Understanding the needs of a market is a lucid task that allows one to assess whether the assumptions that drive a project (e.g., “quality of rendering is the primary purchase criteria”) have been observed and validated in the field. If not, it could mean that the project will have to revise its value proposition.
Example:
In 2005, three ex-PayPal employees wanted to reinvent the “dating site” concept. The postulate of these entrepreneurs was that classic dating sites, based on the matching of “fixed” profiles (i.e., based on textual criteria) were no longer in the era of time and that a more dynamic profile mode would be more appropriate. So they designed a website where registrants don’t answer questions but introduce themselves via video and exchange their videos to meet other people. The first version of the site did not attract as many users as the designers had predicted. However, these entrepreneurs quickly persevered in trying to understand the reason for this failure. They observed that the few people who signed up were not using the video service to meet people, but rather to share information or humorous videos for the general public.
Understanding that their initial premise was wrong, the creators decided to pivot and transform the platform into a site optimized for video sharing: Youtube. The site has grown very strongly and has gradually become a must-have.
Researchers from the University of Sydney, who developed the method: “Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat.” (Martin Tomitsch et al. 2018) advocate for a design-led approach to managing complex projects including a team’s ability to model a solution so that they can quickly experience market appetite in the field.
Whether it is to develop a new product or a new service, the principle is to quickly “materialize the contours of the solution” in order to observe how people perceive and use it instead of “imposing” a solution that is already finalized, costly and probably not very adapted. Favouring the observation of the market in a defined context is the best way to verify the objectivity of a project.