Will it work for me?

Change is hard. It's not just the things you change. It's what else you need to change in your life to accommodate those things. At the beginning of the year we have New Year's resolutions. Or it could be other personal or business goals. Sometimes we know the outcomes for which we're looking, like getting a college degree or moving to a new home.  Other times the outcome has a lot of variables and unclear impacts, like getting married, having children, or getting a new job. We just need to navigate the journey from where we are now to the end state of where we want to be.

In business we call this transformation.

There's a 3-legged stool that forms the basis for successful transformation:

• People

• Processes

• Tools.

To be successful in the transformation, you need to account for all of these. 

Let's start with a goal: you want to get in better physical shape.  To reach that goal—that outcome—you're going to need to exercise. So there's choosing the exercises, learning the exercises, then learning how to integrate them into your life.

It's easy to see the value. Better health, more energy, less stress, looking better, or getting ready to run the NYC marathon (I did that once). So the outcomes are pretty clear. Now it's about the implementation. With exercise, it's not a one-and-done. It will require a sustained effort over a significant period of time. Maybe it even becomes a permanent part of your lifestyle. This means the implementation is not getting to exercise once, but finding a way to make it repeatable, sustainable, and ongoing.

In my house there are 4 adults in a not-very-big NYC apartment. If I want to exercise I need to find a place to do it, find a time that doesn't interfere with everyone else's schedules, and find an exercise I can do that works in the space.

For this example, I have selected calisthenics I can learn and execute by watching a video in my living room. I want to do them 3 times per week for 30 minutes. I now have a new tool I need to deploy and implement.

Time to look at People, Processes, and Tools.

On the People side, I will need to train myself to do the exercises. Since it's just me, there's not any training or skills needed for the rest of my household.

On the Processes side, I need to do a bunch of things:

• Set aside the time in my schedule

• Create a process to reserve the living room for me to do the workouts

• Train the rest of my household on how to accommodate it in THEIR schedules and daily routine

On the Tools side, I also need a bunch of things:

• I need the ability to watch the video while I exercise. If I am using an app, can I play it on my big screen TV, or do I need to use my iPad or mobile. Maybe I only need to watch the exercises a few times. Then I can do them without the video

• I probably want a mat to make sure I don't slip and cushion a little. Perhaps some workout rubber bands, free weights, or a chair

• To integrate into the rest of the household, it would be useful to have a common schedule or integrate into an existing schedule—so everyone else is aware of my timing

• Optional: I may also want analytics to measure my success along the way

I can expand this quite a bit, but I think you see how this works. To implement a change in my life—in this case being in better physical shape—requires more than just the tool to do it. It requires considering the 3-legged stool of transformation.

Will It Work for Me?

I've had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks with people who want to change things—in their lives, in their relationships, in their businesses, in their communities, and in the world.

Making big changes is hard. Like my exercise plan, there’s a lot involved in implementation and sustainability, not to mention the impact on other people. Not only do I have to decide if it will work for me, I have to also decide if it's worth the effort.

We often have to find the minimum change we can make to start the process and show efficacy. When we see the value in that small sample, it gives us the confidence to expand the effort.

Will this new exercise routine work for me? If I haven't exercised in a long time, starting with a 90 minute workout every day is not likely to work out very well. So what is the minimum exercise routine I can start with that will show me results and that I can most easily accommodate in my life?

That’s where the idea of Minimum Viable Deployment (MVD) comes in.

We see this play out all the time in trying to sell a new product to a business. You've gotten over the hurdle of the value. Then it comes down to implementation and transformation. That's where the Will It Work For Me and Will It Be Worth The Effort questions come in. If it's truly transformational, they will have to address the 3 legs of the stool that is transformation: people, processes, and tools. Will it be worth the effort to do that? Start with your MVD.

The idea came to me at a startup event, when a Wall Street CTO said, “I love startups. I’m always looking for a competitive edge. But don’t think you’re going to come in and get me to rip and replace what I’m using now. I can’t take that risk. Your job is to find a way to show value for me in my environment.”

That stuck with me.

Minimum Viable Deployment isn’t about doing everything at once—it’s about finding the smallest version of success that actually works in the real world. Not a proof of concept. Not a slide deck. A real, working example that fits into the customer’s world with minimal disruption. Just enough to prove it’s worth doing more. That’s how you reduce risk, build trust, and create momentum for transformation.

Berkson's Bits

AI is data driven. 💽

Humans are intuition driven. 🤔

𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗺 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲. 🏊

What I'm Watching

This week's What I'm Watching was shared with me by Jennie Berkson, who always finds ways to make my life better. This video clip has a few of my favorite things: comedy, music, and sisters singing together. We've all had awkward moments we regret and perseverate over for far too long. Here's 5 minutes from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this week that put a smile on my face. I hope it does for you as well: Flo & Joan: Moments that will haunt us forever

Right now I'm actually looking for my own MVD of exercise. I do a lot of walking but need to add some strength and flexibility. I'll let you know how it goes.

Looking forward to continuing the conversation...

Alan