Itch X-Ray
Waiting until the congoscenti, and later the crowds, have begun to scratch their itches is a good way to miss the mark. Those who can glimpse itches before they appear have an advantage. So how do we look through to hidden itches, or maybe even cause our own? Not only do we have to spot them, but we have to make sure they’re scratchable.
X-Ray Vision
Here is a way: guess, scratch, look and listen, repeat or replicate. Yes, the best way to do this is good old trial-and-error learning or its more refined cousin The Scientific Method.
The trial and error doesn’t need to be blind. And this is where observations and theories about people and social groups are helpful. What have we seen or do we know about people that give us hints about their itches, or “pain points” as it’s fashionable to call then nowadays.
Looking for pain points that can be used to make profitable products is the way to form the initial guesses in our trial-and-error cycles. Some are better at doing this than others.
The ability to spot relevant pain points is related to empathy and a strong dislike for compromises. We need people who can see things that cause difficulties and refuse to accept that there are no good alternatives.
