Interesting perspective from Tony Ulwick of Strategyn in Innovation Management
“Our methodology requires that a company understand exactly what job the customer is trying to get done before any attempts at innovation are made. This is accomplished by conducting customer interviews or literature searches to understand the discrete process steps that comprise the job.
The breakdown of the job into these discrete steps is represented graphically by a job map. Job mapping has many benefits, all of which are discussed in “The Customer-Centered Innovation Map” (Harvard Business Review, May 2008). Its primary purpose is to provide a framework within which to capture and organize need statements and to ensure that no customer needs get overlooked or neglected. The job map’s ability to capture all the customer’s needs makes it superior to VOC techniques, which state from the outset that they cannot capture all customer needs. If a customer has 100 or more different, detailed needs, shouldn’t you know all of them? Missing even one might mean missing a perfect opportunity for innovation.”
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