If you want your idea, venture, product, service, project to be successful, it must be well positioned to solve a problem, seize an opportunity or create unexpected delight.
Finding the problem to solve, the opportunity to seize or the delight to create then becomes a clear task for any intrapreneur.
Dictionary.com defines insight as:
- An instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, especially through intuitive understanding;
- Penetrating mental vision or discernment;
- Faculty of seeing into inner character or underlying truth; an understanding of relationships that sheds light on or helps solve a problem;
- An understanding of the motivational forces behind one’s actions, thoughts, or behavior; self-knowledge.
Uncovering insights should be the first step in your journey, but if you’re already working on your new idea, take the time to match it up with one or more insights about your client, customer, user, target.
Typically, an insight has a few components:
- Some observation/understanding of the current reality/behavior/belief
- A deeper understanding of the motivation behind the behavior or belief
- An articulation of the gap between behavior and belief
So, if you’re designing to solve a problem, can you articulate the problem in the words of the user/client? Do you know why it’s a problem for them? And, even though its a problem today, what are they doing anyway, or to compensate?
If you’re designing to seize an opportunity, what does the opportunity represent for your user? Why is that important for them? And, why aren’t they pursuing that opportunity on their own/in some other way already?
Finally, if you’re looking to create unexpected delight, you must understand what the need or desire is for that delight, what higher level benefit it will deliver, and what’s keeping your user/client from getting it today.
Take the time to think through the insight behind your new idea, venture, product, service — it will be far more likely to succeed.
The Garage Group teaches and enables corporate teams to innovation like startups with fast, agile and effective approaches to insights and ideas. Contact us for more information or to discuss your innovation challenge.
