Build A Better Mousetrap With CATWOE

A Smarter Mouse

We all want to build a better mouse trap, except for my cat, Junior. She just wants us to get out of the way!  To build a better mousetrap, we need to better understand the problem. 

As designers and developers, we tend to jump towards the solution.  We see a symptom (i.e. the mouse infestation) without digging deeper into the core issue(s).  Why are the mice attracted to your location?  Can you motivate the mouse to leave?  What can you do differently to no longer have mice come to your home?  When you better understand a problem, you stop treating the symptom, and then solve the problem permanently.

The Problem is: We Do Not Understand the Problem

A Better Mousetrap?

Before you jump to a solution, you want to really understand the problem space.  As mentioned before, you do not want to treat a symptom, when the core issue may still exist.  In other words, you may not need another mousetrap!

When I first started working, my boss was very smart, strong woman with this great motto:

"The biggest problem is getting people to solve the same problem."

She was right!  

The marketer sees the problem in terms of market share, market segmentation, and survey data.  The developer sees the solution from a coding perspective, how to call certain jobs, or the architecture of the back end.  The project manager sees the problem as a set of deliverables reaching a milestone developed by C-level executives viewing the problem from 30,000 feet.  Each person looks at the solution differently with a specific lens. 

Use CATWOE to Understand Your Problem

CATWOE

CATWOE is a critical thinking tool, which is a mnemonic for understanding your problem space.  As a thinking tool, CATWOE provides you with a framework for looking at your problem from a system level.  CATWOE stands for the following things:

• Customers. The people on the receiving end of whatever you plan to do.  From your problem definition, do you understand who wins? And who loses?
• Actors.  The people that carry out the activites defined by your solution.  You may have primary actors and secondary ones.  Did you think of all of these people?
• Transformation.  How does your solution transfer inputs into outputs?  Can the inputs be managed?  Are they the best inputs?  Do the outputs satisfy the key problem?
• World View.  Put your solution into a wider context.  How does
  it affect another part of the world?  Can it be used by people with
  physical and mental impediements?
• Owners.  What people can stop your solution from being implemented? 
  The owners may or may not be the implementers of the solution.
• Environment.  Do you face any ethical dilemmas, new regulations, budget
  constraints, resource issues, and so on? 

For the sake of clarity, let's use CATWOE to explore the mouse problem that some people might be facing.

The CATWOE for Your "Mice" Problem

Yikes, now there's two mice!

When you see one mouse, you can be sure that another one (or two) are lurking nearby.  Let's go through each of the CATWOE categories to get a fuller idea of our problem space--a mouse infestation.

Customers

The customers are the people (or animals) on the receiving end of whatever you plan to do.  You will have primary and secondary customers, such as homeowners, renters, landlords, exterminators, and so on. These different groups are important because:

1. Marketers will want to market to these groups.
2. Designers will want to create personas of these groups.
3. Usability will want to recruit from these groups.

Animals get affected by your choice here, too.  Cats, dogs, horses, and other farm animals are affected.  Imagine what might happen if you choose to use rat poison on a farm. Finally, let's not forget about the mice.  Mice are on the receiving end of the solution.  It greatly affects the mice, as they are literally on the receiving end of your solution.

Actors

The actors are the people that carry out the activities defined by your solution.  In some cases, the actors are the same person, such as the Homeowner that puts out rat poison or a new mousetrap.

The Customer and the Actor are not always the same person.  For example, let's say you are designing a website for a swanky new hotel.  The Hotel Manager is not the Customer, but they are one Actor (because they will probably be adding content to the website and wanting reports kicked out).  The Customer is more than likely the Hotel Clients, or people staying at the hotel.

The Actors are the end-users of your solution.  In some cases, the Actors are the Customers.  But, this is not always the case.

Transformation

Inputs to Outputs

Your solution will take something (your inputs) and turn it into something else (your outputs). So, we have this mouse situation, right.  How does your solution transfer inputs into outputs?  Are we just adding more mousetraps?  Are we going to get another cat to chase them away?  Do we put out poison to kill the mice?  Do we bait the mice to another location?  Other transformation question still need to be answered.

Think about managing the input.  If you figure out how to manage a cat, let me know.  (Cats are their own person, if you know what I mean.).  Some things you should do with a cat are feed, bathe, fix, take them to vet (for shots), and more.  Assume you choose a different solution.

If you decide to use rat poison, you have to manage the chemical.  Is the chemical harmful to plants, animals, children?  Are their special handling instructions for administering and storing the chemicals?  Do you need to wear safety goggles and gloves?  Is this chemical the best input for solving the mice problem?  Let's look at the outputs now.

Your outputs vary greatly based upon your solution.  You can do nothing, which means you leave the mice alone and educate people on how to best leave the rodents alone (i.e do not feed them or keep them as pets).  The output would be to monitor the mice.

Another output is compel the mice to leave.  You can find sound devices to drive mice to a different location. A cat is also another motivator for mice.  You could always hire the Pied Piper, if he is not too busy.

Finally, you could use poison, traps, and a cat to kill the mice.  The output here is going to be dead mice, which require you to dispose of them.  Poisoned mice are not what you want around pets, farm animals, or small children.  Traps will cut the mice into parts, which means you clean up the mess.  Plus, you will want to dispose of the dirty trap.

World View

World View

Let's put your solution into a wider context.  How does it affect your family? Neighbors? City? Region? State? Nation? World?  If you get a cat to solve your mouse problem, it has a greater impact on your family and neighbors.  If you use traps, the disposal of the used traps and mouse body parts impacts your family, neighbors, city, and region.  Those traps and mouse bodies will go into a city dump, possibly affecting the water supply.

Can your solution be used by people with physical and mental impediements?  We call this issue: accessibility.  For example, let's say you adopt a solution that uses sound to repel the mice.  How does a hearing impaired person know the device is turned on.  You might want to add a light to show the device is on.  Now, how does a blind person know the device is turned on.  They will not be able to see the light.  So, you might want to add a switch with Braille lettering.

Assume you use rat poison on a farm.  Do you want to have this stuff near your crops?  Instead, you may want to entice the mice to a location away from the crops, where you can better take care of them....permanently.

You want to examine from a world view because your solution impacts not only your clients using the product or service, but also their friends, neighbors, and other people.  Most business solutions affect people, not one single individual.

Owners

Citation, anyone?

So, you want understand the problem.  You might be surprised at how many people want you to know their viewpoint on this problem, too.  Many groups of people can be considered as Owners in this decision.  It is not just Customers and Actors.  Owners want you to know how the solution can be implemented.

We have this mouse problem, right?  What people can stop your solution from being implemented?  Think about for a minute.  The Owners are people that can prevent your solution from being implemented.

For example, local government might have a policy where you can only own three animals in the city.  Assume you already have three birds.  Do you violate city laws by getting a cat?

Assume you are a farmer now.  You want to use rat poison and traps to solve the mouse situation.  How will the government want you dispose of the mice without affecting your crops?  How will the government police it?  Do you want citations?
  
Here is an important thing to remember: the Owner may or may not be the implementers of the solution.  If you are replacing your fence, you will need to make sure all of the Owners know (in this case, the Homeowner, Fence Contractor, and City Inspector).  The City Inspector is an Owner, as they can prevent you from build a 20-foot wall that you affectionately The Mending Wall (because "good fences make good neighbors").

Environment

Porter's Five Forces

How does the solution get implemented?  Do you face ethical dilemmas, new regulations, budget constraints, resource issues, and so on?  What is the environment for implementing your solution?  Let's assume you are implementing some kind of new rat poison immediately after animal activists have held rallies protesting the inhuman treatment of animals in some new Hollywood summer film.

Or, you think some new legislation will be passed that will affect the kinds of chemicals that can be used in poison.  Maybe, you have competitive intelligence about how a manufacturer in a foreign country can mass produce the poison, as their country has a large supply of the main chemical ingredient used in production.

The forces acting within the environment of your problem space can help you to define the possible solution(s) you want to pursue.  You may want to take some to review Michael Porter's Five Forces:

1. Substitutes within the market
2. New entrants within the market
3. Intensity of the rivalry within the market
4. Bargaining power of suppliers
5. Bargaining power of customers (or buyers)

Understanding these forces helps to shape the design parameters for your solution.  Again, we are looking at a mouse situation.

Conclusions

A Better Mousetrap!

CATWOE is a great framework for you to explore a problem area in greater detail.  It is not about generating solutions, as much as it is about understanding the various aspects of a problem area.

When you better understand the problem, you can start to create innovate, insightful, and intriguing solutions.  The key is to understand the problem.

Coincidentally, I did find a product called "The Better Mousetrap", which traps mice into a cigarette-like case (see image on the right).  In my opinion, it is a creative solution to a mouse problem.