
Around the user at the center, the sheet is divided into sections or quadrants. Each section is labeled with a category that explores the user’s external, observable world, and internal mindset: what the user is doing, seeing, hearing, thinking, and feeling (including pains and gains) – at total of 8 elements:
Next, explore the specifics of her pains and gains. What does success and failure look like? Capture frustrations and challenges, the obstacles that stand in her way. What goals and dreams does she have? Gains are what she aspires to achieve or have.
Try to identify needs directly from the user traits you noted. Identify needs based on contradictions between two traits, such as a disconnection between what a user says and what the user does. There are multiple ways to do so, of which Maslow’s Pyramid or Pinto’s Pyramid can help you define which needs your user is primarily focused on fulfilling. Start reflecting on how your product or service can help fulfill some of those needs.
In November 2015, I almost died of a kidney rupture and a lung infection. It was an experience that changed my outlook on life profoundly. It was time to spend my time more wisely. First of all, I decided to make as many beautiful memories as possible. Secondly, I decided to not accept the horrible status quo of suboptimal relationships between companies and people anymore. Not as a consumer myself and certainly not as a professional. I started doing less meetings and more doings. Less powerpoints, more doing stuff. And even more than before, I obsessed about changing companies to be less about ads and more about acts – for both their customers and their colleagues. Impact is about doing. Start doing more.