Write several features on note cards, one feature per card. Include several outrageous features. For example, if you’re making a portable MP3 player, try adding features like “heats coffee,” “cracks concrete,” or “conditions dog hair.” If you’re making a system that manages payroll, try adding features like “plans family reunions” or “refinishes wooden floors.” If you’re building an office building, add a hot tub in the lobby. What happens when a customer uncovers one of these outrageous features? Click here to understand other characteristics of the game.

An outrageous feature induces cognitive dissonance. That’s fancy language for saying that an outrageous feature makes customers uncomfortable. So, they work (mentally) to get rid of the discomfort. The most common ways to deal with the discomfort are rejecting the feature outright, pretending that the feature was never really discussed, or transforming the “outrageous” feature into something that isn’t so outrageous. The magic happens during these transformations—they are the things that can create breakthroughs in the product.

This game is useful if you need to build products that operate in various “extreme”environments, because you typically can’t easily simulate or access the extreme environment. Examples of extreme environments include those that are physically demanding or dangerous or those where the risk of human, societal, or financial damage is high should a failure occur. In these situations, the Give Them a Hot Tub game enables you to safely explore potential solutions for extreme environments.

You’ll need at least two preparation meetings to generate your features. The first meeting is a warm-up meeting where you generate your initial list of outrageous features. This shouldn’t take long—about an hour. Start the process by generating a list of features. Some should be normal and could be taken from your existing list of features. Some should be outrageous and will probably require a bit of creativity on the part of your product team. Take a few days’ break and then meet again to revise this initial set of features. The break will give your subconscious mind time to become more comfortable with the process, with the result being a richer and more diverse set of normal-to-outrageous features. The result of these two meetings will be a list of potential features, some of which are going to be outrageous.

The biggest preparation challenge when playing this game is creating features that are extreme enough to cause cognitive dissonance, yet not so extreme as to force customers to reject the game. There is no easy way to do this, which is why you’ll need at least two preparation meetings for this exercise. For example, although I think a fountain pen with a nib that can cut glass is a bit outrageous, I find myself trying to transform this idea into something useful (“Hey, if it can cut glass, that means it should last a long time right?”) However, I can’t possibly imagine using a fountain pen to launch a satellite into a geosynchronous earth orbit. Keep in mind that your goal isn’t to generate some perfect set of easily explainable plausible features.

This game works best when the facilitator lets customers know that during the game they will be asked to comment on a variety of features, some of which they might con- sider “funny” or “outrageous.” Doing so will slightly reduce the degree of cognitive dissonance customers experience, because they have been preconditioned, but often helps to increase the number of ideas that they attempt to transform because they are more aligned with the fun element of the game.

The facilitator presents each feature to customers and invites them to respond in one of three ways:

• Accept the feature as is with no changes.

• Reject the feature outright as something they don't want.

• Transform the feature into a new feature that is something that they do want.

Customers will often transform outrageous features into an existing feature with a more desirable set of attributes, as I did when I transformed the fountain pen that could cut glass into a fountain pen with a stronger and/or longer lasting nib. This process might give you understanding into my desire for a stronger and/or longer lasting nib, but it doesn't give you sufficient insight into the underlying problem or need that is driving this transformation. To really understand your customers, you're going to have to ask them to explain their transformations. In my case, you would find that although I once owned a fountain pen, a colleague borrowed it and dropped it on the floor, irreparably damaging the nib.

The key element in processing the results is the notes from your observers, who were watching your customers during the game and recording how they transformed certain features into something useful. Capture both the initial outrageous feature and how this feature was ultimately transformed.

As described earlier, consider carefully whether your customer is actually requesting a new feature or if they are transforming the outrageous feature into an enhanced attribute of an existing feature. These desires for enhancements must be prioritized against your existing near- and long-term product development plans.

There are no special materials for this game.