Reading this thought piece from the Silicon Valley Product Group, The End of Requirements, I saw this point about latent needs:
Unrealized needs (also called “latent needs”) are those solutions where customers may not even be aware they even have the need until after they see and experience the solution. Examples include digital video recorders, tablets, always-on-voice, self-driving cars, etc.
In other words, customers often don’t know what they want. This is essentially another version of the Henry Ford quote, “If I asked people what they wanted, they’d have said faster horses.”
I want to differ with the Silicon Valley Product Group here. People do know their needs, it’s incumbent on companies to understand them. Then it’s appropriate to try out ideas that can better satisfy those jobs. This diagram illustrates the two separate dynamics:
In their post, they use self-driving cars as an example of “latent needs”. Two issues with that. First, self-driving cars are not yet in the market, so it’s not possible to say that was a latent need, as described by the Silicon Valley Product Group. The second issue is that self-driving cars will actually address known jobs-to-be-done. I wrote a whole post on that, Exactly what jobs will self-driving cars satisfy? In that post, I outline several jobs-to-be-done and some key outcomes desired:
| Job-to-be-done | Outcomes |
| I want to get from point A to point B | Minimize commute time | Minimize accident risk | Minimize commute risk | Increase driving enjoyment |
| I want to get work done | Increase digital work completed | Increase availability for conference calls | Minimize distractions |
| I want to improve the environment | Minimize emissions | Minimize fossil fuel consumption |
| I want to enjoy my personal interests | Increase spent on activity | Minimize distractions |
The point here is that these are not latent needs. Some are needs that people do not think about now in the context of commuting in a vehicle. But they are not latent needs.
I do agree there are some needs that can be hard to discover, or which become more important as societal norms and expectations change. Sure, there are some needs that are not obvious and may indeed become more visible in the face of a potential solution. But these are exceptions, not the norm.
Making product and innovation decisions based on the thought that, “Well, people don’t really know what they want” is a recipe for a lot of wasted effort. It’s not a sustainable basis for growth.
Agree? Or think I’m oversimplifying things?
I’m @bhc3 on Twitter.
