So, I stumbled upon this thing called the “Desired Over Have” formula, or DOH for short, and thought, “Hey, this sounds like something I could really use.” Basically, it’s supposed to help you figure out how badly people want something, and whether you should, you know, actually make it.
My journey started with a problem – I had tons of ideas, all jumbled up in my head, but no clue which ones were actually worth pursuing. I’m a maker at heart, I love building stuff, but I also don’t want to waste my time on things nobody cares about.
My First Steps: Getting the Formula Down
First things first, I needed to understand the darn formula. It’s pretty simple, actually, once you get the hang of it:
DOH = (Desire – Friction) / Current Solutions
- Desire: How much do people really want this?
- Friction: What’s stopping them from getting it right now?
- Current Solutions: Are there already things out there that kind of do the job?
Okay, so I had the formula, now to, put the ideas through the process, one by one, to filter out the useless ones, focus on the ones with potential, and save my time and energy!
Putting It to the Test: Real-World Examples
I decided to test this out on a couple of ideas I had kicking around. Let’s say one was a “smart” water bottle that tracked your hydration. Fancy, right?
I started jotting down notes, really thinking hard about each part of the formula:
Desire is kinda “Meh”, many people want to track hydration, but some think it’s not that important.
Lots of friction. Gotta charge it, remember to fill it, the app might be buggy…
Current Solutions is everywhere already, so many apps and regular water bottles already.
Crunching the Numbers (Well, Sort Of)
Now, the DOH formula isn’t about getting an exact number. It’s more about getting a feel for things. I didn’t assign actual numbers, more like “high,” “medium,” and “low.”
For the smart water bottle, I ended up with something like this:
(Medium Desire – High Friction) / High Current Solutions = Low DOH
See? Not looking good for the fancy water bottle. It was a cool idea in my head, but the DOH formula was shouting, “Probably not worth it!”
The “Aha!” Moment
Then I tried it on another idea, a simple online tool to help people organize their messy to-do lists. This time, the DOH looked much better:
(High Desire – Medium Friction) / Medium Current Solutions = High DOH
Suddenly, it all made sense! People are always looking for ways to get more organized, and while there are other to-do list apps, a really simple, focused one might actually stand out.
The Takeaway: It’s a Filter, Not a Magic Wand
The DOH formula isn’t a magic solution, but it’s a fantastic filter. I realized, and It helped me shift my focus from “cool” ideas to ideas that people actually need and want. Now use it as a gut check before I dive into any new project. I use it to do a quickly check of the ideas, is it good, or bad? That’s it, that is what DOH is!
It’s all about being honest with myself, and most importantly, and putting myself in the shoes of the people I’m trying to help. If the DOH is low, I move on. If it’s high, well, then it’s time to start building!
