Success Blueprint

The key to successfully adopting a design-led way of working through NEXT is "Theme Activation" - a Theme being the single unit of measure for success. Themes are generally in line with your organizational structure and P&L (e.g. a Business Unit, Division or Service Line). A Theme-focused approach ensures a scalable way to adopt design [thinking], in line with your organization's structure.

To operationalize a Theme, it's important to establish a Theme-focused support ecosystem within your organization.

This means that every Theme should have:

• A "Theme Sponsor" who owns the Theme's ambitions and manages its project portfolio
• A "Theme Champion" who enables the Theme Sponsor and facilitates & drives project teams
  Note: in some cases, a Theme Champion takes an active role as "Team Lead" in a project!

We've developed a "Success Blueprint" - a step-by-step recipe to set up your organization for success. The blueprint is aimed at articulating your organization's strategy in NEXT and activating Themes so they can become self-sufficient in the long-run. 

On a high-level, self-sufficient Themes are able to:

• Continuously ensure a healthy flow of new opportunities through Opportunity Mapping;
• Identify/choose opportunities to pursue as Projects;
• Start at least 3-5 new projects on a quarterly basis;
• Onboard and enable new project teams through the Theme Champion;
• Follow the key routines NEXT recommends (e.g. Quarterly Theme Reviews, Opportunity Mapping sessions, Weekly Team Standups, Phase-end wrap-ups etc.)

Download the detailed Success Blueprint with links to various resources or simplified version below.