The Product Is Not the Experience
Author: Jurgen Appelo
The product is a cup of coffee. Not being allowed to use my notebook in a coffee bar is an experience.
The product is ice cream. Not being able to specify that the pistachio should be at the bottom (because I want to end with pistachio) is an experience.
The product is a flight on a Cessna 208. Not being able to take high-quality photos and videos because the windows are all dirty is an experience.
The product is a banking app. Not being able to make a payment because the password has "expired" and the website doesn't allow me to set a new one is an experience.
The product is a conferencing tool. Not being able to launch it because it requires a validation code that doesn't show up in my mailbox is an experience.
In each of these cases, I might say, “Great product! Shame about the experience.”
Stop managing products. Start managing experiences.
Customers pay for products, but what they need are experiences.
For example, with the unFIX model, I want people to feel pride.
I want team members, middle managers, and executives to be proud of their company and how they've organized themselves. That's why, for The unFIX Company, I came up with the following vision of experience:
For people trying to create better workplaces, we improve clarity about the options for ways of working by offering patterns, games, and tools validated by people proudly sharing their context-specific solutions.
This vision statement contains the following:
Persona/Context: people trying to create better workplaces
Pain/Gain: clarity about the options for ways of working
Value: patterns, games, and tools
Feelings: pride
A vision of experience is a step up from standard vision statements because company visions and product visions usually offer an image of the value provided rather than the feelings experienced.
Company Visions and Product Visions
A clear company or product vision is essential for any business that wants to succeed in the long term.
A vision is a statement of the company's future aspirations and goals and serves as a guiding principle for decision-making and strategy development. A clear vision of a company or product offers employees direction, focus, and an idea of what the business is striving to achieve. A well-defined vision can also attract customers, investors, and partners who share the same beliefs, leading to stronger brand loyalty and market positioning.
A vision also helps a company or product to stay focused on its goals and avoid distractions. This can be especially important in today's fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, where it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture in the face of short-term challenges and opportunities.
Finally, a company or product vision also serves as a powerful tool for innovation and growth. A well-articulated vision inspires creativity, as employees are encouraged to develop new ideas that align with long-term objectives. This help businesses stay ahead of the competition and adapt to changing market conditions, which can be crucial for long-term success.
Experience Over Product
The problem with most company and product visions is that they focus on output rather than outcome. They usually describe the value the business intends to offer rather than the lived experiences the firm plans to realize. In other words, many vision statements explain the "Product-to-Be-Made" instead of the "Job-to-Be-Done."
The problem with most company and product visions is that they focus on output rather than outcome.
To help people not make the same mistake, we want to emphasize that a vision statement should be a "vision of experience." We explicitly distinguish the product value to be offered from the feelings and emotions we hope to generate.
Many tools can help you define your company or product vision, including the Value Proposition Canvas, Product Vision Board, JTBD Canvas, and many product pitch templates. Use whichever you like, as long as you remember that the job is not done when you merely throw a product over the wall. A vision of experience describes how people experience your product, not just how they use it.
Meanwhile, our team at The unFIX Company might use pride as our guiding principle—This could change; it’s just an idea.—when making decisions about our product offerings. How can we help people feel proud of their organization's design and way of working? Can we instill some pride when organizations design their context-specific method rather than slavishly implementing a framework off-the-shelf?
That's for us to figure out, and a shared vision of experience will be pretty valuable.
