The Two Big Questions

In new New Product Development or indeed any new business venture there is one critical question to address first. If you don't know the answer you are in grave danger of producing  just a me too or a karaoke product and service. If my local pub karaoke evening is anything to go by this means simply a poor impersonation of  something better.

What's going on?
To answer that we need to provide answers to 5 critical questions

What’s the problem.
What needs to be fixed, and what is the driver for changing it?

What’s the impact? 
What effect doesn’t this problem have and why is it so important?

What’s the information?
What do we know about the problem, what is the root cause and what else do we need to know? 

Who’s involved?
Who exactly is this problem important too, who is a stakeholder, beneficiary or looser if it doesn’t get fixed?

What’s the vision? 
What is the future position we can imagine that would reslove this problem?

answer those and then comes the next big question

What is success? 

This really is about Imagining the future 

• What will the company report say in three years?
  
• What will a future press release read like?
  
• How can you describe the future if the problem if it is solved or reversed?