A brief of mine sequenced it backwards: the machine specified in detail, success measured as a profile created in under five minutes, and whether anyone wanted what it dispensed left for later.

Nobody would build a vending machine before tasting the sandwich. But that’s what a product brief does when it starts with the system instead of the value, and criteria that measure process instead of value are how you convince yourself it’s working before anyone has eaten.

So now I taste first. Deliver the value by hand to a few people, see whether anything actually happens for them, and only then decide what machine - if any

• it earns.