Building Competitive Advantage
Scrum Teams identify opportunity by looking for areas where customer needs or experiences are not fully met by current product offerings. They can dive further into understanding customer needs by reviewing Satisfaction gaps. Satisfaction gaps occur when there is a difference between what customers expect to experience and what they receive from a product. By improving their products with this information, a team fills these gaps leading to more value for customers, which creates competitive advantage. This process is continuous until there are no more gaps to satisfy for the customer.
Consider the coffee shop we described earlier in “Understanding Competition”. An opportunity for them is that there is an increasing popularity of eco-friendly products among young customers. To pursue this opportunity they can look at the desired state of their current younger demographic. These customers are currently satisfied with the quality of their locally sourced coffee, but wish they could feel less wasteful of materials while drinking their daily cup of coffee on-the-go. The coffee shop can pursue this satisfaction gap through a variety of ideas, and brand and price accordingly.
Building competitive advantage
- Don’t assume that you or your competitors know better than your customers. Experiment with your customers and users to validate ideas
- Interact with your customers to better understand their pain points and desired experience. This helps focus on customer needs and their experience
- Conduct regular market research. Stay up-to-date with the latest market and customer trends
- Systematically collect, analyze, and address customer feedback. If applicable, use analytics tools to monitor how users interact with your product
- Ensure that your Scrum Team and stakeholders understand the importance of identifying and addressing opportunities and satisfaction gaps. Provide evidence
Collaborate with relevant departments about product benchmarking if needed. You may not be able to achieve this solely as a team
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