Identify customers and patrons

Anything we do has someone or something that benefits: the customer. And someone or something that pays the cost: the patron. Interestingly, in most cases each party plays both roles.

Identifying customers

• List all the value created by the action you want to take.
• If a value isn’t already in time, risk or money, restate it in those terms.
• For each value, name the customer who gains it.

Identifying patrons

• Start from your list of customers.
• For each customer, name the time, risk or money they give up so you can reach your goal.

Example: social login

Say you’re considering adding social registration and login to your website.

Values gained

• Faster login (time): the visitor.
• More users (money): the business.
• Account security (risk): the visitor, if their social media account is more secure than an account with the business would be.
• More users (money): the social media platforms.

Values given up

• Personal data exposed to the business (risk): the visitor.
• Account security (risk): the visitor, if their social media account is less secure than an account with the business would be.
• Development (time): the business. It would be money if contractors did the work instead of employees.
• Maintenance (time): the business.
• Infrastructure (money): the business.
• Infrastructure (money): the social media platforms.

Customers and patrons

• The visitor
• The business
• The social media platforms

There may be others. A project a team is excited about, or dreads working on, costs or saves time, and that lowers or raises the business’s risk of people leaving.