Hemang

 In this episode, we dig into how great companies are able to charge a premium that the customer is happy to pay. There's a very simple, clean, and straightforward process that they follow. We will discuss an amazing thing the blue bottle coffee company does. We also cover restaurants and car dealerships. The learnings will apply to other industries too.  

There's something uncanny about great sports teams. They figure out a way to get things done. There's something different about how they conduct their business. It's like wins show up for them even when they are not playing “hard”.

That's where the non-sports folks can draw good examples from. In this episode, we talk about how we can work on innovation projects. We discuss how to brainstorm and elevate ideas.

We also look at superstar teams that fail and what we can avoid in our lives.

In this episode, we will talk about journey mapping, and how you can use it to bring about interesting innovations. Whether you are making a product or services, mapping a customer's steps is one of the best ways to learn their journey. Learn what their pain points are, where you have opportunities for improvement, and what to solve.

I recently stumbled across a YouTube video, where a UI person is showing a mock up of a children's website. And he's showing this to a girl who is maybe five or six years old. This is essentially what we would call as a user study. However, without the digital knickknacks there was something very special about why he got amazing feedback. 

 Now unfortunately a lot of us spend a whole lot of time and energy and effort in the journey leading up to the prototype. We are so convinced in our processes that we end up creating the best prototype possible. It's almost as good as the finished product. However, we have ignored the user in a lot of these cases. You have left these huge blind spots. And the real user feedback can often come crashing right into into you.

That's where a lot of startup journeys also end, because they've given it their all in creating an amazing prototype, but one that did not resonate with their users. So prototyping has to be fast. It has to be cheap and you should try to get the user talking to you in the first place. Best of luck.

Welcome to innovation sports and life. This is your friend Hemang.  First off, an apology with all of you. I then share why I like this intersection of innovation and sports and why do I think it really applies to how we live our lives.
You see, any time we are involved in intense physical activity. For example, running. I used to be a long distance runner. And now again getting back to it. And I've run half marathons before I've done one full marathon, but I'm getting back to the, you know, roughly, say, five miles six mile kind of distance. To me that's a comfortable, average run, and always. Over the years, one thing has stood out. The first couple of kilometers, or the first couple of miles are the hardest. And it's all in your head, know the distance conversion from miles to kilometers doesn't really make a difference. The first two units of whatever distance you're going to run is where you are trying to get rid of the contents, you might be feeling no really low before you're starting your run. And then, then it takes your body some time to warm up before you're in the full flow of things. And overtime as you keep on running. You might get the feeling that I have to give up. Today is not the day it's either too hot. I'm not feeling like running. There's something bothering me, am I picking up a niggle, it's all these thoughts which are flooding your head. In terms of time. For me that is around the 10 to 15 minute mark. And once I crossed that. It's amazing. It's like I'm in the flow of things. To me that is the distance where I do not need to listen to any music. Most of my runs are when I'm just running by myself. I don't need a TV I don't need a screen. I've run in front of blank walls also. But, and always it is this first 10 to 15 minutes, where I've got to get rid of all the cobwebs in my head. And after that, I tend to enter a state of flow. That's where, sometimes I don't even realize how much I'm running until I happen to look at the clock, or if I'm on a treadmill, I haven't happened to look at the distance and the timer and all that. And it's kind of the same thing with other sports. Also, I've played different sports over the years, but the ones I've really enjoyed include tennis, squash, Dragon Boat Racing, which I'll share with you at a later date. But what makes that so special.

And whenever you are me get involved in a deep physical activity. We all enter the state of flow. We are in unity with ourselves. We seem to be pushing doing as much as we physically want to. And often, that is paired with great, and a heightened sense of awareness. No most innovations tend to come out from a similar state of mind, your deepest work your best work tends to also come. When you reach this state, where you've gotten rid of all this junk in your head you filter through all that, and now you're swimming in clear water. That's why I really love this marriage of innovation and sports, why I believe sports is so helpful to understand how we work, how we operate in our daily lives. And once you get to that state in a physical activity. You figured out that if I have to do something better in my work. If I have to innovate a better way of working, or creating a better product. I have to get to that very state. I have to get rid of all the cobwebs, all the junk, which is there at the superficial level. And that's when I enter that deep area where magic happens. And our life. Also, is dependent on that, on us getting rid of all the junk getting past it, that we can connect with the things that truly matter to us in our hearts. To me that is what the marriage of innovation, sports, and life is all about. I wish you all very happy thinking. Take time to connect with yourself. Take time to get past the junk, because that's where magic happens. See you next time.

The customer discovery phase calls for a number of approaches to understand your customers. It is important for product developers to really understand what matters to their users. Survey forms are one of the frequently used tools to capture feedback. However, they must be used in a strategic manner because there are times when they may give incomplete or even misleading information. We dig into how you should consider the usage of surveys in your customer discovery process.

Let’s look at how you can navigate a situation when an innovation problem has you stuck for a long time. When should you persist and when is it ok to call it quits.

Let’s take an example to understand the difference between true, meaningful innovations and jugaads or hacks. Both are important and there is a key differentiator between the two.

The best racquet sport players always prefer a certain spot. No matter what the opponent does, they try to reach their preferred location on the court. Once there, they dominate the game. Their process is very much applicable to our lives and especially in the field of product management.

Let’s take a look at reality shows, the Got Talent shows and see what they teach us about scaling up. We also analyze the business of sending someone glitter.