Actionable insights for launching pilot initiatives that boost team buy-in, measure impact and drive transformation.
In 2024, I led a design thinking pilot program for a global food and beverage company. I worked alongside developers, business stakeholders and management for three months, teaching the group new methods and tools to increase delivery velocity, brand fidelity, user experience excellence and quality of requirements.
While the details of the engagement will be the subject of another post, I wanted to share some of the lessons learned about how to conduct a pilot program effectively. While this pilot focused on introducing a design thinking mindset and design system to the company’s Power BI environment, these insights can be applied to a wide range of pilot programs.
Lesson 1: Maximize Team Buy-in as Early as Possible
Teams are busy. They don’t always want to commit the time and brain power to learn new tools or processes. Change resistance is present in any environment. Breaking down that resistance as early as possible is critical for a successful pilot.
First, lay out precisely what the pilot will be covering. By setting expectations for time commitments and responsibilities, and providing overviews of the new processes and tools covered in the pilot, you’re providing participants with a runway to organize their day-to-day and digest what is coming. Surprise is the enemy of smooth, and that applies doubly for a pilot.
Second, ensure that your pilot subject matter experts (SMEs) are available to answer any and all questions at any time. Though I was off-site for the majority of the pilot, we set up a Teams chat where questions could be asked and information shared. Frustration can lead to disengagement, so make sure participants feel supported at all times.
Third, make it fun. I don’t necessarily mean ha-ha fun, but there is no reason you can’t inject humor and creativity into any undertaking. Pilots can involve high-pressure situations, but like any great teaching experience, keep the mood light. Mistakes will be made, and that’s OK. That’s a part of learning. We all have to start somewhere.
Lesson 2: Start Small and Build Up
There are a few dimensions to this don’t-bite-off-more-than-you-can-chew lesson.
First, as opposed to starting a pilot with the entire team, consider starting out with a smaller (but functionally complete) pod. This allows you to spend more, higher-quality time with the participants as opposed to being spread too thin. These initial participants, once they’ve gotten a few cycles under their belt, can then become teachers helping to instruct others on the team. Teaching others is also a great way to learn, as it helps to solidify concepts through repetition.
Second, pick a project of modest scope. Your pilot shouldn’t try to boil the ocean, but should rather focus on a small, achievable goal. Perhaps this is the first stage of a larger project, or a new concept in the backlog that you haven’t yet been able to work on. It’s important to understand that velocity will be impacted as participants focus on learning new processes and tools. Keeping the project small will help them maintain focus and engagement, as well as minimize anxiety.
After the pilot has been running for a few weeks and your initial participants understand the basic concepts, you can introduce more members to the pilot team. At this point, hopefully your initial group is enthusiastic about the pilot—they’ve seen the light!—and their enthusiasm will help sell the new way of doing things.
Lesson 3: Document Everything: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Initially, new ways of tackling work may seem overly abstract. How can these things be applied to OUR environment? What are their impacts? What works best? What doesn’t work?
A good way to make the abstract tangible and approachable is through documentation. Keep all your artifacts from the pilot, no matter how insignificant: they provide an important record that the team can refer back to later. And as you bring in other team members, you now have examples of the new processes that will be meaningful to them.
You may also ask your participants to keep a brief journal of their experiences. At the end of each day, give them 10 minutes to document what they experienced that day: what was difficult, what questions they have, what they wished they had done differently, etc. These notes are important for fine-tuning the pilot as it evolves and will help reinforce what participants learned that day. Review these notes at the beginning of the next day and talk through any issues or questions.
Lesson 4: Understand Where You’re Coming From and Where You’re Going
And last, but not least: measurement.
The whole point of a pilot is to improve something. That something could be team velocity, software quality, user satisfaction, brand adherence, accessibility, agility, etc. But you won’t know if your pilot has been successful if you don’t provide a baseline for performance. You can think of these as metrics, or key performance indicators (KPIs). Before you can connect the dots, you need a first dot.
An example: At the company, it was taking “X” weeks (we promised not to tell!) on average to develop a new Power BI dashboard. During the pilot, we were able to re-architect and redesign one of the most complicated dashboards in the Power BI environment in half the usual time. And this was a ground-up redesign where we questioned all assumptions about the environment and dash! Amazing, especially considering the team was learning new processes and tools simultaneously.
This example is powerful, but also a bit obvious. You’ll probably want your metrics to be more granular and touch across multiple dimensions.
If the thought of running a pilot program seems a bit overwhelming, don’t worry. Main Digital is here to help. If you’ve considered optimizing your team through the adoption of a new process or tool, reach out. We’re experts at it! Remember, Main Digital has the process aptitude of a Big Four consultancy, the data and technology competence of an integrator and the creativity of a design agency.
Contributed By: John Clarkson