Somebody Else's Problem....

Articulated, Issue 22.

In Issue 21, I promised we would start again, at the beginning. And here we are.....

Is it Unsolved? What Are They Hoping to Accomplish? Does it Matter?

It all starts with the problem. Not the technology - which can be innovative or plain as dirt. Or a service that has no technology at all. Not the price point - the right product or service will find its place. Not the market - you don't know enough yet to segment your market in a relevant way. Not the regulatory path - don't add this constraint just yet. Focus on..... The problem.

Not just any problem. Problems are harder to find than you think. That is, problems are everywhere -- but Important, Unsolved problems that Matter to your Customer, Understood in Context are hard to find. They can be even harder to understand from the perspective of your customer. In other words- the problem may not be what you think it is- and you won't know that until you spend time with your customer. But not because all of the problems have been solved -- the world is still full of problems (aka - "opportunities"). Rather it is because they are hiding in plain sight. If only you could walk through your life where each problem is already flagged with a Post-it and classified, simply awaiting a person to pick it up and create its solution. but then it wouldn't be called "innovation."

Unsolved.

Many of the problems you will find are already solved. That is, there is a good, customer-acceptable existing solution already out there. Can you be dramatically better? Or dramatically cheaper? If not, this is not the one you are looking for....

Scott Adams of Dilbert fame is known for skills other than product development and design thinking - but he nailed the level of enthusiasm that a good fit with your customer displays, when he wrote:

So if, for example, you invent a new type of umbrella, and every person who sees it says, “That is clearly better than all other umbrellas on the market,” you have nothing. Walk away. But if someone who barely knows you demands to buy six of them for everyone in his family, and doesn’t first ask the price, and is willing to drive to your house to pick them up, and immediately names each one like a pet, then you might have something. - Scott Adams, "Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!

In their book, Competing Against Luck, the late Clayton Christensen and coauthors identify five ways to look for unsolved problems, from their "Jobs to be Done" framework:

1. Seeing jobs in your own life - If you have this problem, perhaps others do also. But be careful of falling into the trap of thinking that all potential customers are like you!
2. Finding opportunity in nonconsumption - If all of the solutions to a problem are poor, sometimes a customer will simply not select anything. Opportunity.
3. Identifying Workarounds - If the available solutions are imperfect, sometimes a customer will use another product for an unintended use. When that happens, there is a gap that you could fill.
4. Zoning in on things we don’t want to do - What is the customer trying to avoid? Or stop? There is a solution, but the customer doesn't want to use it for some other reason that you will need to understand deeply in order to address it well.
5. Spotting unusual uses of products - If your product is already on the market, what other ways is it being used by knowledgeable customers beyond the one it was designed for? For those of us working in medical devices and pharma, are physicians selecting your product for some off-label use, where they see value, but you haven't yet sought an indication?

What Job are we Doing?

Don't forget that the "Jobs" your product will be satisfying are functional - yes, but may also be social and emotional. And the reason for selecting your product from among all of the options available may be as simple as the ability to go home ten minutes early at the end of the day, for instance.

A patient walks into a clinic complaining of tiredness and aches. Her physician orders several tests. He also does not order others. Why? Here are some possible reasons....

• The patient is showing symptoms that might be flu. (Functional)
• The doctor wants his patient to think that he is doing all he can for her (Social)
• The doctor wants to feel that he is a good caregiver, who treats his patients well. (Emotional)
• The doctor avoids tests that he knows are costly, because his administrator is watching his costs (Social)
• The doctor wants to rule out high risk diagnoses like heart disease for the safety of the patient (Functional)
• The doctor is aware of six others with similar symptoms, and is considering writing a research paper on them (Social)
• The patient's insurance will only cover certain treatments (Functional)
• The doctor once missed a patient showing similar symptoms who eventually died after misdiagnosis (Emotional)

Which ones matter, and in what proportions? You won't find out by copying down what is on the prescription pad. You will only know by spending time with the physician and others, watching and asking questions, and understanding the full context of the decision that was just made, as well as others that were made in similar situations. The particular tools -- ethnographic studies, customer interviews, focus or advisory boards, qualitative market research, storyboarding the experience, etc. -- are less important than holding the idea in your mind that the customer just did THAT for a reason in a context. Why????

Matters.

That is, It matters from the perspective of the customer. It may seem trivial to you or your team, but your opinion doesn't matter here. Heather Hasson, co-founder of Figs scrubs, recognized a problem at a coffee meeting with a nurse practitioner of her acquaintance. The scrubs that healthcare workers wore, nearly all of which were issued by the hospital at the time, were ill-fitting, uncomfortable, and scratchy. And these workers commonly spent double shifts in them. This wasn't a problem for the hospital - to them it was a uniform, a commodity product to be obtained at a good price. "The highest standards didn't exist, so we created them."

The problem is that for healthcare workers, comfortable, properly-fitting professional clothing was critical to performance (eliminate distractions so you can focus on your patients), and the pride of the profession. Such clothing must move with the worker and withstand a variety of insults unique to healthcare - from blood splashes to ballpoint pen writing. Unlike the pajama-like scrubs available then, they needed to actually fit a variety of body shapes without bagging or constricting, and come in colors that let you feel you weren't just another piece of requisitioned equipment. From the hospital administrator's perspective, there was no problem. Yet 2.7 million customers, purchasing $140M per year at a 67% gross margin would say otherwise. It was a problem that mattered to customers- and it went beyond the functional problem of uniform healthcare clothing for hospital staff. Recognizing it meant that there was to be something new in the world - "Scrubs that don't suck."

Empathy for Somebody Else

Understanding "Somebody Else's Problem" (your customer's) - from their perspective - is the key starting point for innovation. Understanding context. Understanding functional, emotional, and social motivators in that context, which give rise to the problem. Understanding what they are doing now, and why they are not satisfied with it. Understanding what alternatives they rejected, and why. Understanding the progress they are hoping to make on their problem. This is the beginning....

Working on a problem for your company? Need some help in business or product strategy, or in planning your commercial future? Let's talk.

(c) 2024, 2025 Todd M Boyce. Some images created by me with Adobe Photoshop 26.5 (beta).