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People Don't Want Your Product Design. They Want the Outcome It Provides
When pitching new business, I always looked for the 'person with a problem'. If you can develop a solution that meets their need you will have a powerful ally in bidding new work.
So, I get this methodology, but I think it is definitely only one part of the problem. If you design a product based on the single outcome, then you are ignoring the other outcomes it might have. especially in the drill bit example, there are several ways that drill bits get used in the shop that aren't specifically for drilling - e.g alignment pin, precise shim, set of parallels, etc. in this case, the tool might be for creating 1/4" holes, or for having something 1/4" in diameter. The latter might imply a lot more uses than could be planner for. (it is also why I don't like drill bits with flats ground on the shank)
In designing products secondary functions always come up, but the point of a drill bit is to make a hole, not be an alignment pin. Other uses come from your ingenuity as a user, whether or not it's spotted as a possibility during the design process.
Great article, I had come across the milkshake story before, but had no idea it was mcdonalds. I think getting to the roots of customers needs is what design is about and the JTBD is a good tool to get the process started.
If your great design does not solve a problem then its not great design
So much obfuscated misinformation and faux prestige media reference dropping going on here in this article...beware.
The journalist is is making the case for only the economic behaviors that come after product design (without actually valuing the method that enables them). She is trying very hard in her writing to value the psychological results/outcome of product design over the actual delivery method itself.
By stating that "people do not want your product design, they want your outcome instead" she is ignoring the well considered and necessary delivery methods that leads to an outcome. This kind of narrative is analogous to wanting to have a cute baby with out the part that includes conception, giving birth, teething, adolescence etc). She argues for an outcome without putting forth any cognitive or physical effort on the part of the solution user.
"People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill [bit], they want a quarter inch hole." Yes...but you still at the end of the day need a well designed drill bit (and other things) to make the hole today in 2019. More evidence of ignoring the reality of the methodology that goes along with solving a problem and just focusing on the behavioral aspects of instant gratification, deliberate technology transparency that drives more and more dopamine addiction.
She goes on with regard to tools and jobs...."We still love listening to music on the go, but in the last 25 years the tool we used to do that has profoundly changed, from the Walkman, to the iPod, to Spotify." These tools that are designed and developed into products by designers and others that are the "jobs" to which we perform and are able to continue to listen to music in a variety of ways is support for the desire of a product design over the outcome rather than the other way round.
We need more understanding of what is going on around us rather than less. Understanding more how product design leads to our satisfaction (psychologically and otherwise) is a more holistic and mindful way of living in the world in the 21st century. We cannot continue to outsource everything that we need done in order to achieve the gratification we desire. Priming our brains with more and more dopamine hits without interaction in the real world will lead to more and more "outcomes" fantasy valuation over the ability of better product design solutions to actually achieve it.
And using a McDonalds milkshake as an example of outcome rather than the reality of a sales and marketing decision, truly reveals the misunderstanding of design in this kind of journalism.
If I understand correctly, you're saying the article ignores the importance of design and products as solutions for problems. But I think you're missing the point that from a customers perspective, the product doesn't matter.
This doesn't make sense.
McDonald's Milkshake: 530-670 calories, 54-168 grams of sugar
How is a milkshake 'less guilt'??? Also, at what point are you just enabling obesity? Sure, profits go up, but they're doing so at the expense of healthcare costs. Obese people put a huge drain on our medical industry, compared to people of normal bodyweight.
The article didn't say milkshakes had less calories than Snickers, it said that the consumer felt less guilt. McDonalds is in the business to make money by selling milkshakes (burgers, fries, etc) not controling people's calorie consumption or lowering the nation's healthcare costs. If people want to buy a milkshake for the morning commute it's McD's job to sell it to them at a profit. Feel free to open your own burger joint with whatever focus you want. It's called free market capitalism.
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The link to the Cordis case study isn't working, is there some site where we could we find it?
Interesting article, but I don't see much difference between this methodology and let's say UCD or HCD. The approach is almost the same, but the outcome many times depends on how open is the company to investing and adopting revolutionary solutions, rather than just doing incremental innovations.
Sorry, have fixed the Cordis link. Let us know if it gives you any more trouble.