Find the single part most holding back the others, so your work fixes the cause rather than a symptom.
The five parts sit in a dependency order. An upstream weakness caps everything downstream, so it is fixed first. The rule: your binding constraint is the weakest part (lowest level) that sits highest in the order. If two are tied, the one higher in the order is the constraint.
| Order | Part | Why it sits here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (most upstream) | Market and customer understanding | You cannot fit, position, design, or strategize for a market you do not understand. |
| 2 | Product-market fit | Whether the market wants the offer; positioning and design assume something worth them. |
| 3 | Positioning and differentiation | How you are chosen; rests on a fitting offer to differentiate. |
| 4 | Offer design | The concrete offer that delivers the fit and position and is easy to buy. |
| 5 | Market strategy and evolution | The forward-looking layer: winning a market and staying ahead. |
| Part | Your level (1 to 5) | Dependency order |
|---|---|---|
| Market and customer understanding | 1 | |
| Product-market fit | 2 | |
| Positioning and differentiation | 3 | |
| Offer design | 4 | |
| Market strategy and evolution | 5 |
Say understanding scores 2, fit scores 2, positioning scores 4, offer scores 3, strategy scores 2. The weakest score is 2, shared by understanding, fit, and strategy. The one highest in the order is understanding, so that is your binding constraint. You cannot position or design an offer for a market you have not understood.
Your answers stay in your browser on this page and are never sent anywhere. Carry the constraint and all five scores into the action plan.