🔗 🧠 Links for Thinks #7: Decision Making Frameworks

If anything in this world is certain, it’s that you have no choice but to make decisions about things. That’s especially true when you’re building stuff for other folks. And at that point, those decisions end up becoming what influences other people's daily decisions 🤯. Talk about pressure.

The best way to prepare for those moments? Equip yourself with the right tools, frameworks, and knowledge to problem-solve in any context. This isn’t the first edition on decision-making, and I’m willing to bet it won’t be the last.

While I probably can't help you decide what toppings to get on your sad desk salad, I can share some frameworks that make the bigger decisions a bit less daunting. Because sometimes the difference between a good decision and a questionable one isn't just experience—it's having the right mental models to break things down.

Here are some links to help you think through the tough stuff.

— Jake

TODAY'S EDITION

1. Jobs-To-Be-Done

2. Desirability, Viability, Feasibility

3. Six Thinking Hats

4. HEART Framework

5. Business Model Navigator

THE JOB BEHIND THE JOB

We've all heard the quote "People don't want a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter-inch hole." Of course people are buying drills and drill bits, but at the end of the day they're really just trying to hang photos, build shelves, or fix wobbly tables. That's what Jobs-to-be-Done is all about—zooming out from what you're making to ask the real question: "wait, why are they even drilling that hole?"

THE JUICE

The Market Is The Job: It might be time to stop defining your market by demographics, personas, or that really unorganized and never looked at spreadsheet of user characteristics. Instead, focus on the core job people are trying to get done. Think "I need to capture ideas quickly" vs. "I'm building a note-taking app for Gen Z creatives who love dark mode."

Job Anatomy 101: Every job your customers are trying to get done—from sharing vacation photos to managing their finances—generally follows 8 steps. Understanding where they struggle within these steps is your key to building something they actually need:

• Define: What are they actually trying to achieve? ("I want to preserve memories" vs "I need cloud storage")

• Locate: What resources and info do they need to gather?

• Prepare: How do they organize and set everything up?

• Confirm: What do they check before diving in?

• Execute: How do they accomplish their main goal?

• Monitor: How do they track if it's working?

• Modify: What happens when something goes wrong?

• Conclude: How do they wrap things up and move on?

Know Your Crowd: Before you dive into building that next big thing, remember your user isn't always just one person. In B2B especially, you're actually dealing with a whole cast of characters (though in B2C they might all be the same person wearing different hats):

• The Job Executor: The actual do-er, getting stuff done (e.g. a developer writing code)

• The Support Crew: The unsung heroes keeping things running—installing, maintaining, upgrading, and generally preventing chaos (e.g. operations team coordinating schedules and timelines)

• The Buyer: The one with the budget who might never touch your product but needs to be convinced it's worth those precious dollars (e.g. the C-suite asking "but what's the ROI?")

The Game Plan: Understanding the job is one thing—but how do you actually solve it? Here are your five core strategies based on who's using your thing and what they actually need:

• Differentiated: For underserved users willing to pay more. You build something better than what's out there, charge premium prices, and focus on those who'll happily pay for quality.

• Dominant: The rare win where you make something both better AND cheaper. Hard to pull off, but when it works, it works for everyone—from power users to penny pinchers.

• Disruptive: For overserved or priced-out users. Keep it simple, keep it cheap, and focus on nailing the basics that most people actually need.

• Discrete: For neglected markets with few options. Fill those specific gaps where folks have limited or no alternatives.

• Sustaining: Small, steady improvements to what's already working. Best for established products and companies that want to keep current users happy.

Dive deeper

THE THREE-LEGGED STOOL OF SUCCESS

Before you run off and build that game-changing product that's been living in your notes app for the past six months—let's talk about a good reality check framework. Because having a brilliant idea is great and all, but if you can't build it, sell it, or get anyone to actually want it... well, you might want to keep your day job.

THE JUICE

The Only Three Questions That Matter:

• Desirability: Do people actually want this thing?

• Feasibility: Can we actually build it?

• Viability: Can we make money without going broke?

When The Stars Align (Or Don’t): When all three align, that's where success happens. Miss one, and it doesn't matter how good the other two are. Cool product no one wants? Great idea you can't build? Amazing demand but no way to profit? All roads lead to nowhere.

Keep It Simple: Use this framework early and often. Rate your ideas against all three criteria. Sometimes the best innovation is knowing when to say no. Start with real human needs, not just cool ideas, and keep iterating until you find that sweet spot where all three meet.

Dive deeper

PUT ON YOUR THINKING HAT(S)

Sometimes the best way to crack a tough problem is to play dress-up with your thinking. Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats is like a costume party for your brain—where changing hats helps you see problems from different angles. Instead of getting trapped in one perspective, you get to try them all on for size.

THE JUICE

The Hat Collection: Put on each of these hats when you’re trying to solve a problem:

• ⚪️ White Hat: Just the facts—what we know and what we need to know

• 🟡 Yellow Hat: Look on the bright side—find value and opportunity

• ⚫️ Black Hat: Spot the risks—identify what could go wrong

• 🔴 Red Hat: Trust your gut—share feelings and intuitions

• 🟢 Green Hat: Get creative—explore new ideas and possibilities

• 🔵 Blue Hat: Stay on track—manage the thinking process

Hat Tricks: Instead of everyone yelling their opinions all at once, take turns wearing different hats. Suddenly that grumpy say no-er is forced to find the upside, and your overly optimistic folks have to consider what could go wrong. Magic.

Beyond Meetings: Use it solo when stuck on a problem, or get your whole team to play along. It's like forcing your brain to stop being a one-trick pony and actually consider all sides of an issue.

Remove The Drama: When emotions are running high, switching hats can cool things down. It's harder to get defensive when everyone knows it's just their turn wearing the black hat.

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(USER) PAIN THROWS YOUR HEART TO THE GROUND

Ever wonder if people actually like using your product, or if they’re just stuck with it? Google's HEART framework breaks down user experience into five measurable chunks that actually make sense. Because nothing should make you shudder more than the question “so... what is this thing supposed to be doing again?”

THE JUICE

The Five Vitals: These metrics will get you started in understanding where you may need some improvement:

• Happiness: How satisfied are users? (Not just "do they use it?")

• Engagement: Are they actually sticking around?

• Adoption: Can you convince new folks to try it?

• Retention: Do they keep coming back for more?

• Task Success: Can they do what they came to do?

The Recipe for Good Metrics: Once you've picked your vitals, run them through the Goals > Signals > Metrics funnel:

• Goals: Define what success actually looks like (your critical user tasks)

• Signals: Find the breadcrumbs that show you're on track (channels where user behavior lives)

• Metrics: Turn those signals into numbers you can track (actual quantifiable stuff)

Make It Actionable: Good metrics answer questions that help you make decisions. If you're tracking something just because it's "interesting," you're probably wasting your time.

Decision Paralysis: You don't need to track everything at once. Pick one or two categories that matter most for your current phase. Your dashboard (and sanity) will thank you later.

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BUSINESS IN THE FRONT, PARTY IN THE BACK

Everyone's got an app idea these days. If you’re ready to dive in and build it, you might be asking: how's this thing gonna make money? With so many proven business models to choose from, success isn’t just about creating something cool—it’s about choosing the right strategy to bring your vision to life.

THE JUICE

More Than Monetization: A business model isn't just your pricing strategy—it's the entire blueprint for how your product creates and delivers value. Think of it as your game plan for turning "wouldn't it be cool if..." into "here's how we actually do it."

Design With Intent: Every model changes how you should approach design. Building a Freemium product? Your free tier needs to be good enough to hook users but limited enough to drive upgrades (but don’t be shady about it). Going for Hidden Revenue? Your UX needs to balance user experience with advertiser needs.

Follow The Value Chain: Most successful products mix and match multiple models. Sometimes the magic isn't in picking one pattern, but in combining them in clever ways that make sense for your users and your bottom line.

Pattern Recognition: Business model innovation isn't always about inventing something new—it's about remixing what works in clever ways. As with most things in design—once you know these patterns, you'll start to understand that the real innovation often comes from applying proven patterns in fresh contexts.

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THANKS FOR READING—SEE YOU NEXT WEEK

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Cheers, Jake