Mindfully unearthing customer needs

We explored understanding ‘what-is’ scenario of your customer’s life before you go into ‘what-if’. You have to understand your customer’s current journey and experience with product and services on how they are getting the job done today, before redesigning or re imagining the solution. We can use user stories, journey maps and many other tools to record what and how things are happening right now. One of the most powerful tools that we like to use is six thinking hats.

How to use the six hats -

White hats: You can call them the fact — logical thinkers — guys. They find data to support the point in case. Be it a positive or negative fact. They use highly logical thinking. It is great to use when thinking about what are the current functional jobs to be done and their current performances. The rational thinking used will justify why they do what they do, and they would find data to support their rationale. e.g. I buy an iPhone because it has superb user experience, it is easy to navigate, the screen response is great, 80% of designers use this phone.

Red hats: You can call them the feeling — emotional thinkers — guys. There is where more emotional thinking involved. Participants share what they personally feel about the topic in discussion. It is great to use when thinking about what are the current emotional (personal and social) jobs to be done and their current affairs. It also explores your customer current likes and dislikes.

• When using this hat they don’t use the mind, they use more of the heart or basal instincts. e.g. I love using an iPhone because… (most times, it gets difficult to articulate the reason as our likes and dislikes are not always rational)
• If they try to quantify or qualify at best, they will use emotions. e.g. I love using an iPhone because it makes me feel cooler (this is where using why becomes powerful)

Black hats: You can call them the red alarm — caution thinkers — guys. They are usually the devil’s advocate. They assess the risk factor and foresee future risks really well. This can guide talking about current pain points, frustrations, difficulties, weaknesses, dangers and risks involved in product or service usage. Think not just about the product, but also the product while it is being used, the whole journey of when they think about the job to getting the job done. e.g. iPhone screens tend to break even when it is dropped just a couple of feet off the ground. The charging cables are highly prone to wear and tear and are expensive to replace.

Yellow hats: You can call them the benefit — positive thinkers — guys. They bring out what is good about the current situation — current benefits and advantages like ease of use. In the jobs to be done point of view — it is not just important to say we have a great product — but how well it gets a job done too. It is more outcomes driven. This hats only probe is to not just think product benefits — but think benefits of the benefits. e.g. My iPhone is secure and virus-free compared to any other phone my friends have.

Green hats: You can call them the idea — creative thinkers — guys. They come up with ideas, alternatives, and possibilities. We are not yet in the ‘what-if’ stage right? So how do we use green hats thinking to our advantage? This hat is great to explore competition. Who or what else if getting the job done today? It isn’t as easy to scope competition. For instance, if I was a business class airline who flew businessmen to conduct businesses meetings, then it is not easy to think that an iPhone with FaceTime (video conferencing) can be your competitor, who can get the same job done.

Blue hat: You can call them the process champions. They set the scope of the discussion and help participants stay on the topic. They play the role of a moderator — staying neutral and guiding back to thinking and ideation but don’t influence it with any of their personal views or opinions. As a business owner, this is a hat you should really wear when exploring current journeys, approaches and situations. To keenly listen and observe to what the customers are saying. It is okay to let them wander a little away from the topic, but guiding them back to talk about the topic helps both keep the discussion on point and on time.

Tell us about your experiences about using six-hats?