YODA – the Invisible Enabler

 Guesswork may be our biggest blocker.

Whether you’re trying to protect your core business with OpEx/Lean, or igniting new Growth with Digital methods, a lack of data is an eternal blocker. If you generate your own data (YODA), you’re in the driver’s seat. If not, are we managing, or just doing a random walk? So, how do we generate YODA?

YODA to Protect the Core

Great OpEx/Lean companies generate their own data through daily management walks. Team members at every level record what they see using standardized check-sheets. They upload the data to a shared drive which animates the management system – from the frontline huddle to the senior leader Control Tower (aka Obeya).

The simplest & most robust systems comprise linked Excel spreadsheets. Each level loads their data at the agreed upon frequency. The data populates team boards at all levels, including the senior leader Control Tower (Obeya). The charts, dashboards & such are easily uploaded to virtual systems like Miro or Mural. Thereby, we satisfy the Visual Management Triangle: We see together - We know together - We act together.

YODA to Ignite New Growth

Unfortunately, the same system does not work when you’re trying to ignite new Growth using digital methods.  Innovation work entails running continuous quick & cheap experiments to answer the core questions of Growth:

1. Who is the customer?
2. What does the customer value?
3. Why does the customer buy (or not) from us?

To generate YODA in this realm we need a simple robust method of

• Articulating the hypothesis we’re testing, including binary success/failure indicators,
• Recording what actually happened (& what it means), and
• Sharing the learning at team huddles, Exec deep dives & sprint retros.

In our sprints we use a variation of the simple two-card system introduced by Dr. Alex Osterwalder.  Our experiments include social media ads, landing pages, explainer videos, surveys, and various low-cost product/offering simulations.

Mafia Offer

One of the most important experiments is the “Mafia Offer” – that moment of truth where customers either put money on the table or they don’t. Innovation lives in Aristotle’s “world of contingency,” where people say one thing and then do something completely different. The Mafia Offer keeps you honest and helps confirm problem–solution fit: customers show they’re willing to pay for your solution to their problem.

Done well, this style of lean experimentation generates YODA all along your funnel. With enough discipline (and a bit of luck), you may even get to know the customer better than they know themselves – think Jobs or Ive.

In the end, YODA is the lifeblood of a healthy management system. It shows up as daily, weekly, monthly routines that create an operating rhythm – the heartbeat of the company. YODA is engaging, liberating, and deeply respectful of people. Some folks think AI will just generate all this for us and make these systems obsolete.

Maybe someday. But will AI really have the intuition, empathy, and hard-won feel for customers and industry that comes from years of observation and practice? If you believe that, then, in the words of George Strait, there’s some oceanfront property in Arizona you might want to look at.

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org