The Lean Canvas is 14 years old 🤯

It feels like it was just yesterday when I first discovered the product strategy framework. Turns out it was 2010. Where has time gone.

What I’ve always loved most about the Lean Canvas is that it brings focus and alignment to the core customer problems you’re solving.

But, the success of the canvas is highly dependent on your team’s ability to actually understand and prioritize those problems. Which is easier said than done.

That’s where the Customer Forces Canvas comes in. It’s a new-to-me framework (a current client introduced it) that helps you not only identify the core customer problems but map them along the customer journey.

This is one of my new favorite frameworks, and I think it will quickly become one of yours too.

Let’s break it down 👇🏻

The Customer Forces Canvas

The Customer Forces Canvas maps out the underlying forces influencing customer behavior throughout their buying journey. It was developed by Ash Maurya, an entrepreneur, author and creator of the original Lean Canvas model.

This canvas helps visualize the four forces — Push of the Situation, Pull of a New Solution, Inertia, and Anxiety — that either drive or prevent customer progress. Essentially, it captures how these forces interact at different stages of the customer journey.

That journey looks something like this:

Ash Maurya was inspired to create this new canvas after collaborating with Bob Moesta on a Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) workshop in 2015. It was during this workshop that he realized it was less important to “rank” customer problems and more important to understand the sequence and triggers of those problems.

And, just like the Lean Canvas, the Customer Forces Canvas fits onto one page! Download your own copy here.

Let’s break down each section of the canvas.

Push

The first step is to understand the initial trigger that is pushing the customer to begin their journey of change (habits, solutions, etc). This includes their desired outcome, which becomes an anchor point in your customer story (what is your customer working towards).

Pull

Next, we need to understand the pull, or attraction, of a new solution. Which solutions are being considered by the customer and what decision criteria matters? What is the expected outcome of the new solution?

Inertia

The inertia box captures the resistance or challenges the customer experiences when choosing their selected solution. This may be connected to the pain of moving off their current solution, decision fatigue, etc.

Friction

Friction is similar to inertia, except this time we’re focusing on the resistance or challenges the customer experiences using their new solution. This could be a result of new habits that need to be formed, a mismatch in expectations, etc.

What’s Next

Finally, we want to understand what’s next for the customer. Did the chosen solution actually provide the desired outcome they were working towards? What’s the next summit or goal they’re working towards?

Here’s an example of what this journey may look like once it’s fully documented.

I’d love to know — have you used the Customer Forces Canvas before? If so, do you have any go-to questions you’ve incorporated into your customer interviews? Hit reply and let me know.

CAMPER ESSENTIALS

📚 Reading List: If you’re new to Jobs to Be Done, or just want to brush up on the technique, Competing Against Luck needs to be on your reading list.

🛠️ Tools: Download your free copy of the Customer Forces Canvas to use in your next problem discovery exercise.

🎓 Course: Final call for class! This year’s last cohort of Ready for Launch kicks off August 29, and I want YOU to be there. Enroll now to level up your launch game!

Only three more days left in Greece…gotta go soak up more of that Mediterranean sunshine and have one more who am I kidding I mean a dozen loukoumades 😎