the outcome driven blog

When creating, developing and marketing new innovative products it is critical to have the best input possible. The traditional user-driven innovation supplies R&D with lots of user input. The problem being, they are the wrong type of inputs.

Users are lobbied for their wishes, requirements and suggestions for new products. Taken at face value these inputs are if not worthless, at the very least useless.

using intended outcomes as a benchmark

Proper input must be actionable, quantifiable and verifiable. What we need to know is what is it the users are trying to accomplish, what are the jobs they are trying to get done and what are the intended outcomes?

By investigating the jobs users are trying to get done we can develop a system of actionable and verifiable outcomes. The benchmark for success is measured by the degree with which we help users do the intended jobs and complete their tasks. You can’t ask a user about a product that doesn’t exist. You can ask them about the jobs they need to get done. Which makes more sense?

When we first investigate the particulars of the job we want our products and tools to achieve we have a way to couple benchmarks and expectations to physical products. This outcome driven approach feeds into the development pipeline by by adding input that is useful as well as verifiable.

Outcome driven innovation as formulated by Anthony Ulwick in his book "What Customers Want" is an 8 part system that spans activities from formulating innovation strategy to capturing customer inputs and targeting opportunities for growth. The whole focus is creating customer value by fulfilling unmet needs and helping to achieve relevant user outcomes.