Technology Analysis

Why

Find out if what you are planning has already been done (in full or in part) by someone else. Your analysis can also be used as an inspiration tool.

How

Identify existing solutions that may solve (part of) the problem you are trying to fix. Decide whether it’s worth the effort to recreate their work.

Ingredients

• People with experience in using or developing similar products.

• Eagerness to find others’ partial solutions.

• Willingness to tell your client there’s an existing solution for their problem.

• Ability to view the problem from different perspectives.

Practice

Most companies build their work on what others have already done. This happens a lot in the open source community, but also in commercial products. You can use information from competitors and patents for inspiration.