THINK BIG, START SMALL, MOVE FAST

The concept of Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast is from the book Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast: A Blueprint for Transformation from the Mayo Clinic Centre for Innovation. This approach to solving problems begins with setting an ambitious long-term goal to galvanise stakeholders, starting small with pilot projects in order to learn with lower stakes, and moving fast to implement and scale up when the trials are successful.

Think Big

The importance of setting an ambitious vision is best characterised by the concept of Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) from the book Built to Last by Jim Collins. A BHAG is by definition an ambitious goal, and it is a powerful way for a team to stimulate progress by focusing on a singular compelling vision. A BHAG need not be a goal on a strategic level. There can, and should, be multiple BHAGs across different levels of an organisation. Leaders can set BHAGs for their teams, energising them to aim for bold and maximal outcomes in their part of the organisation.

Start Small

When rolling out something radical and potentially disruptive, implementation is key for it to succeed. In another book, Great By Choice, Jim Collins' concept of Fire Bullets, Then Cannonballs advocated that leaders first conduct low-cost, low-risk, low-distraction experiments (bullets) to figure out what works, then calibrate the line of sight before firing the big hits (cannonballs).

Successful projects and products may look, in retrospect, like a single-step creative breakthrough. But many of them are not single strokes of genius; they actually go through a multi-step iterative process of trial and error based on empirical validation. Starting small has many benefits. Developing Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) - or the simplest usable version of a product - can set the ball rolling for the product to reach people's hands and enable the team to start collecting feedback, and learn useful lessons in the process. The small test of an MVP also means that the costs and risks are lower. And starting small allows many approvals to be fast-tracked as there is less red tape. Once there are successful MVPs, the track record of the small successes would also make it easier to get approval for future expansions and roll-outs.

Move Fast

The book Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast pointed out the relevance of moving fast in many stages in innovation and cited many advantages of doing so. This approach allows the team to test its hypotheses quickly and rapidly expand the reach of its product once the MVP or pilot is successful. Moving fast also helps to sustain momentum and interest in the project among stakeholders, and the team can ride on the goodwill and positive views to push through red tape. It also means that benefits can be quickly extended to a larger group of users and stakeholders.

In large organisations like the SAF, the momentum of a success story can have far-reaching effects because there are many stakeholders beyond the ops users across the SAF, such as our technology partners in DSTA and DSO and policy-makers in MINDEF. The benefits include sparking enthusiasm among the wider team and even the whole ecosystem, which could in turn encourage more innovative ideas.

While the concept of moving fast is contentious and often associated with the controversies behind Big Tech firms like Facebook, Google, and Amazon, the core concept is that mistakes and failures are natural and even necessary for innovation in a competitive and complex environment. And when projects fail, stop quickly, learn from the experience, and move on. In sum, the philosophy of Moving Fast encourages leaders to review change initiatives regularly and enable an iterative process in organisation change, so that they act decisively in scaling good initiatives and, just as decisively, killing off bad ones.