robert shares his experiences on forums.

Product Backlog - Feature Sets

With that, we now have a list of features to be developed.

1. Comprehensive financial management tools (budgeting, expense tracking, savings goals, investment tracking)
2. Gamification and behavioural incentives to encourage better financial habits and user engagement
3. Push notifications and reminders for bill payments, savings goals, and other financial tasks
4. Personalised financial advice based on data analytics and machine learning algorithms
5. Educational resources to improve financial literacy and promote financial well-being
6. In-house wealth management services or robo-advisory features
7. Social sharing and community features to foster peer support and learning
8. Seamless integration with third-party financial services
9. Accessibility and inclusivity, ensuring a wide range of users can benefit from the platform
10. Multilingual support for additional languages
11. Specialised tools for diverse needs (e.g., irregular income management, debt reduction, retirement planning)
12. Additional tools for specific financial tasks, such as tax planning or college savings
13. Partnerships with financial institutions to offer exclusive promotions and discounts to users
14. Physical branches or offices for in-person financial consultations

Before rolling our sleeves and start developing the feature sets, let’s prioritise the Product Backlog

Prioritised Product Backlog

To prioritise features and enhancements for MyFinancialWellness, we will use the MoSCoW method, which categorises features into four groups: Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, and Won’t-have. This prioritisation considers customer needs, market trends, and business objectives.

Must-have features

1. Comprehensive financial management tools (budgeting, expense tracking, savings goals, investment tracking)
2. Personalised financial advice based on data analytics and machine learning algorithms
3. Seamless integration with third-party financial services
4. Accessibility and inclusivity, ensuring a wide range of users can benefit from the platform

Should-have features

1. Specialised tools for diverse needs (e.g., irregular income management, debt reduction, retirement planning)
2. Gamification and behavioural incentives to encourage better financial habits and user engagement
3. Educational resources to improve financial literacy and promote financial well-being
4. Multilingual support for additional languages

Could-have features

1. Social sharing and community features to foster peer support and learning
2. Push notifications and reminders for bill payments, savings goals, and other financial tasks
3. Additional tools for specific financial tasks, such as tax planning or college savings
4. Partnerships with financial institutions to offer exclusive promotions and discounts to users

Won’t-have features

1. In-house wealth management services or robo-advisory features
2. Physical branches or offices for in-person financial consultations

Analysis - Effort, Cost, Impact, and Dependency

Below are some samples to show the effort taken to build each feature along with the cost, value or the impact it could potentially create and the dependency across other feature sets.

Product and Tech Strategy Alignment

To develop a financial wellness app that enables faster feature rollouts and supports experiments for dynamic improvement, consider using the following technology stack and infrastructure:

Infrastructure and Platform

1. Cloud Infrastructure:
   • OpenShift (by Red Hat): Kubernetes container platform that provides developer and operational tools.
   • Amazon Web Services (AWS): Provides a broad set of scalable services including computing power, storage, and databases.
   • Alternative options: Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Microsoft Azure.
2. Containerisation:
   • Docker: For creating and running application containers.
   • Red Hat Universal Base Image (UBI): Provides the foundation for all certified containerized applications across the hybrid cloud.
3. Container Orchestration:
   • Red Hat OpenShift Kubernetes: A Kubernetes distribution that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
   • Kubernetes: Automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Frontend

1. Mobile App Development:
   • React Native: Cross-platform framework for mobile apps.
2. State Management:
   • Redux: Manages and maintains app state predictably.

Backend

1. Server Framework:
   • Node.js with Express.js: Efficient server-side runtime for JavaScript.
2. API Development:
   • GraphQL: Offers flexibility in requesting data, optimizing data transfer.

Database

1. Relational Database:
   • PostgreSQL: Robust, open-source relational database system.
2. NoSQL Database (if needed):
   • MongoDB: Suitable for handling large volumes of unstructured data.
   • Red Hat Data Grid: An in-memory, distributed, NoSQL datastore solution.

Data Analytics and Machine Learning

1. TensorFlow or PyTorch: Open-source ML frameworks.
2. Red Hat Decision Manager: For complex event processing and business rules management.

Infrastructure Management

1. Configuration Management:
   • Ansible (by Red Hat): Automation tool for app deployment, configuration management, and orchestration.
2. Continuous Integration & Continuous Deployment (CI/CD):
   • Jenkins with OpenShift Pipelines: Integration of Jenkins with OpenShift’s native CI/CD capabilities.
3. Version Control:
   • Git: Distributed version control system.
4. Repository Hosting:
   • GitHub or Bitbucket: Hosts version-controlled code repositories.
5. Feature Flags:
   • LaunchDarkly or Optimizely: Manage and implement feature flags.

Monitoring and Logging

1. Prometheus with OpenShift Monitoring: Integrated solution for monitoring resources.
2. ELK Stack or Red Hat Logging: For central logging on OpenShift environments.

Security

1. OAuth or JWT: For user authentication and authorization.
2. Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes: Provides security for your Kubernetes environments.

Communication and Collaboration

1. Red Hat AMQ: For asynchronous communication and messaging between services.
2. Slack or Microsoft Teams: Team communication.
3. Trello or Jira: Project management and task tracking.
4. Confluence: Wiki Documentation

More Sample Scenarios

Below are some more sample scenarios that you can consider for playing this game.

Banking

Insurance

Public Sector

Have fun!