Meeting: April 27, 2010

Meeting are open to everyone — there is no charge to attend, RSVPs are not required.

The April 2010 meeting was held on Tuesday, April 27, 2010.

April’s topic: Is it a Puzzle or Is it a Mystery? Three tools for capturing the wisdom of crowds

About this presentation: Product Management professionals can deliver the greatest impact and maximize personal success by tackling the big mysteries, not just the puzzles, which confront their businesses. Mysteries are very different from puzzles. Both may be strategic, but mysteries are more complex and require a different mindset and toolset. To solve a mystery one must leverage the expertise of all functions and capture the insights of many people – perhaps the entire organization, and especially the senior team.

But solving the mystery is not enough – the challenge is to do so in an emotionally engaging manner which demands implementation of an actionable solution. This presentation will survey the three best collective intelligence tools for solving mysteries and will review best practice alternatives on how to implement them:

• War Games
• Scenario planning
• Charrettes

Download a copy of these slides (1.5MB PPT)

About the presenter: Dave Schnedler recently returned to St. Louis from the San Francisco Bay Area, and is President of the Corporate Planning Forum. He also teaches in the MBA program as an adjunct professor of strategy at the John Cook School of Business, St. Louis University. He has extensive senior executive corporate strategy experience as Sr. Director of Strategy and Planning with Palm Inc., Director of Corporate Planning for Sun Microsystems, and Planning Manager with Hewlett Packard. He is also an experienced entrepreneur. Dave began his career as a management consultant with Mckinsey & Company and is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Here’s the details:

• 6:00pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 6:30pm: Meeting begins
• 8:00pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• Directions from the West:
  • Take 64/40 East to Woods Mill / Highway 141 (Exit 22)
  • At the end of the exit ramp, go straight (parallel to 64/40)
  • Move to the right, following signs for South Outer Forty
  • The SAVVIS building will be on your right; turn right after you pass it and park in the main parking lot on the South side of the building
  • Follow signs in through the main entrance
• Directions from the East:
  • Take 64/40 West to Woods Mill / Highway 141 (Exit 22)
  • Move to the right and follow signs for South Outer Forty
  • You will make a U-turn under the highway, and then move to the right, following signs for South Outer Forty
  • The SAVVIS building will be on your right; turn right after you pass it and park in the main parking lot on the South side of the building
  • Follow signs in through the main entrance
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!