Seth Godin writes today about using graphs to help predict new products. Visit his blog entry Bandwidth-sync correlation that is worth thinking about.
The point is that if you create two axes of qualitative or quantitative aspects of a situation and then place items on that graph where they fall with regards to those two aspects, you can start to see relationships and gaps in the product offering. Furthermore, you can see which products may work better and which may be poor performers.
To create these graphs, you can poll your customers on the two qualities of the products and then place those products where they fall. Ultimately, this is a tool that can be used to create more effective products.
