I enjoy injecting a bit of Animism in to my design thinking. What if the memory manager has a soul. What if we gave every object it’s own thread? What if we gave each message it’s own object, and it’s own thread? What if we personified the subroutine; what would it say?

So I felt a bond of kinship when I found Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs:.

• Survival – food, air, warmth
• Safety
• Belonging
• Esteem
• Self Actualization

being applied it to a product.

• Survival: Profitable, Market Niche, Utility, Feasible, Competition
• Safety: Durable niche, Development risks, Quality, Patentiblity, Legality
• Belonging: Fits with firm’s facilities, marketing, strategy, distribution; Fits with market timing and complements.
• Esteem: Aesthetics, Pride of Ownership Promotion, Endorcement, Brand, Trademark.
• Self Actualization: Sales, Profit, Market Share, Product Substitution

How’s your product esteem? Is it actualizing it’s protential? Does it feel that it belongs in it’s market?