Strategyn

95% of new products fail. It's time to find a better process than failing fast. Get your free copy of JOBS TO BE DONE: Theory to Practice and learn from the pioneers how to create, market and sell products that people love. #innovation #productstrategy #marketing

We've spent years testing dozens of different words to see which word best introduces a customer need statement (desired outcome). We found that one word has 3 important advantages over the others. That word is “minimize”. Here are the 3 advantages: - The word "minimize" is aligned with what customers are trying to accomplish when getting a job done—"minimize the time it takes" to accomplish something or "minimize the likelihood" of something going wrong or leading to defects. - It conveys the desired direction of improvement with an obvious target value, i.e., minimize to zero. - It works in every situation so that all statements can start with the same word. For example - When considering the “job” of listening to music, people want to: - Minimize the likelihood that the music sounds distorted when played at high volume. - Minimize the time it takes to get the songs in the desired order for listening. - Minimize the likelihood of interruptions when transitioning between songs. As a researcher, there are other advantages. Because “minimize” can be used in every statement: - You don't have to think of alternative words, making gathering needs easier. - The statements are more easily read and comprehended in a survey. - It removes variability when quantifying statements, as using different words is proven to impact prioritization. Do you use the word "minimize" to introduce a need statement? Do you define your need statements as the desired outcomes around the job the customer is trying to get done? Follow me @tonyulwick for daily insights on making innovation systematic and predictable.

?? "Ideas are worthless." ?? "Customers don’t know what they want." ?? "You don’t need to brainstorm more ideas." If these sound crazy, you’re not alone. But after diving into Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) by Tony Ulwick , I realized how much traditional innovation thinking is flawed. ?? The Data Speaks for Itself: 80-95% of new products fail. (Harvard Business School) Only 1 in 10 startups succeed. (Harvard Business School) Most businesses focus on generating ideas, but not on ranking opportunities. What I Learned from Tony Ulwick & ODI: Innovation isn’t about creativity—it’s about process. The best innovations don’t come from random brainstorming but from systematically identifying unmet needs and solving them. Customers can’t tell you what they want—only where they struggle. If you just ask, “What features do you want?” you’ll get guesses, not real needs. Instead, measure importance vs. satisfaction—what do users struggle with the most that matters the most? You don’t need more ideas. You need to prioritize market gaps. Most teams waste time brainstorming when they should be finding high-impact problems to solve. Innovation isn’t about having more ideas—it’s about knowing which opportunities matter. This flipped my thinking on innovation upside down. ?? If you're in product, design, or research, I highly recommend checking out Tony Ulwick’s work on ODI. What’s the biggest product failure you’ve seen that could have been avoided with this approach? Drop it in the comments. ?? #Innovation #JobsToBeDone #ODI #ProductManagement #UXResearch #DesignThinking

Decoding the Language of Innovation: Part 11 Every week, I define one innovation concept/term through a Jobs-to-be-Done lens. The goal is to align your organization around a common language of innovation; one that will enhance its value creation efforts. This week's concept/term is: "Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI)" Let's get into it. Outcome-Driven Innovation? is a strategy and innovation process created in 1991. The methodology is built around the notion that studying the "underlying job” a customer is trying to execute, rather than focusing on the product or the customer, provides companies with a deep understanding of the customer’s needs and presents a path to make innovation more predictable. The ODI process employs qualitative, quantitative, and segmentation methods that enable companies to discover hidden growth opportunities, create products and services that customers want to buy—and predict, with a success rate that is five times the industry average, which new products will succeed in their given market. The process is comprised of these key steps: - Define a market as a group of people and a jobs-to-be done - Define the customer's needs as the metrics they use to measure success when getting the job done (these are the customer's desired outcomes, hence Outcome-Driven Innovation) - Determine which outcomes are under- and over-served and to what degree - Determine if segments of customers exist with different unmet needs - Determine which segments and outcomes to target with different products - Formulate a product strategy that is certain to get the customer's job done better Why it matters: When implementing ODI, you help your business: - Transform innovation from art to science - Predictably create customer value - Make data-driven decisions - Consistently beat the competition See you next Friday for the next edition of Decoding the Language of Innovation! — Thanks for reading! This was part 11 of my weekly series: Decoding the Language of Innovation. Where every Friday, I decode one innovation concept/term by looking at it through a Jobs-to-be-Done lens. With a common language of innovation, your company can: - Align in the same direction - and the right direction - Make better products - Grow revenue - And beat the competition Follow me here - @tonyulwick - to get my post in your feed every Friday.

Pursuing premium customers with a differentiated strategy may be attractive, but targeting over-served customer segments with a disruptive strategy might be your smartest move. A disruptive strategy is when a company offers over-served customers and non-consumers a product that gets the job done significantly cheaper, but not as well as high-end solutions. Pursuing such a strategy enables a company to: - Tap into overserved customers tired of paying for unused features - Reach non-consumers who can't afford existing solutions - Eventually compete in mainstream markets when paired with a disruptive technology that holds the potential to get the job done better and cheaper Are there over-served segments of customers in your market that are worthy of pursuit?

Don't segment your markets by personas and then: Assign unmet needs to each persona. Here’s why: It results in phantom segments (these are segments of people that don’t actually exist). Instead: Segment markets around unmet needs Then create needs-based personas that describe the resulting authentic segments. Why? In every market there are segments of people with different unmet needs. When it comes to creating winning product offerings: Product teams rely on market segmentation methods to discover these segments. They seek this information so they can create the optimal solution for each segment. The best way to discover groups of people with different unmet needs is to segment around unmet needs. This approach is called Outcome-Based Segmentation. It is part of the Outcome-Driven Innovation process. To segment in this manner means you must: - Define needs as measurable outcomes tied to the job the customer is trying to get done - Uncover all the customer needs that exist in a market - Ask a representative sample of people in the market which needs are unmet - Group together people who have the same unmet needs into segments Once the people are grouped into segments. You can analyze each segment to determine what makes it unique. You can describe and document the segment differences in a few paragraphs. This description communicates the information and context innovators need to build the optimal solution. We call this segment description a needs-based persona. **Follow me for daily insights on making innovation systematic and predictable.**

How most product planning meetings go: - Marketing: "Customers want better UX!” - Product: "No, they need more features!" - Engineering: "We should focus on performance!" - Sales: "Just make it cheaper!" All fun and games, but the reality: Most organizations play a costly game of "telephone" with customer needs. I see this dysfunction play out daily: - Teams working from conflicting customer insights - Competing interpretations of what matters - Political battles over priorities - Resources scattered across a wide range of initiatives The cost: - Missed opportunities - Wasted resources - And burnt-out teams. But here's where Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) is transforming how teams work together: Instead of opinions, ODI creates a shared language of customer needs: - Standardized "desired outcome" statements everyone understands - Single source of truth for customer priorities - Measurable metrics teams can align around - Objective framework for making tradeoff decisions The result? Teams finally row in the right direction and the same direction. They make decisions based on data, not opinion or politics. Let me help you introduce your product team to Outcome-Driven Innovation. DM me “ODI” and i’ll share details.

A Disruptive Strategy is about making solutions more affordable…EVEN if they're not as sophisticated. The goal of a disruptive strategy is to get the job done more cheaply, which is a strategy that is appealing to both over-served customers and non-consumers (people who don't have the means to afford existing solutions). Here are 4 examples that demonstrate the dynamics of a disruptive strategy: 1. Google Docs: - Less feature-rich than Microsoft Office - But free and accessible anywhere - Gained mass adoption from overserved users and non-consumers 2. TurboTax: - Simplified tax filing vs traditional services - Lower cost than professional preparers - Captured customers who found CPAs too expensive, and wanted to do it themselves 3. Dollar Shave Club: - Basic razors compared to Gillette - Significantly lower monthly cost - Attracted customers tired of premium pricing 4. Coursera: - Less comprehensive than traditional universities - Fraction of the cost of formal education - Opened education to previously excluded audiences If you want to pursue a disruptive strategy, the pattern is clear: - Target overserved customers - Offer a "good enough" solution - Offer dramatically lower prices - Expand access to non-consumers A truly disruptive innovation sets the groundwork for the eventual pursuit of a Dominant Strategy, where the process of disruption is concluded by getting the job done better AND more cheaply over time. 1. Start with a basic, affordable offerings 2. Gradually improve the offering over time to get the job done BETTER and more cheaply 3. Eventually compete with premium solutions and underserved customers 4. End up displacing market leaders Knowing the process of disruption opens the door to long-term winning strategies.

The secret behind Google search, Netflix, and Uber's domination: They figured out how to make a better AND cheaper product. But here’s the problem: Most companies believe they must choose between premium pricing or cost leadership. The most successful market leaders know something how to deploy a Dominant Strategy: The holy grail of market innovation. Here's what it really means: A Dominant Strategy is when your product or service: - Gets the job done significantly better - Costs significantly less - Appeals to all customer segments The magic numbers to remember: - At least 20% performance improvement - At least 20% cost reduction Let me break down 3 real examples: 1. Google Search - Better: More relevant results, faster speeds - Cheaper: Free for users 2. Netflix Streaming: - Better: Instant access, unlimited selection - Cheaper: Low monthly fee, no late charges 3. Vanguard Investment: - Better: Professional portfolio management - Cheaper: Industry-lowest expense ratios Sounds straightforward... Then why don't more companies pursue this strategy? The barriers are significant: - Requires new technology platforms - Demands different capabilities - Needs substantial investment - Often means lower initial margins But here's the powerful truth: When executed correctly, a Dominant Strategy is nearly impossible for incumbents to defend against. The next time you're planning your product strategy, ask yourself: Do opportunities for performance improvements and cost reductions exist? How do we best address them? The Outcome-Driven Innovation process provides the answers.

Over the past 31 years, Tony Ulwick has dedicated his career to making innovation more predictable and successful. From pioneering Jobs-to-be-Done Theory to developing the Outcome-Driven Innovation? (ODI) process, he has had the privilege of working with some of the world's leading companies to achieve breakthrough innovations. Now, he wants to share his insights with you. During this AMA, you'll have the opportunity to?ask Tony anything about innovation, product strategy, or Jobs-to-be-Done Theory. Whether you're a product manager, innovator, entrepreneur, or simply passionate about creating better products, this session is for you. We are excited to dive deep into your questions and help you overcome your innovation challenges. Space is limited, so please register soon to secure your spot. We look forward to the discussion!