Have you ever:
- Lifted a shelf up to the wall to see if it actually fits before you drill the holes?
- Tried out a new recipe just for yourself before cooking a big meal for a bunch of hungry dinner guests?
- Maybe you've even stuck tape on the floor to mark the footprint of a cupboard you're thinking about buying, so you can see how it feels when you have to walk around it? (Shout out to Christoph Steinlehner for inspiring today's email.)
We bet the answer is yes, at least for one of the above.
At home it's obvious, right? Mock it up. Get a sense of what things would be like if you went for it. De-risk for cheap before you commit.
Then you walk into the office ... and something changes
Suddenly it's all slide decks and abstract debates with no tape or boxes in sight. Multi-million-dollar product decisions made in glass-walled meeting rooms with no hint of checking against the real-world.
Imagine if you tried to figure out which sofa to buy using a slide deck about your strategy to synergise innovative seating experiences that align with your north star metric of time-to-comfort.
Here's the thing. Your cupboard test isn't really about the cupboard. It's about what it does to how you move around your space.
Same with digital products – it's not about your idea, it's about what it does to your customers' behaviour.
But where do most teams expect the answers to be? Inside the cupboard.
You'll find the answers in the spaces where the cupboard could go
Sometimes all you need to do is take a moment to zoom out and look at the wider context.
That's easier said than done, so it also helps to have some structure and tricks for how to do a "masking tape test" for a digital product or service.
Tom taught exactly this earlier this week in a masterclass for more than 1,600 product people.
Announcing our new masterclass:
Ship Fast, Waste Less
In just 30 minutes, our masterclass shows you simple, fast, cheap ways to set out your model of product success – and test it in context – before you commit to months of debate, design and development.
Want to bring this masterclass to your team? Book a call and let's talk.
https://tidycal.com/tom.kerwin/25-minute-coffee
Tom & Corissa x
We're Crown & Reach, the people who figure out why good products are failing. We help CEOs of profitable-but-precarious companies figure out why things aren't working as they want – despite doing everything 'right'.
Get more of our best leftfield thinking and strategy secrets: https://reach.crownandreach.com/
