What do you think?
Rate this book
What Customers Want (PB): Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services
A world-renowned innovation guru explains practices that result in breakthrough innovations
"Ulwick's outcome-driven programs bring discipline and predictability to the often random process of innovation." -Clayton Christensen
For years, companies have accepted the underlying principles that define the customer-driven paradigm--that is, using customer "requirements" to guide growth and innovation. But twenty years into this movement, breakthrough innovations are still rare, and most companies find that 50 to 90 percent of their innovation initiatives flop. The cost of these failures to U.S. companies alone is estimated to be well over $100 billion annually.
In a book that challenges everything you have learned about being customer driven, internationally acclaimed innovation leader Anthony Ulwick reveals the secret weapon behind some of the most successful companies of recent years. Known as "outcome-driven" innovation, this revolutionary approach to new product and service creation transforms innovation from a nebulous art into a rigorous science from which randomness and uncertainty are eliminated.
Based on more than 200 studies spanning more than seventy companies and twenty-five industries, Ulwick contends that, when it comes to innovation, the traditional methods companies use to communicate with customers are the root cause of chronic waste and missed opportunity. In "What Customers Want," Ulwick demonstrates that all popular qualitative research methods yield well-intentioned but unfitting and dreadfully misleading information that serves to derail the innovation process. Rather than accepting customer inputs such as "needs," "benefits," "specifications," and "solutions," Ulwick argues that researchers should silence the literal "voice of the customer" and focus on the "metrics that customers use to measure success when executing the jobs, tasks or activities they are trying to get done." Using these customer desired outcomes as inputs into the innovation process eliminates much of the chaos and variability that typically derails innovation initiatives.
With the same profound insight, simplicity, and uncommon sense that propelled The Innovator's Solution to worldwide acclaim, this paradigm-changing book details an eight-step approach that uses outcome-driven thinking to dramatically improve every aspect of the innovation process--from segmenting markets and identifying opportunities to creating, evaluating, and positioning breakthrough concepts. Using case studies from Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, AIG, Pfizer, and other leading companies, "What Customers Want" shows companies how Obtain unique customer inputs that make predictable innovation possible Recognize opportunities for disruption, new market creation, and core market growth--well before competitors do Identify which ideas, technologies, and acquisitions have the greatest potential for creating customer value Systematically define breakthrough products and services concepts
Innovation is fundamental to success and business growth. Offering a proven alternative to failed customer-driven thinking, this landmark book arms you with the tools to unleash innovation, lower costs, and reduce failure rates--and create the products and services customers really want.
"Ulwick's outcome-driven programs bring discipline and predictability to the often random process of innovation." -Clayton Christensen
For years, companies have accepted the underlying principles that define the customer-driven paradigm--that is, using customer "requirements" to guide growth and innovation. But twenty years into this movement, breakthrough innovations are still rare, and most companies find that 50 to 90 percent of their innovation initiatives flop. The cost of these failures to U.S. companies alone is estimated to be well over $100 billion annually.
In a book that challenges everything you have learned about being customer driven, internationally acclaimed innovation leader Anthony Ulwick reveals the secret weapon behind some of the most successful companies of recent years. Known as "outcome-driven" innovation, this revolutionary approach to new product and service creation transforms innovation from a nebulous art into a rigorous science from which randomness and uncertainty are eliminated.
Based on more than 200 studies spanning more than seventy companies and twenty-five industries, Ulwick contends that, when it comes to innovation, the traditional methods companies use to communicate with customers are the root cause of chronic waste and missed opportunity. In "What Customers Want," Ulwick demonstrates that all popular qualitative research methods yield well-intentioned but unfitting and dreadfully misleading information that serves to derail the innovation process. Rather than accepting customer inputs such as "needs," "benefits," "specifications," and "solutions," Ulwick argues that researchers should silence the literal "voice of the customer" and focus on the "metrics that customers use to measure success when executing the jobs, tasks or activities they are trying to get done." Using these customer desired outcomes as inputs into the innovation process eliminates much of the chaos and variability that typically derails innovation initiatives.
With the same profound insight, simplicity, and uncommon sense that propelled The Innovator's Solution to worldwide acclaim, this paradigm-changing book details an eight-step approach that uses outcome-driven thinking to dramatically improve every aspect of the innovation process--from segmenting markets and identifying opportunities to creating, evaluating, and positioning breakthrough concepts. Using case studies from Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, AIG, Pfizer, and other leading companies, "What Customers Want" shows companies how Obtain unique customer inputs that make predictable innovation possible Recognize opportunities for disruption, new market creation, and core market growth--well before competitors do Identify which ideas, technologies, and acquisitions have the greatest potential for creating customer value Systematically define breakthrough products and services concepts
Innovation is fundamental to success and business growth. Offering a proven alternative to failed customer-driven thinking, this landmark book arms you with the tools to unleash innovation, lower costs, and reduce failure rates--and create the products and services customers really want.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
165 people are currently reading
1974 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 10, 2018
Approach that Anthony describes in the book is rather intriguing, but there is a catch to it. Since Anthony runs a consulting firm he is making a lot of emphasis on how important it is to have a skilled team of market researchers(read - hire my company) and never actually explains how to process the customer interviews to capture the outcomes, jobs and constraints.
August 10, 2024
This book sucks. If I was banished to an island with only this book, I’d burn it on night 1 for warmth.
This book: focus on customer outcomes.
There you have it. You’ve read the book.
This was an extremely poorly written, boring, and overall unhelpful book. The main example the author kept referring to was Bosch’s circular saw product development story.
Do not read, unless you have insomnia, in which case you’ll be cured for life.
--
Coming back to add the few bits of advice not worth a fiery demise:
What initiatives do the best job of addressing the target outcomes?
What initiatives fail to address the targeted outcomes?
What initiatives address unimportant or overserved outcomes?
What potential competitive problems are a cause for concern?
Where does your product fall on the Emotion v Functionality Framework?
"A company that is thinking in terms of customer outcomes has been freed from the spec by spec mentality and won't try to mimic competitors"
Frame the customer desires as jobs to be done. You must capture all of them, even one's you didn't expect. (Functional, Emotional [Personal, Social])
Jobs --> Outcomes -reveals-> Constraints
To avoid feature creep, optimize:
- Not add any product cost
- Req. little effort to dev
- low tech risk
- difficult to copy
This book: focus on customer outcomes.
There you have it. You’ve read the book.
This was an extremely poorly written, boring, and overall unhelpful book. The main example the author kept referring to was Bosch’s circular saw product development story.
Do not read, unless you have insomnia, in which case you’ll be cured for life.
--
Coming back to add the few bits of advice not worth a fiery demise:
What initiatives do the best job of addressing the target outcomes?
What initiatives fail to address the targeted outcomes?
What initiatives address unimportant or overserved outcomes?
What potential competitive problems are a cause for concern?
Where does your product fall on the Emotion v Functionality Framework?
"A company that is thinking in terms of customer outcomes has been freed from the spec by spec mentality and won't try to mimic competitors"
Frame the customer desires as jobs to be done. You must capture all of them, even one's you didn't expect. (Functional, Emotional [Personal, Social])
Jobs --> Outcomes -reveals-> Constraints
To avoid feature creep, optimize:
- Not add any product cost
- Req. little effort to dev
- low tech risk
- difficult to copy
June 30, 2013
This methodology is closely tied to The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution. It is a systematic approach to product management decisionmaking that is designed to produce a superior more replicable outcome of the innovation process. It's primary value is in its quantitative methods for the identification of underserved and overserved markets. It's primary weakness is it overlooks too much of the standard practices around market sizing, project justification, and the role that third parties play in determining who wins and who loses in the market place, ignoring altogether the role that product laddering (Reis and Trout) plays in determining the winner.
August 15, 2014
Mixed about this book. The first few chapters on understanding why products fail was so good. This part of the book was focused on why the requirements driven approach, voice of the customer approach, and focusing on your immediate customer approach do not work. The latter half of the book which is about outcome driven innovation is based on obtaining customer preferences via surveys and a prioritization methodology. This part of the book unfortunately seems to be a rehash of dated approaches to product development.
July 9, 2008
Great info to use on the job (mine).
The evolution of segmentation methodology from using demographics to psychographics to purchase behavior to needs-based issues to the outcome-based approach recommended by the author.
It all seems to make sense and we'll be putting it to the test on the job immediately. Our ultimate goal is to uncover the jobs (outcomes) newspapers readers are trying to accomplish through the use of the product (i.e., makes me smarter, helps me make better shopping decisions, provides information HOW you want it).
I'm looking forward to implementing these newly learned concepts and methodologies!
The evolution of segmentation methodology from using demographics to psychographics to purchase behavior to needs-based issues to the outcome-based approach recommended by the author.
It all seems to make sense and we'll be putting it to the test on the job immediately. Our ultimate goal is to uncover the jobs (outcomes) newspapers readers are trying to accomplish through the use of the product (i.e., makes me smarter, helps me make better shopping decisions, provides information HOW you want it).
I'm looking forward to implementing these newly learned concepts and methodologies!
February 13, 2016
Must-read for product managers
I had this book on my to-be-read list for a long time. Too long, in retrospect. Product managers interested in bringing winning products to the market and making data-driven decisions about their products must be familiar with the outcome-driven approach. And this book is clearly the number one reference. On top of being highly relevant, it is practical, easy to read and rooted in solid research, not opinion.
I had this book on my to-be-read list for a long time. Too long, in retrospect. Product managers interested in bringing winning products to the market and making data-driven decisions about their products must be familiar with the outcome-driven approach. And this book is clearly the number one reference. On top of being highly relevant, it is practical, easy to read and rooted in solid research, not opinion.
May 26, 2009
Irritatingly self-promotional, Ulwick puts old wine in new bottles and calls it a scientific breakthrough.
March 20, 2016
If you're working on developing new products and services this is required reading
September 4, 2025
The longer process arc and framework are great but the sub-processes that feed into this development cycle is not well fleshed out. For example, Ulwick treats “ease” and resource requirements to a development cycle as an aside at the back of a late chapter.
Bolting on other ideas like The Mom Test and Itamar Gilad’s Evidence Guided to this larger framework seems like a sound way to thread together much of the other product books out there - especially in my case where my products are physical industrial products and not something in tech with a faster iteration cycle.
Bolting on other ideas like The Mom Test and Itamar Gilad’s Evidence Guided to this larger framework seems like a sound way to thread together much of the other product books out there - especially in my case where my products are physical industrial products and not something in tech with a faster iteration cycle.
February 1, 2023
The concept he introduced is really good and followed widely by many product companies recently. However the way he explains and tells stories behind this concept is really boring and a bit naive.
Through his book, he asks hundreds of questions about why companies success or fail. Regardless what he answered, we can summarize in one simple sentence: “Use his framework”.
3 out of 3 stars for the concept. 0/2 star for the storytelling.
Through his book, he asks hundreds of questions about why companies success or fail. Regardless what he answered, we can summarize in one simple sentence: “Use his framework”.
3 out of 3 stars for the concept. 0/2 star for the storytelling.
April 3, 2019
This is one of those books I definitely should have read many years ago instead of so much Agile crap. If I’d have to summarize this book in one sentence I’d use Henry Ford’s famous quote: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
July 1, 2020
Very good book
This book makes the reader understand in a deep way the outcome concept about to understand the customer task and how to measure and improve it. This conducts to make a good product portfolio prioritization.
This book makes the reader understand in a deep way the outcome concept about to understand the customer task and how to measure and improve it. This conducts to make a good product portfolio prioritization.
January 9, 2022
Basis for how to define opportunities
Was guided to read this book by concept of Opportunity-Solution trees. This book definitely helped to understand how to better define the opportunities.
Was guided to read this book by concept of Opportunity-Solution trees. This book definitely helped to understand how to better define the opportunities.
January 9, 2022
Innovation can be viewed as a scientific process instead of a mistery. As a process it can be described in separate steps, measured and improved. The book tells you how to do that. It is a complex process, but at least it is a starting point to make innovation happen in companies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2022
Interesting idea of having a job to be done approach and finding the underserved outcomes and how to tactically approach the creation of products and features that add more value to the lest served needs or outcomes that a customer is trying to achieve.
June 3, 2017
Muy bueno, aunque los primeros 3 o 4 caps tienen todo lo jugoso. Es un poco denso de leer, secciones y parrafos muy extensos
May 2, 2018
Good book in theory, not very actionable. The whole point of the book is to sell you his consulting services and trainings. Not a super fan of paying for promotional brochures
July 22, 2018
Recommneded!!! For product development, product owners, and strategic marketers.
December 24, 2019
Innovador
Este concepto ha sido ignorado durante décadas, son embargo bale la pena implementarlo en las empresas, muy buen libro,léalo. Le ahorrará tiempo y dinero
Este concepto ha sido ignorado durante décadas, son embargo bale la pena implementarlo en las empresas, muy buen libro,léalo. Le ahorrará tiempo y dinero
March 8, 2020
Eye opener...
October 22, 2021
Limited repetitive examples
March 12, 2024
It's a playbook for anyone wanting to innovate and create truly successful products and services.
March 20, 2015
This book offers a new perspective on WHY customers buy. I love how the author drills down to truly determine what specific outcome customers are looking for when they purchase products or services. More helpful is the methodology to determine these outcomes and apply the learnings to create meaningful innovation.
The foundation of this methodology is the customer interview and it would have been nice if they included more examples and case studies of questions and responses. I'm hoping to find more books that dive into the interview process and how to create marketing campaigns that address both functional and emotional jobs.
Overall, this book has given me a new perspective on the best process for creating new products, improving current products and delivering the most effective marketing message.
The foundation of this methodology is the customer interview and it would have been nice if they included more examples and case studies of questions and responses. I'm hoping to find more books that dive into the interview process and how to create marketing campaigns that address both functional and emotional jobs.
Overall, this book has given me a new perspective on the best process for creating new products, improving current products and delivering the most effective marketing message.
January 26, 2017
Four stars not because of fabulous writing. It's your typical business book and feels like it evolved from a PowerPoint deck with summary if what you are about to learn and a summary of what you learned in each chapter! Could have been half the length.
Enough literary criticism. The ideas seem sound and very useful. I'm typically a cynic with this type of system but it's simplicity combined with its power have me excited to use it at our company.
Enough literary criticism. The ideas seem sound and very useful. I'm typically a cynic with this type of system but it's simplicity combined with its power have me excited to use it at our company.
October 1, 2008
A very rational examination on how to build products that markets (people) will want to buy. There are a lot of theories out there about how to leverage innovative thinking but this book details a rational plan for reducing theory to practice when it comes to elaborating the theory of innovation to the practicalities of product development,
July 17, 2009
Maybe business writers think business readers are stupid, so they repeat the same information again and again. Or maybe that's the only way to crank out 176 pages.
There's great information in this book. I just think the author could have let his readers download some checklists and worksheets for the same price of $24.95.
There's great information in this book. I just think the author could have let his readers download some checklists and worksheets for the same price of $24.95.
December 17, 2014
Very good information, but not a book to read while on my Computrainer. There are great strategies and examples of the strategies in action. This is the sign of a good business book: big concepts applied to real experiences and situations. The kind of book you'll need to refer back to time and again. Don't give your copy away. Make a point to pull it out once a month to validate your direction.
June 1, 2016
Great read for anyone into Jobs To Be Done. Focuses heavily on quantifying research to inform the product development cycle. Would've been good to delve into specific interview techniques ala Switch Interviews. A number of interesting case studies throughout. Could've delivered the same value in a shorter format, but I always think that.
January 5, 2016
This is an excellent book if you are familiar with the Jobs to be Done framework and have read the Innovator's Solution or any of the books in that series. This book provides practical, straightforward answers on how to implement an outcome-driven approach within a company. This is one of the few books I found having several gems I can take into my day to day functions at work immediately.
September 1, 2016
This books introduces the process of outcome-driven innovation. The theory is presented in an amazing way with very good examples that accompany the reader through out the book applying the concepts introduced in addition to tips, tricks and advice on what to avoid in certain situations. I am looking forward to applying what I have learned in my job.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews