Explore Module

Methodes

Research mind map
A mind map is a visual representation of your ideas, consisting of words, images and colours. It allows you to construct an overview of the topic so that you can see its complexities more clearly and identify relationships between different aspects of the topic. (Source: Google)

You could use pen and paper or the collaboration Tool Miro to create a MindMap.
Cluster the MindMap into four areas like in the source.

Sources:

How might we questions

«How might we» (HMW) questions are short questions that launch brainstorms. HMWs fall out of your point-of-view statement or design principles as seeds for your ideation.

Sources:


Stakeholder Map
Before we draw a stakeholder map on the whiteboard, we create a list of potential user groups and institutions to which they are connected i.e. a list of our stakeholders. 

After we have selected the relevant stakeholders, we analyze their connections.
Possible questions could be: 
  • What common goal do they share?  
  • What conflicts or interests do exist?  
  • What personal and emotional connections exist between them?  
  • Are there any open conflicts or hidden animosities?  
We visualize a proper map with all connections.
Recommendation: Marking the connection arrows by different colors according to the type of connection. Similarly, sticky notes in different colors can refer to different dimensions of information. In any visualization: a clear arrangement is essential. 

Sources:


Desktop Research / Analysis

Questions before start desktop research. 
  • What precisely are we looking for? 
  • How can we determine whether you already know enough? 
  • How do we organize and sort the information? 
  • How do we decide what is relevant and what is not? 

Existing Applications

Technology analyzation
First, we have a look at the technological development .

Questions can be the following: 
  • What technologies can we see in our market and at our competitors?  
  • What new technologies that may become interesting for us can we discover?  
  • What technologies can render our value proposition obsolet or improve it?  
  • Are there technological developments that may become much more affordable in the near future? 
  • What start-up and companies are busy on these areas? 
  • Which of them develop into our direction?


User Knowledge analyzation

We analyze our knowledge about the users

  • What do we know already about our users? 
  • What user group do we reach? 
  • Why do we reach exactly these groups?  
  • What are the relevant factors for this? 
  • Is there some change going on in this area?  
  • Do the values and priorities of our users change?  
  • Do social changes have an effect? 
  • What start-ups or other companies play on these trends?  
  • What can we learn from them?  
  • What mechanisms do they use?

Socio-Economic Activity analyzation
We analyze the socio-economic dimension of the problem.
Socio-economic trends describe the long-term demographic development and are depicted by age pyramids, income distribution and other models.

  • Are we part of the regulated market? 
  • What possibilities for disruptive changes can we spot?  
  • Are there regulatory or socio-economic trends that hint at a change?  
  • Are we able to use huge social changes in the working environment or the trend towards platform markets? 
  • What developments of interesting companies can we observe in markets that are less regulated or socially different from our home markets?

Sources:
Result of this method
We estimate which trend, which company or which change process will probably have the largest influence on us and plot this on a two-dimensional matrix. See template Digital Innovation Playbook, Explore-Method 9: Market Trend Analysis

How to use this template? 
On the „potential for differentiation“ axis, we plot our estimations of trends, competitiors or changes that intensify the competition in the exiting market or generate new markets. 

On the „potential for substitution“ axis, we plot the trends, competitors or changes that have the potential to render our product or service obsolete. 
The matrix helps us to prioritize. We can quickly select the most relevant fields and then analyze the chosen trends, start-ups or change processes in more detail by subsequent research. 


Personas
Personas are fictional characters, which you create based upon your research in order to represent the different user types that might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way. Creating personas helps us to understand users’ needs, experiences, behaviors and goals.

Sources:

Qualitative Interview

User Journey Map
Sources: