The 2nd Dimension
The Existence
The mission is to exist, become a life form, translate vision into reality, concept into concrete, the ethereal into material. You don’t exist just for the sake of existence. No organization nor organism exists just for the sake of existence. You exist to be of value. The purpose of your entire existence is to be of value. You breath value, you sleep value, you fart value, you value value…everything about you is in service of value.
Value is as vast as a galaxy. You don’t try to be a galaxy of value-that’s a waste of existence. You choose your axis, you pick your arena. For whom you choose to be of value and how you choose to be of value- you decide. But no matter what, I beseech you to please be of value. The more value you give, the more value you receive, such is life.
Who decides what’s of value? Who deems a thing worthy of their precious time, attention or resources? The one whom you seek to serve- the one whom you choose to serve. If your existence truly serves them…if it takes them by the hand and leads them to a place better than if you didn’t exist….then you are worthy of their finite resources- you are valuable. Value is not a transaction, it’s not a feature set. It is the purposeful connection between discerned need and thoughtful solve. That dynamic relationship between understanding need and crafting a solve to meet that need with thought and care – that my friends is what value is.
This doesn’t happen by accident. You have to design for it, you have to intentionally arrange the elements of your solution to achieve a specific purpose or solve a particular problem for those you seek to serve. It begins by understanding the need. The number one goal at this stage is to anchor yourself in the need. To profoundly understand the job you are solving for so intimately that you have a PhD in that fundamental need.
For within the need lies your aquifer. Your source of value. This cannot be emphasized enough: Dear Founder. Your number one, most fundamental, most enduring role is to understand the job the customer is trying to get done. To understand the obstacles they incur on the road to getting that job done. To understand the outcomes sought which led them to the doing of the job in the first place. Be weak in this – Be worthless- Be strong in this – Be valuable.
Job-Centered Value Design
As you can tell, understanding the job is far different from conventional research. This is not about psychographics, demographics or the norm. While those are nice to have details. Nice doesn’t cut it. Conventional interviews produce lots of fluff, interesting but fluffy either way. Critical insight gets lost in a sea of information. Not all talk is relevant to value design. And design does not mean guesswork. For the sake of creating value, cut out the fluff, focus on what matters most:
The Three Critical Inputs of Value Design
What Exactly is the Job To Be Done
What Pain(s) is Associated With Getting The Job Done
What Outcomes are Desired by Getting The Job Done
The Three Critical Outputs of Value Design
Which Features Enable The Job To Be Done
Which Features Alleviate or Eliminate The Pain Experienced in Getting The job Done
Which Features Create The Desired Outcomes
The Value Design Process
Step 1: The NEED: Understand The Jobs, Pains & Gains
Step 2: Quantify The Opportunity
Value designing is not guesswork. Not every job is worth solving. How do you decide between hundreds of jobs? You can guess, you can vote, you can pray or you can get clarity by calculation.
Opportunity Worth Solving = High Importance X High Dissatisfaction
In step 1, you specifically asked the customer to rate the importance of the job. You also asked them to rate how satisfied they are with current solutions.
Opportunity = Importance X (1-Satisfaction)
Step 3: The Solve: Design The Solution To Meet The Need
Step 4: Test: Validate The Value in The Real World
Next...Proceed To The Entity
