Unclear on Business Impact

You are creative, so you have lots of ideas. You have ideas for products your company could create. Awesome. But with all these different ideas, how do you determine which idea is worth pursuing? 

Start with the problem

"I think this could really help the business", isn't enough. If your product idea solves a customer’s problem, how painful is that problem? Let’s start with a simple analogy.

‍Aspirin or a vitamin

Are you offering them an aspirin or a vitamin? Vitamins are something I know I should take daily. But the impact a vitamin has on my daily life is unclear. How can I tell if this vitamin really gave me my daily allowance of vitamin C?

I remember driving with a bad headache. My head was pounding, so I pulled into a gas station and bought 2 aspirin for what a full bottle would cost at a pharmacy. I handed the cashier my money. When my headache went away, the impact was clear. The pills were worth every. single. penny.

Make sure you're creating an asprin

So, does one of your product ideas cure a headache? Start with that idea and ask: How painful is the problem? What is their “headache” preventing them from doing? Answer these questions, and you are on your way to understanding the business impact.

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‍PPS - This is the 5th post in a series of the 10 problems all innovation teams face.