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  • Inceptions
  • Foreword
  • Introduction
    • Why run an inception?
    • What is an Inception?
    • What’s the outcome of an Inception?
    • Inception Complete, What now?
    • Inception or Discovery?
    • Getting buy-in
    • What does good look like?
  • Run an Inception
    • Overview
    • Set-up
    • Design
      • Design inception agenda
      • How we do it
      • Inception agenda blueprint
      • Blueprint in a table
    • Plan
      • Creating a schedule
      • Example inception schedule
    • Run
    • Wrap-up
  • Cheat sheets
    • Types of inceptions
    • Contributors’ cheat sheet
    • Facilitator’s cheat sheet
    • Inception facilitation kit
    • Setting up the space
    • Playback & wrap-up
    • Principles we apply
  • Deep dives
    • Design an inception agenda
      • The Opportunity
      • The Domain
      • The Solution
      • Plan
    • Plan an inception
      • The Inception team
      • Creating the Schedule
      • Frame, Top and Tail
  • Closing thoughts
  • Get in touch
    • How to contribute
    • Licence
  • Contributions
    • The Equal Experts network
    • Special Thanks
    • The Authors
  • Our Playbooks
  • Equal Experts
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  • Better outcomes
  • Download a PDF version of the inception playbook

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Inceptions

NextForeword

Last updated 11 months ago

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This Inception playbook takes learnings from a variety of Equal Experts consultants who have spent time running inceptions for a varity of clients. If you would like talk to us about running an inception with our teams across the world.

Better outcomes

At Equal Experts, we’re passionate about building great software. For over 10 years, we have helped hundreds of clients around the globe, from blue chip clients to startups, both build the product right and build the right product.

Collectively, the contributors to this playbook have some 500 years of software delivery experience. But starting something new always has its challenges, and we’ve experienced the pain when things work out, but also when things go a bit pear-shaped.

The common root causes? Misaligned values and expectations, overlooked risks, missed dependencies and unsophisticated approaches to managing uncertainty and complexity.

The most frustrating thing is when that pain could have easily been avoided. The complex interplay of people, processes and technology will always bring change, uncertainty and unknowns. By acknowledging and addressing these factors early, we can massively reduce the various types of risks we’re exposed to .

Technology initiatives, if done in the right way, can be successful and fun.

This is why we run Inceptions. They systematically address the issues that threaten to derail delivery, by reducing risk, fostering alignment, building trust and providing us with the best possible starting point.

Of course, knowing why you might want to run an Inception is not the same as being able to run an effective one! This is where this Playbook comes in.

We believe it’s possible to distil the essence of an Inception into a blueprint. This document is that blueprint.

By taking away some of the complexity and providing ideas to riff off and make your own, this playbook aims to support beginners and experts alike. Over the pages that follow, you’ll find the tools to build better foundations for the initiatives you work on.

Download a version of the inception playbook

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