Editorial note:

  1. This draft is open to input. If you have thoughtful, non-rant-y (!) feedback, please let me know. I'd appreciate your advice on making this better.
  2. This is fairly in-depth for a how-to guide (though I included a TL; DR section). But I hope you find it helpful. For a quick overview, just read (1) the bright orange boxes spread throughout the article or (2) jump all the way to the bottom of the post for my ultimate recommendation and a quick, visual summary of the entire guide.

TL;DR

To map user need and opportunity systems:

1. Collect and organize ("map") user needs themselves
2. Map value propositions resulting from user needs
3. Identify and map opportunities related to value propositions
4. Preview what's next: Opportunity sizing

Introduction

We have tons of tools to explore a user need and extract opportunities from it. Search for user journeys (e.g., here or here), value propositions, user empathy exercises, and you'll get inundated with training, templates, and tips.

But oddly, I can't think of a single "go to" tool for mapping complete systems of user need systems before you dive into any one of them. Capturing a range of user needs gets mentioned in passing or completed as a stepping stone. But it doesn't seem to have gotten the same love as other topics that are closer to "action."

If (unmet) user needs tell you where to focus, then opportunity or market maps tell you how to do it.

Things differ on the side of mapping market opportunities that stem from user needs... That topic has been covered more rigorously than user need space mapping. But that doesn't mean they are any better:

Consulting companies and business strategists elsewhere have developed sophisticated and standardized ways to map markets. But sadly, the consulting companies hold on to their own proprietary ways. So again, I'm not aware of any publicly-available best method. And even if such a standard approach existed, it might not work for innovation work because most market mapping methods depend on the existence of markets and related data. When innovators invent entirely new markets, then no data or pre-defined markets may even exist. So the standard approaches would struggle to apply. Again, no good options.

Here then is a simple way of mapping user need systems and matching them to business opportunities (opportunity maps/ value prop maps); emphasis on "simple." This how-to guide deserves much more thorough treatment. Consider it a crude MVP for significant iteration.

It draws from multiple sources, pulled together in my own idiosyncratic way. In other words, this is just "a way," not "the way." It works for me. But you may want just to treat it as a starting point. Re-mix it or evolve it significantly for your own needs!