Wheel of Progress Canvas – making customer needs visible and managing innovation in a targeted manner

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Do you want to know why customers choose certain products and ignore others? Do you want to develop innovations systematically rather than leaving them to chance? Then the Wheel of Progress Canvas is your key to understanding real customer needs and making innovation plannable.

In this specialist article you will find out:

What the Wheel of Progress Canvas is and what it was developed for.
How to systematically research customer needs with the canvas.
Which four quadrants of the canvas are decisive for documenting progress or regression from the customer’s perspective.
How to use the canvas effectively in practice to achieve measurable success.

What is the Wheel of Progress Canvas?

The Wheel of Progress Canvas (WoP Canvas) is a structured tool within the Jobs-to-be-Done Framework (JTBD). It was developed by JTBD experts Peter Rochel and Eckhart Böhme and helps you to systematically record and analyze customer needs.

The aim of the canvas is to understand exactly which criteria customers use to assess progress or regress when completing a specific “job” (i.e. a task or challenge). It replaces assumptions with clear, customer-oriented facts and enables you to make targeted, successful innovations.

Why should you use the Wheel of Progress Canvas?

To make it clear: over 40% of product innovations fail because they do not meet the true needs of customers. The Wheel of Progress Canvas is your answer to this, because it:

makes hidden customer needs visible,
reduces the risk of developing unnecessary solutions,
increases your chances of success through systematic customer analysis.

The structure of the Wheel of Progress Canvas: progress cycle and quadrants

JTBD Tool - The Wheel of Progress Canvas v3.1

The progress cycle

Customers do not make decisions at random, but go through clearly recognizable phases. The Wheel of Progress Canvas depicts this decision-making process as a progress cycle:

Passive looking: Customers notice a problem for the first time.
Active looking: Customers begin to actively search for better solutions.
Decision-making: Customers evaluate different solutions against each other.
First use: Customers try out a new solution for the first time.
Ongoing use: Customers integrate the new solution permanently into their everyday lives.

By understanding this cycle, you can specifically address and convince your customers at every stage.

The four central quadrants of the canvas

The heart of the Wheel of Progress Canvas is four quadrants in which you document the decisive criteria of your customers:

Awareness
- When and how do customers recognize a problem?
- What criteria do they use to determine that their current solution is no longer sufficient?
Expectations
- What concrete expectations do customers have of a new solution?
- What criteria define “progress” from the customer’s point of view?
Trade-offs
- What compromises do customers have to make?
- What criteria determine whether customers are willing to choose a solution despite its disadvantages?
Experience
- What experiences do customers have with a new solution?
- What criteria determine whether customers stay with the solution in the long term?

The precise documentation of these criteria gives you clarity about what actually moves customers and where innovations create the greatest added value.

Application of the Wheel of Progress Canvas in practice

Step 1: Conduct customer interviews on the basis of JTBD

Conduct qualitative interviews with customers. Focus on concrete stories and experiences to identify hidden needs.

Step 2: Document criteria systematically in the quadrants

Use the four quadrants to cluster statements and findings from interviews. Pay attention to precision and avoid assumptions.

Step 3: Form hypotheses and conduct business experiments

Derive hypotheses from your findings that you can validate quickly and cost-effectively. These experiments allow you to efficiently find out which solutions really convince customers.

Advantages of the Wheel of Progress Canvas at a glance

Systematic clarity about real customer needs.
Targeted development of successful innovations.
Reduced risk of developing the wrong solutions.
Measurable success instead of gut feeling and random hits.

Practical examples: This is how successful the Wheel of Progress Canvas is

Bicycle retail during the coronavirus crisis:
Through targeted application of the WoP Canvas, an e-bike retailer was not only able to prevent impending insolvency within a few weeks, but also achieve its annual target at the same time.
Yoga mat startup:
With the help of the Wheel of Progress Canvas, customer needs were clearly identified and communicated. Result: a 500% increase in sales within two weeks.

Conclusion: Making innovation plannable with the Wheel of Progress Canvas

The Wheel of Progress Canvas puts an end to assumptions and coincidences. Harness the power of real customer needs and make innovation measurable, plannable and successful.

Now it’s your turn – Next steps:

Test the Wheel of Progress Canvas for your company now.
Contact us to learn how to use the method effectively in an individual workshop.

👉 Request advice now and optimize your innovation process!

WoP Full 31 Download

Wheel of Progress Canvas – Put an end to coincidences and start innovating in a targeted manner.
©2025 Peter Rochel & Eckhart Böhme – licensed for Oberwasser Consulting and UTXO Solutions GmbH.

Wheel of Progress Canvas – making customer needs visible and managing innovation in a targeted manner

What is the Wheel of Progress Canvas?

Why should you use the Wheel of Progress Canvas?

The structure of the Wheel of Progress Canvas: progress cycle and quadrants

The progress cycle

The four central quadrants of the canvas

Application of the Wheel of Progress Canvas in practice

Step 1: Conduct customer interviews on the basis of JTBD

Step 2: Document criteria systematically in the quadrants

Step 3: Form hypotheses and conduct business experiments

Advantages of the Wheel of Progress Canvas at a glance

Practical examples: This is how successful the Wheel of Progress Canvas is

Conclusion: Making innovation plannable with the Wheel of Progress Canvas

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