CAP-Do: What makes CAP-Do so attractive is that it assumes we do not have the answers. It allows us to create a systematic way to address the problems (pain) or opportunities (gain) from the use of our products and services. CAP-Do is an emergent process. You may know the outcomes that you desire but that is relatively unimportant in today’s world or The Challenger Model. It is the outcomes that your customer requires and how you adapt to his/her processes to produce their needed results. This takes a willingness to discover as you go versus leading the way. 
The essence of Pausing or as Peter Senge calls it “Presencing” is the act of acknowledging that there is more than one right answer. We refrained from trying to find answers or problem-solve in the Check and Adjust stage. We can now gather and understand the actions, roles, and uses of our product/services. This is the stage where the connection between supply and demand occurs. Most organizations try to choose between what we know (Check) and what we learned (Adjust). The key though is acceptance and understanding or as I have explained earlier; empathy. This empathetic connection is important; not only to our customer but as an external team we must also empathize with our internal organization. It is this preparation, done with a pause before we move into the planning stage that is imperative. As we cycle or iterate between the supply and the demand world we will discover complementary answers. The obstacles will get smaller and smaller.
The organization that instills the CAP-Do process will put a tremendous amount of faith in the Sales and Marketing teams. These teams must work and overcome the tension between supply and demand. CAP-Do is a Lean process that supports the tenants of Service Dominant Logic and Jobs to be Done. It requires a fundamental understanding of the idea that there is not one single answer in this world for any problem. The answers lie with the people that are addressing the problem at the moment and have a particular job-to-get-done. It is in understanding their needs and their outcomes with greater wisdom. More fundamentally, you create a way to get your own job done in any situation.
CAP- Do is available for download as a PDF
Chapter Outlines:
Check
Chapter 1 – Structural Conflicts
Chapter 2 – Enterprise Thinking
Chapter 3 – A Learning Process, not a Teaching Process
Adjust (Act)
Chapter 4 – A Perspective of Strength Based Principles
Chapter 5 – Lean and the OODA Loop
Pause
Chapter 6 – Pause
Plan
Chapter 7 – Lean Sales Methods
Chapter 8 – Retool your Sales and Marketing with Lean
Do
Chapter 9 – Experiment through Prototypes
Chapter 10 – Lean Thoughts
Chapter 11 – Doing CAP-Do
Chapter 12 – CAP-Do Process – Working with SDCA, PDCA, EDCA
CAP-Do is included in the Marketing with Lean Book Series.
When we use our typical sales and marketing approach, we form an idea of the way things should be, forming maps or journeys that we want our customer to adhere to. As they get further along, we have so much invested that our manipulations get stronger. When they push back, we push back. When we apply what Stephen Covey said, “Seek first to understand,” we only do that for qualification purposes. Successful companies are destined to create the future of the outcomes with their customers. It is not incremental change or problem-solving. It is not a prediction, it is what we think will happen. We can only bring this about through challenging ourselves to first let go of our pre-determined thoughts and build structures based on possible scenarios.
It requires experimentation, prototyping and the practice of learning by doing. This is not an easy process and one that requires a well-structured outline. CAP-Do offers such an outline and will create a process of understanding and collaboration to help determine the future with our customers. In the Check and Act Stages leads to the discovery of what we must attempt, experiment within the Plan and Do stages.
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