Value Proposition

Protocol

Hint: State the Unique Value Proposition of what you are offering in a clear and compelling way. For the production of common goods, your unique value is that you may be the only open source, circular economy option available for a given product. Or, it may be that your product is more flexible or versatile.

Introduction

The general value proposition of OSE is discussed at the OSE Value Proposition page.

The general term of the business/product Value Proposition refers to the value that one is providing to the customer. To state the obvious - a customer will be interested in something only if there is clear Customer-Visible Value. There has to be some inherent value for a customer to invest - in face of the customer's choice with respect to the competition. Something with a Value Proposition has a higher chance of being compelling if it provides a Unique Value Proposition.

For specific GVCS machines or products - the Value Proposition refers to a specific definition of what is new or worthwhile about the product we are proposing compared to industry standards, as our baseline for comparison is typically the closed-source industry standards. What authentic value is OSE producing? This could be:

1. What is new here? What has never been done? How is this different? How is this not simply rehashing millennia of prior human development? Novelty in OSE work can be subtle and may be invisible to the casual observer - for which reason, the novelty has to be made explicit.
2. What is the value compared to the industry standard baseline? Improved value compared to the industry standards may be a lower cost to performance ratio, longer product lifetime, better support, increased transparency, greater simplicity, increased ease of maintenance, and others.
3. Integration and Ecology. Typically OSE is interested in complex product ecosystems (industrial and natural ecology, known as Open Source Ecology. Typically, OSE is interested in generating value by creating systems with a level of integration that has not been achieved before, to allow for synergies and efficiencie with minimal external inputs.

Strategy + Practice

The Value Proposition builds upon the OSE Specification Review by quantifying the qualitative aspects of the OSE Specifications. In order to propose a meaningful Value Proposition, one has to understand the Technology Assessment of current industry standards.

It takes insight to develop a clear Value Proposition. One can begin by analyzing current industry standards. To do a great job (on defining a Value Proposition) - one must weigh:

• The strengths of OSE's design approach - what makes it effective, low cost, and efficient
• Customers' psychology - people make 'irrational' choices based on incomplete information, their mindset, psychology, feelings, awareness, health, insecurities, obligations, and many other factors. Thus, understanding applied psychology is a boon to defining a good value proposition
• True needs - how to help someone transcend what someone 'wants' to something that is really beneficial to the person

Frequently Asked Questions Section

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly. Albert Einstein.

Because innovation typically faces opposition from the status quo - it is useful to explain things clearly to potential audiences of a new product in order to make the Value Proposition clear. To this end - it is useful to include a Frequently Asked Questions section in the development documentation. A good place to put this section is under the Value Proposition step of the product development process.