Define Value Beyond “faster-easier-efficient-scalable”
Why does the tech world only think of value in these terms?
In product and service roles, we talk about value a lot. In the tech world, hardly anyone questions what value is. We speak of it in terms of being more efficient, faster, or doing something in an easier or scalable way.
In my work, I hear value being described in more human terms. If we want to get past the assumption that the attributes of tech (faster-easier-efficient-scalable) are the only value people seek, we have to go back to the beginning. First, here is a definition of value I think we can agree on in terms of our work in product and service creation.
In other words, value is leveling-up the person’s “ability” or “success.” This leveling up is why they might pay for a solution rather than doing it the way they usually do. (Another assumption in the tech world is that people never did the thing before the tech came along. Like, people never wrote to each other before email, text, forums, workgroup apps, or social media?)
The trouble with our definition is that “better,” “ability,” and “success” tend to get defined according to the team and the org creating the solutions, rather than by the person who is addressing their purpose. Some teams and orgs have a difficult time seeing through any other lens than the one that measures their revenue. (Other teams and orgs are measuring themselves in terms of value to people, society, and the environment.)
What if we explore the definition of value, of leveling-up, based on people’s interior cognition? Core interior cognition is three things: a person’s inner thinking, emotional reactions, and personal rules. This is one way we can see other leveled-up value that people seek — and would pay for.
Across the many studies I have done, gathering core interior cognition and seeing patterns emerge. These patterns depend upon the purpose a person is addressing. Here are some other types of value people have sought:
- less stressful
- doesn’t trigger horrible memories
- doesn’t interrupt their flow
- avoids stealing their time
- helps the environment
- helps them support someone
- makes it possible to do something helpful to others
- doesn’t require them to provide unpaid labor
- acknowledges a philosophy they hold toward this goal
There are so many ways to think about leveled-up value. They vary based on your org’s domain and on people’s purpose and contexts. You can get a better idea of the actual value your potential users seek through a bit of one-time foundational research. This understanding of value will guide your org to stronger support for people, and longer-lasting relationships of support with people. Those relationships count as revenue that sustains over time.
Benchmark and Track Your Value to People
The goal is to measure how well your solution supports a person addressing their goal, their way, and to improve this support for a bigger and broader set of people.
Ask long-range strategy questions, and track ongoing improvements against one-time foundational research. How is your org answering questions like these, currently?
- How do we measure our impact (outcome, effect) helping people/communities address their purposes, their way?
- Where are gaps or harms across a variety of thinking styles that we can address?
- Where can our competition find a wedge in our market? (And how can we wedge into their market?)
- What new/nuanced solutions can fill these gaps to solidify or extend our reach?
- How can we ensure long-lasting, sustainable profit?
The value of foundational strategic research is that it illuminates the broader picture of how people accomplish a goal or satisfy a need, as they stitch together their social, memory, manual, mechanical, in-person, and digital solutions. It stimulates discussion about the bullet points above. The goal is to measure how well a solution supports a person addressing their goal, their way. Not just “faster, easier, more efficient and scalable.” The goal is to move the needle to increase the ways you provide honest value.
