Turn Customer Input into Innovation

Harvard Business Review, January 2002

This is the article that introduced ODI to the world. It is a seminal piece that marked a major turning point in innovation. The article explains how radically different ODI is from traditional methods and why it is so effective. The article explains how Strategyn used ODI to help Cordis launch the stent — the fastest-growing medical device in history.

What Customers Want

If you want a complete, in-depth look at ODI, this book will provide you with all you need. What Customers Want explains why traditional innovation fails and how to fix it. It covers how to formulate an innovation strategy, how to capture customer inputs, how to identify opportunities, how to segment markets, and how to generate breakthrough product ideas.

The Customer-Centered Innovation Map

Harvard Business Review, May 2008

This article explains each of the universal steps in a customer job. It details why an understanding of these steps is critical to knowing when all the customer needs have been captured, and it explains how we know that all the customer needs in any market can be known.

Giving Customers a Fair Hearing

Sloan Management Review, Spring 2008

This article gives a detailed explanation of the structure of jobs and outcomes. It reviews each of the rules for good customer requirements. This is the foundation for understanding markets and customer needs correctly.

What Is Outcome-Driven Innovation?

This white paper provides a detailed analysis of the problems with innovation and the fundamental flaws with traditional ideas-first and needs-first product development. It explains the discoveries that made ODI possible, and the theory that has been developed and refined over the past two decades.

The Language of Innovation

This white paper defines the terms used to make innovation a repeatable and predictable process. It defines the language used to ensure that each step of the innovation process is understood and explained correctly. Linguistic precision is a core part of what makes ODI so successful.

A New Perspective on Strategy

Every strategy is a plan to grow by satisfying customer needs better than competitors. But how to create a successful strategic plan has been unclear until now. This white paper gives a rigorous definition to strategy and introduces the six possible growth paths. It explains why the ODI approach to strategy leads to more successful products and sustainable competitive advantage.

Outcome-Driven Segmentation

Traditional needs-based segmentation fails because there is no agreed-upon definition of what a customer need is. This white paper defines a new segmentation process based on jobs and outcomes that correctly identifies segments of the customer population that agree on what they value, regardless of their age, income, industry, or purchase behavior.

Ideas-first or needs-first: What would Edison say?

This article by the great-grandniece of Thomas Edison demonstrates how the famous inventor and entrepreneur was ahead of his time and how he adopted a needs-first innovation process similar to ODI.