What is a product?

A product is just a medium for...value.

A product is a vehicle for delivering value.

In a technology context, we could expand this to say that a product is a vehicle for technology-mediated, goal-directed, behavior change.

(1) **Technology-mediated**: the most innovative products come about through the applications of technology to solve problems in ways that are just now possible.

(2) **Goal-directed**: a product is a vehicle for value. Value is subjective, contextual, and relative. To understand value, you have to understand goals: the progress someone wants to make in a given context.

(3) **Behavior change**: the heart of outcomes thinking is changing behavior in such a way that it drives value. See my podcast with Josh Seiden for more.

Each of these is a factor that tech products can innovate on in order to create more value.

I think the factors multiply rather than sum. To test this, try zeroing out any factor:

• Tech = 0? It isn't feasible, or offers no benefit over status quo solution.

• Goal-directed = 0? Nobody will value the product. People don't care about products, they care about what products help them do. (This is the heart of jobs to be done, JTBD.)

• Behavior change = 0? The most innovative solution to a goal creates no value if people do not change their behavior to use it.