Working Backwards

Start with the customer, work backwards from there

method

Innovation Process Stage

Go to Canvas

time effort

min.

Level

Beginner

Group Size

1-3

For modern businesses, it is ever more important to understand who their customers are and what specific customer needs should be addressed for long-term success.

Offering products or services nobody really wants, makes your entire business model idle. On top of that, new technologies as well as channels frequently change customer needs calling for an ongoing monitoring of your customer base. Customer centricity is therefore key! But how to actually build an organization that is truly focused on your customer?

One approach to boost customer-centric thinking that we are frequently using at the Lufthansa Innovation Hub is coming from Amazon: the 'Working Backwards' method.

Amazon - ranking frequently as one of the most customer-centric companies of our time - has embedded Customer Centricity as a core element into its entire organizational set-up and operating model. For example, the first of their 14 Leadership Principles is called 'Customer Obsession' and for every new product or service idea they come up with they are applying the 'Working Backwards' process to integrate the customer perspective right from the start of the discovery phase. Amazon Web Services saw 31 (!) iterations before it was presented to Jeff Bezos in 2006.

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how does  the method work?

The 'Working Backwards' method is best applied as part of a team workshop with the goal of designing new ideas. The key artifacts that are usually being developed in groups are the following: a fictive press release (PR), a public FAQ and an internal FAQ. Based on the fictive press release, the team can decide on the different ideas based on a set of sign-off criterias to assess if the ideas are worth pursuing or not.

Apart from the team workshop, the Working Backwards method can also be implemented as an alternative to presentations to pitch ideas to stakeholders - with the questions by all stakeholders to make up the internal FAQ.

If you want to dive deeper into the Working Backwards Framework and get some new insights, we recommend reading the book "Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon"

Step by Step Guide

A fictive press release (PR) at a defined point in the future on a newly launched product or service from the perspective of the customer. The PR should be seen as an overall introduction to the new solution and highlight aspects like the benefit it brings for the customer, a short description of its overall usability or a fictive quote from an organizational leader / customer.

A Public FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to anticipate and address questions a potential customer might have on the introduced product or service to better understand how it works. The idea behind this document is to put yourself even further in your customers' shoes.

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An internal FAQ which is addressing potential questions from an internal perspective that goes deeper into how a product or service is functioning. Also, existing dependencies to other teams in the organization can be addressed here.