Medtronic

Medtronic fixed weak pacemaker sales in India by solving the whole job, not the device. Its superior pacemakers sold poorly in India. Interviews with over a hundred stakeholders found four barriers, and Medtronic answered with screenings, bridge loans and patient counselors, ending up partnered with more than one hundred hospitals.

The book uses this as evidence for writing a job spec before designing anything: list the job's functional, emotional and social dimensions, the tradeoffs customers accept, every competing solution including nonconsumption, and the obstacles and anxieties to overcome. That spec then becomes the blueprint for design and delivery.