Learning to Build: The 5 Bedrock Skills of Innovators and Entrepreneurs
by Bob Moesta
Rather than frame the problem and search for the solution like a needle in a haystack, I needed to look at the problem as a system with functions. What were the systems in the mirror case that were not performing the way that they should’ve? Then I needed to unpack those systems into control factors and noise factors. Control factors are parameters of a system you can change that impact the system’s performance, and that you have the ability, responsibility, and control to set. In the manufacturing of our mirror case, we could change machine settings—injection pressure, barrel temperature, screw speed, hold time, etc.—and measure the dimensions molded against different temperatures and climates. Noise factors are the parameters that impact the system that you cannot control, you choose not to control, or that are too expensive to control. We did not have control over the humidity inside the plants or on the roads where the cars would be eventually driven. By only talking about this limited view of the “problem,” a.k.a. the humidity, we were focused on something we could neither control nor change. Total Design: Integrated Methods for Successful Product Engineering by Stuart Pugh Management for Quality Improvement: The 7 New QC Tools by Sigeru Mizuno Getting Started with Conjoint Analysis: Strategies for Product Design and Pricing Research by Bryan K. Orme Tolerance Design: A Handbook for Developing Optimal Specifications by Clyde Creveling Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton Christensen Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Matthew Linderman
Through the years, I’ve uncovered the six stages a buyer must walk through before making a purchase: First Thought—creating the space in the brain Passive Looking—learning Active Looking—seeing the possibilities Deciding—making the tradeoffs and establishing value Onboarding—the act of doing the JTBD, meeting expectations, and delivering satisfaction and value Ongoing Use—building the habit
People might say what happened here is just the perfect storm, but it’s very predictable. Let’s unpack this interview into the three key frameworks for how people buy. The three sources of energy or motivations (functional, emotional, and social) The four forces of progress (push, pull, anxiety, and habit forces) The Job To Be Done timeline (sequence of events and actions to make progress)
When I finally got to work with real innovators, they taught me that it’s not just one problem; it’s many problems which relate to a function and many different solutions that require you to make tradeoffs. By only framing the problem, we usually just framed the symptom and a way to measure it. We didn’t actually understand the underlying causal mechanism of the bigger picture.
We needed to ask ourselves the following questions: How can we change the things that we have control over, control factors, to make us less sensitive to the things we cannot control, noise factors? (Taguchi defined this as robustness.) How do we set the control factors so that the noise factors no longer affect the output and get us the low-cost solution?
Do I understand how my product or service fits into people’s lives? Do I understand how my customer’s context can add value? Am I defining value as the progress that people are trying to make? What are the tradeoffs my customers are willing to make for that progress? Here are some resources to help continue your education into uncovering demand:
"Rather than frame the problem and search for the solution like a needle in a haystack, I needed to look at the problem as a system with functions. What were the systems in the mirror case that were not performing the way that they should’ve? Then I needed to unpack those systems into control factors and noise factors. Control factors are parameters of a system you can change that impact the system’s performance, and that you have the ability, responsibility, and control to set. In the manufacturing of our mirror case, we could change machine settings—injection pressure, barrel temperature, screw speed, hold time, etc.—and measure the dimensions molded against different temperatures and climates. Noise factors are the parameters that impact the system that you cannot control, you choose not to control, or that are too expensive to control. We did not have control over the humidity inside the plants or on the roads where the cars would be eventually driven. By only talking about this limited view of the “problem,” a.k.a. the humidity, we were focused on something we could neither control nor change."
"Total Design: Integrated Methods for Successful Product Engineering by Stuart Pugh Management for Quality Improvement: The 7 New QC Tools by Sigeru Mizuno Getting Started with Conjoint Analysis: Strategies for Product Design and Pricing Research by Bryan K. Orme Tolerance Design: A Handbook for Developing Optimal Specifications by Clyde Creveling Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton Christensen Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Matthew Linderman"
"Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide by Todd Zaki Warfel. Product Design and Development by Karl Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger. Total Quality Development: A Step-By-Step Guide to World-Class Concurrent Engineering by Don Clausing. Taguchi Methods Orthogonal Arrays and Linear Graphs: Tools for Quality Engineering by Dr. Genichi Taguchi. Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs by Larry Keeley, Ryan Pikkel, Brian Quinn, and Helen Walters Serious Play: How the World’s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate by Michael Schrage Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown"
"Principles of Systems by Jay Wright Forrester The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery by Kevin Ashton The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton Christensen The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton Christensen Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming Introduction to Quality Engineering: Designing Quality into Products and Processes by Genichi Taguchi"
"Demand-Side Sales 101: Stop Selling and Help Your Customers Make Progress by Bob Moesta with Greg Engle Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice by Clayton Christensen Talking to Humans: Success starts with understanding your customers by Giff Constable The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness by Todd Rose The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance That Awaits New Ideas by David Schonthal and Loran Nordgren"
"When your approach is static, you can’t figure out how to move and adjust. People skilled at causal structures are comfortable in the messy middle; they can operate in a very conceptual way. And they don’t spend a lot of time worrying about right or wrong because they are making decisions from an empathetic perspective: how would Bob view this? Then they’re applying this perspective to their set of frameworks to help them make progress."
"Then there are software options for developing the pictures. It’s confusing. I don’t understand this lingo, and I have no interest in taking the time to learn it. I just want to take great pictures. Frustrated, I turn to Nikon and Sony, only to find that their websites are virtual mirror images of Canon’s. Ugh! I don’t have time for this. It feels like a rabbit hole I don’t want to go in. Thankfully, along comes Apple."
- →Do I understand how my product or service fits into people’s lives? Do I understand how my customer’s context can add value? Am I defining value as the progress that people are trying to make? What are the tradeoffs my customers are willing to make for that progress? Here are some resources to help continue your education into uncovering demand:
- →People struggle with tradeoffs when they view them as settling. Tradeoffs are not about settling; they are about making progress by determining what’s most important. When you can’t make tradeoffs, you get stuck in decision hell, trying to find the proverbial needle in the haystack.
- →Sometimes the easiest way to understand the complex is to make it simple, so let’s first tie it all together by making dinner using the five skills of innovators and entrepreneurs, then I’ll show you how I used it to write this book.
- →When you realize that you do not know, it causes you to look at the system as interdependent and create a test that considers a bunch of different factors simultaneously. It’s about taking a step back and seeing the big picture.
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