Design in the Center

Design has become a centerpiece of strategy. Design used to be perceived as colors and fonts and images, but now Design is the critical discipline that drives your strategy. This includes process design, product design, and business design.

Design techniques allow us to better anticipate the needs of the customers, and to recognize that different kinds of customers have different needs. If we don't match the Go To Market plans with the product design, we will likely miss the mark. We may even build a terrific product that the target market has no interest in.

We keep the needs of the customers in front of all decisions. That requires that the customer needs have been clearly defined and easy to grasp. And we must validate these needs to the best of our ability. Validation requires that we get out of our comfort zones and go talk to people. We have to be willing to change our ideas of what the market wants, and the sooner we validate those needs, the better. It can be very costly to learn these lessons after we have already built the product.