Hassle Map

Adrain J. Slywotzky is the author of Demand: Creating What People Love Before They Know They Want It (2011).  The book looks at the complex idea of demand and how it is created.  Creating demand involves solving a puzzle that is a quirky combination of anthropology, psychology, technology, design, economics, infrastructure, and a host of other elements.

Brilliant demand creators map the everyday hassles that make life painful, inconvenient, wasteful, even dangerous.  Then they fix those hassles by developing products that people can't resist and competitors have a very hard time replicating.

The idea of a "Hassle Map" is an interesting one - - Slywotzky offers the following definition:

(Ha-sul map) noun  1. a diagram of the characteristics of existing products, services, and systems that cause people to waste time, energy, money  2.  (from a customer's perspective) a litany of the headaches, disappoints, and frustrations one experiences  3. (from a demand creator's perspective) an array of tantalizing opportunities.