• Up until now, for me, creating something that people truly desire has been secondary to creating something that I find interesting.

    • While I have claimed to solve someone else’s problem as a justification, it has always been of low priority to me.
    • Lately, being able to create things under the guise of research has further accelerated this tendency.
      • (Although in research, it’s not that I think it’s okay to ignore societal value, but since the goal is to understand phenomena and explore possibilities, there is a high degree of freedom.)
  • On the other hand, recently I have been wanting to be able to achieve a balance between commercial viability and interest.

  • I want to learn from the experience of creating things that have commercial viability and value for customers.

  • However, I think that if I suddenly try to create something that combines both commercial viability and interest, both aspects will end up being mediocre.

    • I currently can’t think of a way to create something that combines both aspects effectively.
  • Therefore, I would like to allocate 10-20% of my time to try a project where the value for customers is the top priority.

    • Discover the market/customers and create a product that fits there.
    • The process for so-called Market-In / Make Something People Want.
    • Engage directly with users, deploy prototypes for them to use, engage with users, and so on, looping through this process.
  • My current self-awareness:

    • I believe I have a fairly good ability to quickly outline the overall picture of a product, pick suitable means and technologies, and create prototypes.
      • I can code, and I can design better than the average engineer.
    • I also have some knowledge from academic study about product development theories and methods for identifying needs.
      • I have seen and heard about cases of people running companies, read books, and learned in lectures.
    • On the other hand, I have very little experience in actually talking to users, exploring needs, and receiving feedback firsthand.
      • I have a vague memory of doing this at Make School a long time ago.
      • Although I have participated in hackathons a few times to put together makeshift logic, I am aware of the thin foundation of this.
      • I believe that gaining experience in looping through feedback here will make me stronger, even in future research or product development endeavors.

(Claude)

There seem to be several things worth learning academically. Methodologies of Lean Startup and Customer Development It would be beneficial to study methodologies like Eric Ries’ “Lean Startup” and Steve Blank’s “Customer Development,” which are based on creating products starting from customer value. Techniques of UX Design and User Research By learning specific methods of designing user experiences and conducting user research, you can acquire practical skills to deepen customer understanding. Prototyping Techniques Learning techniques for quickly shaping ideas into prototypes will help you obtain feedback from customers more smoothly. Fundamentals of Marketing Acquiring basic knowledge of marketing such as target market setting, positioning, and promotion will enhance the fit between the product and the market. Project Management By learning techniques such as planning, task management, and communication to smoothly progress projects, you will be able to effectively achieve results within limited time. However, these are just basic knowledge, and it is important to gain true learning through practice. Balancing academic learning with practical experience and pursuing the process of seeking customer value would be beneficial. Additionally, I believe it is important to adopt an attitude of learning the necessary knowledge as you progress through projects.