Root Cause Analysis

• the first answer might not be the right answer –> DIG DEEPER
• WHY is that our problem?
• 5 Why’s: Problem – Why – Why – Why – Why – Why – Solution
• one branch at a time, like a mind map
• Rethink how you’re facing the problem
• We are often NOT the average consumer
• to find it: go out and talk to people –> Thinking tool –> VALIDATE!
• Research: explore problems
• BUT! It’s not going to be perfect
• Hypotheses: test
• If a solution has a minor cost and relatively high success, then why not try that out?

Innovation Clover

Constraints

• User Needs: unmet needs, improved experience
• Money/profit: high revenue, low costs
• Business: brand and strategy alignment, skill sets/expertise, resources (human and financial); cost of doing something: what product can we NOT do to invest in ONE thing
• Technology: new capabilities, technical debt (every time we cut a corner, we can hinder design or meeting customer needs; keeping up with technology)

Relationships

• find the partner you need to be successful
• you don’t have to do everything
• WHAT do I have?
• WHAT am I missing?
• Partnerships –> Re-evaluate –> What do we need to do next?

Business Capabilities

• Creating capabilities
• creating something customers love
• Starting points can be uncomfortable
• users may not know how to articulate what they need –> they don’t know what the solutions are
• Design: foresee

Reaching Your Stakeholders

• articulate what’s going on
• Recommended Reading: “Crucial Conversations” 
• Reframe the conversation: find the path that’s right / towards what will drive the results

Avoiding the “Me Too” Products

• Experience Continuum

Identifying Markets for Global Research

Where should we do research? 

• country differences are not useful
• (a) Is the design fundamentally different?
• (b) Data entry: is the paradigm fundamentally different?
• (c) Are consumer behaviors fundamentally different?
• (d) Are the countries fundamentally different in any relevant way?
• BIGGEST DIFFERENCES, not biggest markets