Jeff Hoffman: the airport queue behind a product idea

In a Family Office Club event talk, Jeff Hoffman described missing a flight after waiting in a check-in line. The delay led him to examine what the counter agent was doing for each passenger.

The action at the end of the line

Hoffman recalled seeing the boarding pass as a printout and questioning why passengers needed to wait for someone else to print it. He described going home and drawing a kiosk concept. He presented that experience as the start of his first invention.

A specific task suggested the product

The story follows a concrete sequence from a delay to an observation about a task, then to a proposed machine. It is Hoffman's recollection in a stage talk Richard introduced.

In Jeff Hoffman's words

"All you're doing is hitting print" (Jeff Hoffman, Jeff Hoffman's recorded Family Office Club event talk)

How to use this

Observe the task performed at the end of a queue.
Describe which part of that task a proposed product would let the customer complete.

Questions and answers

What task caught Hoffman's attention?

Printing a boarding pass at the end of a long check-in line.