Lean Inception

Overview

I led a Lean Inception workshop to define the MVP scope and assess the feasibility of integrating a major Brazilian bank into a credit marketplace. The initiative aligned business, design, and engineering stakeholders, reduced uncertainty early on, and helped the team avoid months of unnecessary development.

Methodology

Process

Due to uncertainties surrounding processes and operations, the Discovery phase was initiated. Its purpose was to address outstanding issues, define the target persona for the MVP, align API endpoints within the correct workflow, and ensure efficient execution of the chosen processes.

The Discovery phase was condensed into four meetings, each lasting two hours, spread across four days. Initially, alignment exercises were conducted with stakeholders, followed by scoping activities. Throughout the meetings, representatives from Customer Service, Marketing, Technology, Design, and Business departments contributed diverse perspectives, enriching the discussion and decision-making process.

My Role & Approach

I facilitated a Lean Inception process focused on shared understanding, prioritization, and clarity.

My role went beyond running workshops — I helped the team:

• Frame the right product questions early

• Make trade-offs visible and discuss them openly

• Translate abstract ideas into concrete hypotheses

• Align around a realistic MVP that balanced user value, feasibility, and long-term scalability

I acted as a bridge between design, product, and engineering, keeping conversations outcome-driven and user-centered.

Hands-on

To kick off the product development project with the partner bank, we opted to conduct an inception phase. The goal was to ascertain project viability by addressing critical business questions, align the team and stakeholders on expectations, and collaboratively define the development scope. The outcome aimed for an MVP with an average level of accuracy in depicting the main journey.

The schedule was as follows:

Day 1: Product vision and initial alignments
Day 2: Facilitation
Day 3: Building the Product journey
Day 4: Defining MVP and the Roadmap Showcase Presentation and Next steps definition.

Key Decisions & Outcomes

The workshop resulted in:

• A clear MVP definition, aligned across product, design, and engineering

• A prioritized feature set grounded in impact rather than assumptions

• Early validation of constraints that influenced the roadmap direction

Impact:

• Prevented approximately 2 months of unnecessary development

• Reduced ambiguity before execution began

• Created a shared product narrative that accelerated post-workshop delivery

Canvas MPV

Why This Case Matters

This project reflects how I combine design facilitation, product strategy, and systems thinking to help teams move faster with confidence, especially in high-stakes, cross-functional environments.