With Christmas approaching and the mowing season behind us, I find myself reflecting on the spring and summer months. There was one particularly relevant instance regarding my sprinklers (stick with me on this).

I was having issues with my sprinkler’s (non-existent) water pressure, so I called my usual yard maintenance company to figure out what’s wrong. They quickly diagnosed the issue: too many sprinkler heads on a single zone. For some reason that answer didn’t sit right with me and I spent some time researching things for me to do myself. But I was quickly drowning in all the learnings (home irrigation systems, pumps, water pressure, etc.) – that’s when I decided to call a 2nd company to get another opinion. They did a thorough inspection and identified the real problem: a busted shut-off valve. The repair tech swapped out the valve and voila, the water pressure improved instantly.

This experience reminded me of a key principle in market research: recognizing when doing it yourself isn’t leading to the kind of outcomes you are expecting and knowing when it’s good to go outside your realm of comfort and get a 2nd opinion.

When to call a professional

This is a rule rooted in common sense and it will differ for every organization and even by research project. Market research spans both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, each with its own frameworks and expertise. If you’re comfortable with basic surveys or interviews, you might handle some tasks internally. But for deeper insights, complex segmentations, or behavioral modeling, a professional researcher brings the tools and experience to guide you toward meaningful outcomes.

If your DIY research leaves you with more questions than answers, or if you’re overwhelmed by data, it’s not a failure. It’s a signal to bring in someone who can help you course-correct and make sense of it all.

When to get a 2nd opinion

Just like when my first call was to an organization I had used for similar work in the past, you undoubtedly have vendors and professionals you have on short dial – everyone does. But even trusted partners can miss the mark. Sometimes you need a more specialized skill set to really solve your research objectives or to answer difficult questions. While it may be more energy than going to your shortlist, giving a shot to a new vendor could open up a whole new relationship and skill set to you that you never knew you needed.

I could have stuck with the sprinkler company I had prior experience with, but that path would have had me wasting money and would have resulted in my main issue never being addressed. I took a chance on someone new, and it was absolutely the right thing to do in that situation.

Wrapping up

In any case, you can probably tell I constantly have my profession in the back of my mind as I make random connections to my career and line of work in even the most mundane of consumer experiences. At Catapult Insights, we take research seriously and are always looking for ways to broaden our horizons in terms of methodologies and approaches to better serve our clients and partners. If you’re looking to broaden your research horizons, or just want a second opinion, we’d love to chat.

 Andre Barroso

DIRECTOR, INSIGHTS & INNOVATION
CATAPULT INSIGHTS

2025 has been a strong year for Catapult Insights and one big highlight has been working with Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) frameworks. We’ve had the opportunity to work across client industries, countries, and varying JTBD frameworks, and learned a lot along the way.

Just as a refresher, the JTBD framework was developed by Tony Ulwick (product manager at IBM in the 80’s) and popularized by Clayton Christensen (a published professor with the Harvard Business School) as an approach to product innovation by viewing products as the solutions to consumer needs or problems. The JTBD approach to innovation is used by some of the largest companies in the world to create a portfolio of products that help consumers address their ever-evolving needs. JTBD is also a great way for organizations to understand their customer base at a deeper level which opens up possibilities for customer targeting and messaging.

JTBD frameworks are not one size fits all

Across our clients and partners, there is no monolithic approach to applying a JTBD framework within an organization. We work with major consumer and retail brands, each with unique structures, customers, products, and tailored frameworks to suit their needs. In no way is this detrimental but it is actually the best use case for the framework. Overly rigid frameworks tend to crack and buckle under pressure.

Taking your JTBD framework above and beyond

What else can you do with your JTBD framework at your organization? Anything really, your imagination is the limit. We’ve seen organizations fully adopt the framework as a consumer lens for product development and targeting, and we’ve seen clients want to adopt it mid-project as a means to dig deeper into consumer perceptions and the benefits they seek. In the latter case, we’re always happy to pivot and shift as we adopt these findings into our reporting and recommendations. There is a wide gamut of use cases for the framework at an organization, but what if you want to take it to the next level?

By viewing products and consumer behaviors through a Jobs lens, you can better understand how consumers are going to market to solve a particular need and what products are sought out. But what if you wanted to dig even deeper into your Jobs to determine if different consumer mindsets exist within each one? That’s the exact question one of our clients had this year and we turned to segmentation as our tool to answer their question.

Segmentation is a powerful analytic technique that identifies groups based on shared characteristics. It can be applied across many different settings – from segmenting consumers to segmenting occasions, or even segmenting within Jobs.

In the JTBD framework, you typically have several jobs that consumers experience, and if you’re lucky, they’re addressing them with several of your products. But are all consumers within a Job approaching it with the same mindset? And do they hold that same mindset across all of the Jobs they experience? This is where a segmentation analysis shines – you can explore the mindsets of consumers within each Job to see if they differ (in our experience, they do). And you can compare mindsets across Jobs to understand if the same mindsets exist within every Job or if different ones emerge (in our experience, there are differences). This information is invaluable as it allows an organization to create specialized marketing plans to target specific mindsets within key Jobs for more effective and customized communications which can result in increased market share and revenue.

Wrapping up

The Catapult Insights team is incredibly well-versed in segmentation research and are experts in blending quantitative and qualitative methodologies to bring every segment to life. Even our trusted partners have strong viewpoints on the topic and have shared their thoughts with us along the way.

Catapult Insights strives to accurately represent everyday people to the brands that want to connect with them – that means we need to be well versed in a variety of methodologies and frameworks to help facilitate and establish those connections. A JTBD framework is one such tool that many of our clients use to help make sense of their product and organizational strategies. I’m hoping this blog post can help plant a seed on how you can always improve on something, even if you’ve been doing it for a long time. You aren’t alone in navigating the consumer research and marketing landscape – reach out to us, we’ve got ideas on how to help.

 Andre Barroso

DIRECTOR, INSIGHTS & INNOVATION
CATAPULT INSIGHTS

Design Thinking is often portrayed as a linear process, but in reality, it’s a dance between intuition and analysis—between System 1 and System 2.

The best designers, product managers, and researchers know when to trust their gut and when to pause and reflect. They don’t choose between the two systems. Instead, they blend them.

Practical Tips for Designers

The dance goes back and forth between divergent and convergent thinking. In effect, System 1 and System 2 take turns informing and guiding what comes next.

• Call on System 1 for… ideation, sketching, and storytelling.
  
• Call on System 2 for… framing customer needs, research synthesis, testing, and decision-making.
• Build Team Awareness: Encourage teams to recognize which mode they’re in—and when to switch. We like to begin with a program-level plan, yet we remain aware that timely pivots can be crucial to success. Consider building in stage gates to make the most of your efforts and stack the deck in favor of successful outcomes.

Real-World Example

A household name in retail wanted to better serve the needs of their customers through a revamped store design and shopping experience, and the team had to navigate a complex blend of creative ideation and rigorous validation.

In the early stages, System 1 thinking dominated. The team relied on intuition to sketch out bold concepts for design elements, layout, and product/service assortment. These ideas emerged from insights we collected from previous research, empathy-driven workshops, and rapid-fire brainstorming sessions, where speed and instinct were key.

But as the project matured, System 2 thinking took the lead. Teams conducted A/B tests, analyzed behavioral data, and ran structured shopper experience studies to refine the store itself. They used deliberate, analytical processes to validate which features actually improved metrics that matter to shoppers and encourage intended behavioral shifts while lifting satisfaction.

The team’s success came not from choosing one system over the other—but from knowing when to switch. They trusted their instincts to explore, and their data to decide.

The Takeaway

Design Thinking is most powerful when it honors both the intuitive and the analytical. By blending System 1 and System 2, we create solutions that are not only imaginative—but also impactful and real.

In case you missed it, check out our post about System 1 and System 2 within research and knowing how and when to engage each for maximum success. Or you can drop us a note at hello@catapultinsights.com so we can hear what’s on your mind. 

Justin Sutton

CO-FOUNDER
CATAPULT INSIGHTS

In case you missed it, last week’s blog explored the role of System 1 within design thinking – helping us move quickly to reach unexplored places and produce breakthroughs. But design thinking isn’t just about creativity; it’s about solving real problems. That’s where System 2 comes in.

If System 1 is the spark, System 2 is the structure. It’s slow, deliberate, and logical, which is perfect for refining ideas, validating assumptions, and making informed decisions.

Real-World Examples

Consider a team designing a new retail shopping experience. After generating ideas (System 1), they use System 2 to analyze user feedback, examine impact on customer experience, and refine ideas based on data—not just instinct.

We did something similar with our favorite coffee client as they explored a change to a core brand symbol: their single-use cups. While we immersed customers in our client’s coffeehouse environment to ground them in System 1 experiences, we explored System 2 reactions to prototype cups through carefully crafted discussions and evaluation methods.

The Takeaway

System 2 brings rigor to the creative process. It helps teams slow down, reflect, and make choices that are imaginative AND effective. This helps separate winning ideas from pet ideas, which can save immense resources from being wasted and goes on to actually make a positive difference in the lives of real people. And that’s what Catapult Insights is all about!

The conclusion of this blog series examines the necessity for both System 1 and System 2 thought to formulate an optimized approach to design thinking. Read on in our first October post to see how it all comes together.

Justin Sutton

CO-FOUNDER
CATAPULT INSIGHTS

Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving that blends what’s desirable from a human point of view with what’s feasible and economically viable. At its core, Design Thinking encourages teams to deeply understand users, rapidly generate ideas, prototype solutions, and test them in a cycle of continuous learning and improvement.

While Design Thinking is often associated with structured frameworks like the Double Diamond or Stanford’s five-step model (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test), its magic lies in how it taps into our cognitive strengths—especially the intuitive, fast-thinking processes described by psychologist Daniel Kahneman as System 1.

System 1 is what allows designers to make quick judgments, recognize patterns, and generate ideas without overthinking. It’s the spark behind the “Aha!” moments that often lead to breakthrough innovations.

Real-World Examples

I think about work I did with Chick-fil-A back in 2010 that eventually led to their revolutionary mobile app and new ordering/pick-up experiences. The team didn’t start with spreadsheets or analysis paralysis. They started with observations, hunches, and quick sketches. System 1 was in full force, helping them explore possibilities without getting bogged down in analysis.

The same was true of my innovation work with Frito-Lay, Google, T-Mobile, and Delta Faucet Company. Thinking and moving fast was essential to breaking through the boundaries of today to reach the possibilities of tomorrow every time. 

The Takeaway

System 1 is resourceful, not reckless. It’s the engine of creativity and empathy in Design Thinking. While it may not always be right, it often leads us to the right questions. The right understanding. The right intentions. In other words, it sets us up for success.
Our next post in this series will explore the utility of System 2 thinking in Design Thinking. If you’re facing an innovation initiative and want to benefit from our experience, please drop us a line anytime at hello@catapultinsights.com.

Justin Sutton

CO-FOUNDER
CATAPULT INSIGHTS

At Catapult Insights, we believe that the quality of insights and the action plans they inspire are only as strong as the teams behind them. In a world where data is overly abundant but clarity is rare, assembling the right project team is not just a tactical decision; it’s a strategic imperative.

We asked client-side insights professionals what they look for in a research partner, and their insightful responses can be found in our newsletter. Here, I explore why partnerships matter and how they can enhance the power of the work we do at Catapult Insights.

From Insight to Action

It’s not enough to just deliver insights. I believe it’s far more effective to build experiences that activate insights to help stakeholders fully appreciate the nuance and emotion their business decisions will have on customers. Approaches blending immersive research, collaborative workshops, and strategic facilitation ensure that every project ends not just with a report, but with a roadmap for action. We’ve seen this in practice where our teams used storytelling, guest speakers, and real artifacts from the field to bring findings to life.

These sessions aren’t just informative – they are transformative, helping stakeholders internalize insights and move forward with confidence.

Finding the Right Partners

Building strong teams that can execute these transformative projects starts with finding the right partners. We’re proud to collaborate with consultants like Tom Rosholt and Gwen Ishmael, whose behavioral expertise and methodological rigor raise the bar on every engagement. Their ability to translate complex human truths into clear, actionable insights is a cornerstone of our success.

Our award-winning research for Delta Faucet featured several partnerships, including Sequoyah Glenn who brought industry expertise and cultural insight – critical for navigating go-to-market strategy development for a new product.

We are equally proud of our work with recruiters and platforms like Veridata Insights and Dscout on this project. Their contributions allowed us bring the right people into the right environment to capture in-the-moment experiences and bring consumer voices into the heart of decision-making.

We work with sample providers like OpinionRoute because they care about data quality as much as we do and have multiple levels of safeguards to minimize and prevent flawed data from entering our datasets.

Whether it’s ethnographies, home use tests, or digital diaries, these partnerships allow us to explore not just what people do, but why they do it—and what that means for our clients.

Collaboraton as a Core Value

Working collaboratively feels different when it’s treated as a core value rather than a checkbox. The right partnerships are paramount to delivering complete and compelling stories to our clients.

Having the right teams and tools is like an artist having a full palette of colors and brushes. Sure, it’s possible to doodle a sketch that is passable at delivering meaning. But imagine what the audience misses when the output lacks vibrance, depth, and detail. It’s the difference between informing and inspiring, and there’s too much at stake in the business world to gamble with that type of “undersight.”

Conclusion: Building for Impact

In the end, assembling strong project teams isn’t just about staffing—it’s about impact. It’s about creating the conditions where great ideas can flourish, and where research becomes a springboard for meaningful change. At Catapult Insights, we’re proud to build those teams every day—and to help our clients shape tomorrow through the voices of today.

Don’t forget to check out what client-side researchers had to say about what they look for in research partners in our newsletter, along with access to other valuable industry knowledge. 

 Justin Sutton

CO-FOUNDER
CATAPULT INSIGHTS