Hearts and Hands International helps kids around the world by assisting with programs and volunteer teams that help the needs of children at risk. Proceeds from your purchase of Kenyan Blue Mountain Coffee will sponsor a child for one month. Great tasting whole bean coffee for your small group or church gathering! Order now! $29.95 order here
« When People Think of Your Church What Do They Think? | Home | Relational Evangelism Road Trip: Love God? Love the Church! »
Seven Stages of Product/Program Development in Evangelical Parachurch Organizations
By chris | May 10, 2008
Here’s a tongue-in-cheek look at how Evangelical Parachurch groups create new programs and products for their constituents. See if you have seen the same things going on–in organizations other than the one where you serve, of course.
Seven Stages of Product/Program Development in Evangelical Parachurch Organizations
1. Ideation Stage: Someone, usually an executive, reads a book or attends a cool conference that “gives them an idea” for a way to save the Parachurch organization. The idea has actually been in vogue in the secular business world for some time and is usually in the last legs of the product/idea life cycle. In “Diffusion of Innovations” talk, it is in the “Laggards Adoption Phase.” Meaning, it’s old hat in the business world already.
2. Mandate Stage: If the executive is high enough in the food chain of the organization, he can choose to spend the money to develop a product without a second thought. If he is not high enough, he has to convince 2-3 directors to agree to spend the money for a new product/program. The project is often handed off by the executive to a subordinate of his who acts as the developer who will handle the project. The developer will have none of the authority to make the project succeed, yet will be held accountable for all of the failures. This even though the developer has to let enough hands in the organization change the idea so that all vestiges of the best of the “original” idea can be removed, thus leaving only the shell of the idea and the worst elements of it remaining.
3. Development Stage: Since it takes a long time to decide to do anything in Evangelical Parachurch organizations, the slow process for budget and sign-off takes up valuable time that could be used to make the project/program better. Even though things are moving slowly, the deadline for the project launch is not changed. The program developer, therefore, is given an unrealistic time frame and far too small of a budget for pulling off the greatest product/program ever in the history of the Parachurch organization. The crunch leaves little (usually zero) time for research, pilot testing, and evaluation of the new product/program. Even though the time allotted and money dedicated to the product are limited, the expectations are still very high for the new product because the executive plans on gloating about his brilliance in “creating” the idea in the following year.
4. Buy-in Stage: The finished product is rolled out in a meeting or conference (sometimes people are flown in for the roll-out) to constituents of the Parachurch organization who see the new product they had no idea was being developed for the first time. Even though the product is already finished (printed and stored in a warehouse, or already underway with lots of money already committed) people who will be expected to use/purchase the product/program are still asked to provide “input” and “creative thinking” for how to improve the product “idea”. But the comments they make will have no relevance to production since the product/program is already developed. The objective of the meetings is to create the illusion of involvement to the constituents who will be expected to use/purchase the product/program in the Promotion Stage.
5. Promotion Stage: The product is promoted and touted as the best product ever in various highly glossy and wordy brochures and websites no one will actually read. The official embroidered logo shirt is made and all members of the team associated with the product are given a logo shirt. Sometimes dinners are provided to leaders where the product is shown and people talk amongst themselves about anything else but the product or the problem it was meant to solve. On occasion a news release is sent to announce the product to local or national Parachurch organizational media, but it is not required since “only old people read those” anyway.
6. Awareness/Demand Stage: When the product has reached this stage (usually about 3 years after the product is rolled-out) one of two things can happen. (1) If the product was developed by a local or state organization, groups in other states will knock-off the product. (2) If a national Parachurch entity develops the product/program, the product is discontinued at the height of awareness/demand.
7. Limbo Stage: Usually the cycle above is repeated when the executive reads another book, attends another conference, or is just tired of looking at the product’s logo. (A new product is “Mandated” without evaluation of the effectiveness of previous products/programs even if the old programs/products were designed to meet the exact same product/program “need.”) However, if the Parachurch executive doesn’t read another book, or is in the throes of writing one himself, the product enters the Limbo Phase where it is stalled so that the product adds another year or two to the three year cycle, thus extending the Awareness/Demand Stage in “limbo.” However, by the 4th-5th year, regardless of the success of a product/program or if a replacement product has been developed, the product/program will be discontinued, (or left unsupported by staff) so as to discourage popularity and widespread use of the product/program.
Topics: News and "Bloggy" Stuff |
May 12th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
When I worked in Research and Development, we had these Seven Stages of a Project posted in the lab:
Phase 1: Uncritical Acceptance
Phase 2: Wild enthusiasm
Phase 3: Dejected disillusionment
Phase 4: Total confusion
Phase 5: Search for the guilty
Phase 6: Punishment of the innocent
Phase 7: Promotion of nonparticipants
Yours seem to parallel these in many ways.