All too often when I sit in product workshops, forums and listen to consultants, a similar phrase crops up – ‘Have you figure out the pain points of your users?’ And I often have the urge to ask this question. What is a pain point? Academically, pain points are nerve-wrecking daily irritants that disrupts your  daily routine.

But are pain points the essence of product innovation? It’s questionable…

Innovations are an act to re-create something useful that serves a daily need but can be done better.

  • Oil Lamp was useful until electricity was invented.
  • Ships was useful until planes was invented.
  • Money was useful until e-money was invented.
  • PC was useful until laptop was created.
  • CD players were useful until IPod was created.
  • Telephones were useful until mobile phones was created.

Was innovation build because CD players was a consumer pain? I was very happy with my sony walkman before I realize how IPod can store millions of songs AND that is a whole lot better. Cash was not a pain but cashless made it more convenient.

Therefore I tend to disagree with the fact that a core foundations of product innovation and creation was  build based on a single pain point. Great products are built upon observations of something useful and the idea of making it better to serve the same purpose. The pain point was only discovered when consumers realised an unmet need.

Now, do you want to search endlessly for a consumer’s pain point or disrupt a consumer’s need?

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On a side note;

There are some products that were created to solve an “unsolve” problem in the market. These are very niche products  and requires an ample amount of deep skills.

Most of these Product CEOs are the sole creator or inventor of such amazing products out there.  They write their own codes, build a prototype with their own hands, hammer their own nails, create their own mould etc.

So, when we search for the answers to a pain point? Be very sure that the creator is YOU and no one else. Otherwise, it’s better to get your product team to observe a useful product and find ways to make it better. You would have a higher chance in making that product grow in the market than finding a specific pain point.