THE CORE QUESTION
"Where does the system break down? Where's the exposure?"
Why This Matters
Most product teams skip directly from "understanding the problem" to "designing the solution." They identify customer pain points and immediately start building.
The GAP phase forces you to slow down and ask:
- What assumptions are we making that haven't been tested?
- Where do customers believe one thing, but reality shows another?
- What failures are hiding in the current system?
- Where is the industry overinvesting in things customers don't value?
- Where is everyone underinvesting in what actually matters?
Without this phase, you build solutions to imagined problems, or worse—you build exactly what competitors have already built.
THE LEVEL SHIFT
| Level 1 (Events) | Level 2 (Patterns) | Level 3 (Structures/Mental Models) |
|---|---|---|
| "Customers complain about X" | "Complaints cluster around certain use cases" | "The industry's mental model assumes X, but customers' reality is Y" |
| "Feature A isn't working" | "Similar features fail across products" | "The underlying architecture can't support what users need" |
| "Competitor launched new product" | "Everyone is racing in the same direction" | "The entire industry is converging on factors customers don't value" |
| "Sales are declining" | "Certain segments are leaving" | "Noncustomers see something we can't see" |