- The new economy
- Why human-centered design matters
- A little customization goes a long way
- There is no finish line with design
- Fall in love with the problem, not the solution
- Applying an old process in a new way
- I want to help you get it right
Amazon Bestseller
The Playbook
Loops
Building Products with Clarity & Confidence
Available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook.
What's this all about?
You have to build things with limited time and a limited budget. How do you make the most of both? Not only that, how do you get confidence and clarity in what you're going to build and how you're going to build it? Whether you're a startup founder or the head of a corporate product team, you need the right strategies and tools to give your team the best chances of building products and services that give you a competitive advantage.
Loops is the practical guide you need to get products out of your mind's eye and into the real world. Seasoned product strategist and experience designer J Cornelius covers the processes, exercises, and methodologies used by some of the world's fastest moving and most successful startups and corporate product teams to get out in front and stay there. This book will give you the tools you need to create products people love.
Three phases. Five steps. One clear process.
Most product failures aren't caused by bad ideas — they're caused by bad process. Teams skip research, fall in love with solutions before understanding problems, and build things nobody asked for.
Loops fixes that. It's a flexible, iterative framework that moves you from uncertainty to confidence through structured experimentation. The kind of process that works whether you're a startup founder or a product leader at a Fortune 500.
"J has helped us deliver amazing value to our customers time and time again. His ability to take nebulous concepts and drill down until they become quality products is second to none."
"Few have logged as many hours as J, thinking deeply about product design and the methodologies that lead to success. This book captures years of wisdom that's sure to set you on the right path."
What you'll learn
Human-centered design that drives revenue.
How to use research, empathy maps, and customer insights to build products people actually want to pay for.
Prototyping without wasting money.
Techniques for testing ideas quickly and cheaply — before committing engineering resources to something unvalidated.
The validation loop.
A repeatable process for moving between creativity and analysis, building confidence with every iteration.
Market/product fit over product/market fit.
Why starting with the market — not the product — is the difference between businesses that scale and ones that stall.
Exchange theory and pricing.
How your customers' brains decide what to pay for, and how to use that knowledge to price and position your product.
Building at speed without cutting corners.
How design systems, minimum delightful products, and focused execution get you to market faster with higher quality.
Inside the book
Should we do it?
Before building anything, understand the problem. Human-centered business design starts with research — talking to real customers, mapping their needs, and validating that the problem is worth solving.
Understanding humans and what they need, want, and value so you can build a product they will love.
- Analysis Paralysis
- Making decisions based in fear
- The Lizard Brain at work
- Getting past the Lizard Brain
- Fear and desire
- Dangerous territory
- Exchange Theory
- Cognitive biases
- Are you speaking to the right audience?
- The sunk cost fallacy
- An idea vs. a hunch
- The solution is your destination
- What can you be great at?
- How to adapt to changing expectations
The problem discovery process.
- The problem safari
- The outdated tech review
- The research framework
- How to define roles and pain points
- Empathy Maps
- Interview recruitment strategies
- Getting specific
- The first round of interviews
- Psychographics
- Interviewing humans
- Preparing for your interviews
- Conducting the interview
- Affinity mapping
- The second round of interviews
- Overcoming the Curve of Despair
- Let's talk about money
- The Value Proposition Canvas
- Features and benefits
- How it all fits together
How do we do it?
Prototyping and testing. Build cheap, fast representations of your ideas and put them in front of real people. Learn what works, what doesn't, and iterate before committing real resources.
Creating simple paper and digital versions of your ideas to test with your market.
- Designing solutions
- A note on creating new markets
- Tools for prototyping
- Idea generation
- Creating something you can test
- User journeys
- Creating wireframes
- Develop a paper prototype
- Digital prototypes
How to create a hypothesis, test it with your market, and interpret the results.
- A series of loops
- Just release it!
- The Hypothesis Grid
- Know it like the back of your hand
- Revisit and recruit test customers
- Talk to the right people
- How to request feedback on a prototype
- How to deal with buying signals
- Looking outside the market
- Needs buyers and economic buyers
- The perpetual validation loop
Let's do it!
Branding, positioning, and building at speed. Once you've validated the direction, it's time to execute — with the confidence that comes from knowing you're building the right thing for the right people.
A brand is more than a logo.
- First impressions of your brand
- How to develop your Brand Ethos
- Naming your product / company
- The Namestorm
- The Soak
- Creating brand standards: logos, colors, typography, and usage guidelines
You're not building an MVP.
- The Minimum Delightful Product
- As thin as possible
- Proof of Concept
- Getting to the next level
- Design Operations
- The Design System
- Enter Atomic Design
- Development operations
- Shipping with continuous integration and delivery
- Bringing it all together
- But I'm not a technical person!
- The power of an Advisory Council
More praise for Loops
"Loops is a necessity for anyone who has to create and deliver a competitive, distinct experience. It is the playbook for using a toolset that is tried and trusted by all of today's wildly successful brands."
"J has a knack for explaining things in a way that just makes sense. This book clears up so much about the process of building products, and makes it easy for designers, developers, and business people to understand and apply."
"This book clears up so much about the process of building products and makes it easy for designers, developers, and business people to understand and apply."
"Loops shows you how to ask the right question, dig into the core of the challenge, and drive towards results-based solutions."
"The concepts in this book can be applied to any type of product or business idea. It's a clear and concise way to make sense of the chaos in your head and build something people will actually buy."
"Every time I open Loops — randomly to some page — what I read is sharp, relevant, and interesting."
"J is a fantastic writer and is full of practical advice. He cuts through the clutter and provides useful, actionable information in a relatable way. Five stars across the board."
"Loops is a great resource for anyone developing a digital product, app, or even website. It's like a more people-focused version of The Lean Startup. Cornelius gives a well-rounded look at product development, more than just 'create an MVP and repeat.' He goes into brainstorming, creating a prototype, and testing, but he also covers the human element and branding and positioning. A great book that will really get you thinking about the usability and design of your product."
Get your copy today.
"The Loops approach is a common-sense way to save time, money, and heartbreak when bringing an idea to market."
Empathy Map is Copyright XPLANE, Corp. Value Proposition Canvas and Business Model Canvas are Copyright Strategyzer AG. All other content is Copyright 2019 Novelaboratori, LLC unless otherwise noted.