(2018-06-19) Maurya My New Project Unpacking The Innovators Gift Love The Problem

Ash Maurya: My New Project — Unpacking the Innovator’s Gift – Love the Problem. Problem Discovery (Problem Interview) Before Solution Validation (Solution Interview)

systematically uncovering problems worth solving is quite difficult for a number of reasons.

You can’t simply ask customers about their top problems because they often don’t know

So, is there a better way? The answer has been staring us in the face…

Meet The Innovator’s Gift

The secret is framing problems in terms of their customer’s existing alternatives.

Here’s the basic premise of the Innovator’s Gift: “New problems worth solving are created as by-products of old solutions.”

Even your awesome new solution, once launched, will spew out problems of it’s own. The key to staying relevant to your customers and defending/growing your business model does not come from throwing more features (solutions) at them, but rather continuously uncovering problems and addressing them — before your competitors do.

This is the essence of Continuous Innovation

It Starts With The Customer Forces Canvas

The first step is framing problem discovery conversations, not around problems, but rather around triggers that cause your future customers to hire existing alternatives. You then attempt to unpack the causal forces that led them there, assess their current state and outcomes, and prioritize spaces for innovation (problems).

Those of you familiar with Jobs-to-be-done should recognize several elements from JTBD in the canvas. That’s because it’s been a big influence

The Customer Forces Canvas is Applicable Well Beyond Initial Product Launch

As your product moves beyond early adopters, two things are certain: more problems and more competition

What’s Next — Practice Trumps Theory