Find the Friction Lab

Find the Friction Lab

A Money Club worksheet for turning Mom’s routine into a real business hypothesis.

Great businesses do not start with great ideas. They start with real people doing real things — and someone paying close enough attention to notice what could be better.

Your job in this worksheet is to audit Mom’s friction, define what success looks like for her and for you, and build a hypothesis worth testing.

Step 1 — Empathize: Meet Your Stakeholder

In design thinking, the first step is to understand the person you are building for before you decide what to build.

Your primary stakeholder is Mom — or the main household purchasing decision-maker in a family you know.

Answer these questions as specifically as you can. Do not guess. If you do not know, ask.

Step 2 — Empathize: The Friction Audit

Now you are going to observe and question — not solve.

Ask your stakeholder these questions. Write her actual answers, not what you think she would say.

Observation: Watch the Routine

If possible, observe. Watch what happens in the kitchen, the cleaning cupboard, the bathroom. What is running low? What looks disorganized? What has a substitute because the real thing ran out?

Step 3 — Define: Map the Routine

Before you name the friction, you need to map the full routine. Most friction hides in the transitions — before the purchase, during it, and after.

Example — Garbage Bags

The insight: The product is boring, but the need repeats. The friction is in the forgetting and the restocking.

Step 4 — Define: Name the Friction

Based on your observation and the routine map, check everything that applies.

Step 5 — Define: Follow the Money

A friction attached to real spending is more valuable than a friction that only causes inconvenience.

Step 6 — Define: Identify the User Needs

A user need is not a product feature. It is what the customer actually wants to experience.

Mom does not need a particular brand of garbage bag. She needs to never think about running out. She needs to trust that what arrives is the right product. She needs the experience to be easy enough that she doesn’t have to manage it herself.

Step 7 — Ideate: What Could Be Better?

Now — and only now — do you start thinking about solutions.

You are not building a product yet. You are generating possibilities.

Step 8 — Benchmark: Define Success for Mom

Before you test anything, you need to know what “working” looks like from Mom’s perspective.

A benchmark is a measurable sign that the experience improved.

Step 9 — Benchmark: Define Success for the Business

Now define what success looks like from the business perspective.

A KPI is a Key Performance Indicator — a number that tells you whether you are on track.

Step 10 — Triangulate: Do the Two Definitions of Success Align?

If Mom’s success and the business’s success point in the same direction, you have a hypothesis worth testing. If they conflict — if what is good for the business would be bad for Mom — you need to rethink.

Step 11 — Build the Hypothesis

A hypothesis is not a promise. It is a testable claim. It says: if this is true, then this will happen — and here is how we will know.

Use this structure: We believe that [Mom / stakeholder] experiences [friction] when [routine/situation]. We think that [better offer] would solve this because [reason]. We will know we are right if [success criteria] within [timeframe].

If you answered No or Not sure to any of these, go back and revise before moving to testing.

Step 12 — Prototype: Design the Smallest Possible Test

You do not need a finished product to test a hypothesis.

You need the smallest version of your idea that can tell you whether Mom would actually respond.

Final Output — Your Friction-to-Hypothesis Summary

Final Reflection

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