Important update: welcome to Phase II

Officially, we are now in Phase II of this research project. After having received feedback from the community, we have edited this core document, which sets the course for our research. Now, in Phase II, we're beginning the research.

There are two simultaneous activities necessary to start Phase II:

• Contact interview subjects. We have begun arranging interviews with representatives of Salesforce and Wipro who can address the topic of thought leadership.
• Prepare the interview guide. The list of questions for the research interviews is at this link.

As a member of the Forrester community, you can help in two ways:

• Identify interview subjects. If you know people at Salesforce and Wipro whom we should contact, please let us know. Ditto if you know customers who can talk about how they see thought leadership.
• Review the interview guide. Just as we asked community members to review this document, we also need you to give feedback on the interview guide.

One other important change worth mentioning: we've experienced an unexpected delay. (Attending the Agile 2010 conference consumed the time needed to work on this example of Agile Research Development. Go figure.) Therefore, we are updating the calendar, moving the target dates back one week.

Overview

Welcome to Forrester's first venture into a new approach to role-based research, developed in very close collaboration with people in the roles that we serve. We're using our newly-launched community for technology product management and marketing professionals as the meeting ground for anyone interested in participating in this project. You're welcome to participate in every phase of this research project, from its inception to its conclusion.

The document you're reading now is a guide to this project, including the official RoleView document that is the ultimate deliverable. This "development document" provides the most up-to-date information about the topic, approach, outline, and status of this research.

This document is central to our collaboration with the Forrester community. This is where any member of the Forrester community can comment on this research, as we're developing it.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for the official Comments section. To get the critical juices flowing, we've provided some examples of the sort of feedback we need for this project to be successful.

We're taking an Agile approach. For a variety of reasons (voice of the customer, unknowns that need to be explored, aggressive schedule, etc.) we've adopted Agile principles to the development of this research. For more information on this methodology, click here.

Hypothesis

While thought leadership depends on a variety of factors, the one irreplaceable element is a portfolio of success stories. This experience not only adds credibility, but also builds a network of influence that the thought leader needs for every aspect of commercialization.

Sample feedback: Is there any term of this hypothesis (for example, the definition of thought leadership) that needs clarification? Does this hypothesis imply a significant insight into the subject, or is it a ho-hum conclusion? Is the insight likely to lead to a plan of action?

Approach

We will use two case studies of successful thought leaders, both as different as possible from each other. If there is a common path to thought leadership in both cases, we can assume that it will be applicable to other companies as well. The two cases will be a services-oriented company specializing in ERP, such as Wipro, and a product-oriented platform as a service vendor, such as Salesforce.

The primary research will consist of (1) interviews with these companies’ customers and partners, (2) representatives of these companies, and (3) relevant data about sources of influence in these two different markets.

Sample feedback: Is this use of the method of agreement going to produce convincing results? What two vendors would you suggest for the comparison? Is the achievement of thought leadership necessary, or can we focus just on the commercialization? Do you know people we should be interviewing for the primary research?

Outline

• Thought leadership, a vague concept made practical 
  • The problems with "thought leadership" as a concept
  • A more precise definition of thought leadership
  • The measure of thought leadership
• Case studies 
  • Services: ERP implementation
  • Product: platform as a service
• Conclusions 
  • When did these vendors become thought leaders?
  • The traits of thought leadership that matter to ERP customers
  • The traits of thought leadership that matter to PaaS customers
  • What does thought leadership buy?
  • Can other companies use this same formula?

Sample feedback: Are these the sub-topics that matter to you? How much depth do you think is necessary in each case study? (We're planning to keep them fairly spartan.)

Related documents

The following links take you to other documents that are part of this research project:

• METHODOLOGY: Agile Research Development
• SCHEDULE: Project calendar
• UPDATES: Change log