Page 68 - The Design Thinking Playbook

Lilly has read the book Crossing the Chasm (Geoffrey Moore). When selecting lead users and adapting the
solution to the needs of the lead users, she is aware that there is probably a gap between the needs of the
lead users, early adopters, and the early majority. This is why she always attempts to recognize the needs
of “normal” customers in her workshops. With regard to the ultimate solution, it is then important not to
forget the needs of the early majority.
Peter has been on projects that focused far too much on the needs of lead users—in the end, a product
emerged that was given the sobriquet of “white elephant.” Such projects have high risk and low likelihood
of implementation and are hard to stop. Unfortunately, in some cases, there are only a few customers for a
solution that was deemed quite interesting by many lead users.

Early Early Late Laggerts
adopters majority majority
Innovators

“Mind the gap!” TIME

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