Innovation

Bringing customer behavior to problem definition

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Every day we get the opportunity to make lives better. There’s nothing more satisfying than solving a customer’s problem. Here’s a simple framework you can use to 10x your impact.

Your customer faces many problems. You can easily spot a number of them. The game is won in delivering on the most important problem.

The game is also lost in attacking the most difficult but important problem.

Why? A decent solution is perceived as just that – decent. It’s something that gets the job done, barely. There’s no joy, no delight in adopting that.

Oftentimes, it also requires some overhaul on the user’s side. In their eyes, the risk : reward or overhaul : benefits ratio isn’t convincing.

So, how do you identify which problem to attack?

One approach is to rank the problems according to importance.

The tweak I am suggesting is to list the behavioral change required in adopting the solution along with each problem to attack.

Example – Using a phone or a smartwatch to track steps doesn’t require much effort. Asking the user to count every calorie consumed could be a significant change.

We are all affected by inertia; we are set in our ways. Allow us to ease into your solution, and there will be many takers.

In the list of problems to attack, pick the one that’s seamless for the user to adopt.

That brings delight to the customer’s experience. Moreover, a good enough solution may appear great in these instances.

p.s.: It’s also important to state that the customer can be internal and/or external.

#innovation #problemsolving #ideation

Spurs and the art of unselfish basketball

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I love how the San Antonio Spurs play the game of basketball in a beautiful manner. Their brand is being unselfish. No matter which superstar they have on the roster, each one does the right thing.

The way they play the game teaches us a lot to us too. We can implement some of these observations for all our projects. Especially for innovation projects, this approach can work wonders.

Why didn’t I think of that?

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Ever wondered “Why didn’t I think of that idea?” If so, look within and ask how satisfied you were with solutions in that space.

Growing up in Mumbai, I didn’t have a strong need for a food delivery app, grocery or taxi apps. The suburbs were developed, things were within walking distance, and transport was cheap/reliable.

My family members are in the textile business. Until recently, most used carbon copy (remember that blue ink paper?) solutions for invoices. While the world was cc’ing millions in emails, these folks were happy with the smudgy, original cc.

Unless a real pain is experienced things will stay in status quo. Necessity does bring out inventions. However, you have to separate that from an artificial necessity, which can probably create interesting solutions that may not be fully adopted by the market. What separates real from artificial necessity? IMO, the answer is a meaningful pain.

It might be prudent to ask what your satisfaction index is in different areas of your life. Extend that thought to organizations, to countries, and you will find products or services that have made a real difference. The state of satisfaction can mask problems and will lead to a prolonged status quo i.e. living with the good enough. Until someone shakes you up…

Ever catch a falling pen? How about a falling soldering iron?

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Sometimes instinct can be harmful. As unnatural as it may be, there are times when its better that you don’t act right away.

During brainstorming, the problem solver’s tendency is to start solving the first idea that caught their eye. It might be better to wait, allow some “bad” ideas and let the game changer emerge.

Using a sports analogy, Innovation is sometimes a game of base hits (baseball) or singles (cricket); incremental advancements that result in a win. Get the process right, keep at it, and the results will follow.

Do you do cool work?

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We are teaching our son adjectives and how they can be used to best describe nouns. The word “cool” when associated with “work” has varied perspectives. It’s amazing how teaching kids can make one think about simple words in a new light.

Many a time, especially during brainstorming discussions, I try getting the team to pause; to deliberately reflect on the impact our solution will have on the world. We, technology enablers, are truly blessed to solve problems faced by many. From the inside it might seem like the usual but from the outside it would be super awesome. Many of my startup friends seem to miss this pause-and-reflect trick once they get caught up in the grind.

Try pausing every now and then, most definitely at home. Your work does have a meaningful impact on the society. That is my definition of cool.

What happened to your final year project?

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A few days ago, I posed a simple question to a room full of professionals. "How many of you worked on a final year project?" Nearly every hand was up. My follow-up question was at the start of this post. Nearly everyone had a small laugh on their faces; all confirmed my experience that most college projects end up in reports that a handful of people read. A tiny, tiny, percentage of those do end up getting implemented in the real world or influencing a new path in academia.

This has to change! We need a higher conversion of projects to peer-reviewed journal publications or converting those projects into products. That's how valuable IP is generated. That's how we transform to a knowledge economy.

If you are mentoring students, formally or as a friend, help their projects achieve a better outcome.