Needs Assessment prepared by Prof Marcos Esterman ISE

Goals of Needs Identification • • • Provide basis for PD decisions Elicit needs that may not be so obvious Provide basis for engineering metrics Ensure critical needs are elicited Develop a common understanding of the needs Archiving of needs Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Steps in Identifying Customer Needs • • • Gather the raw data Interpret the raw data Organize the needs Establish relative importance of needs Sanity Check! Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Pre-conditions: A Project Exists! Mission Statement: Screwdriver Project A Handheld, power-assisted device for installing threaded fasteners Product Description § Key Business Goals § Primary Market § Secondary Markets § Assumptions § Stakeholders § Q 4 ’ 06 Product Introduction § 50% Gross Margin § 10% Market Share by ‘ 08 Do-it-yourself consumer Casual consumer §Light-duty professional Hand-held §Power-assisted §Nickel-Metal-Hydride battery User §Retailer §Sales Force Service Center §Production §Legal Dept. § EDGE™

Methods for Gathering Raw Data • Brainstorming – Method best suited for your projects • Interviews – 1 -on-1 – Dialog Directly w/Company personnel • Focus Groups – 8 -12 People (Typically Paid) – Moderator – Company personnel observe group • Observing the Product in Use – Direct Observation (Contextual Inquiry) – Virtual Observation • Use Cases – Task Oriented – Simulate and document the steps to accomplish the task Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Affinity Diagram: KJ Method • Structured brainstorming and analysis – Developed by Prof. Jiro Kawakita (U. Of Kyoto) • Basic steps – Collect narrative data and compile into cards – Sort and label cards (clustering) – Develop the KJ diagram and present to team Ishii, K. , “Introduction to Design for Manufacturability (DFM)", ME 317 A df. M: Product Definition, Stanford University, Lecture 1/7/2004 EDGE™

Hair Dryer Example Ishii, K. , “Introduction to Design for Manufacturability (DFM)", ME 317 A df. M: Product Definition, Stanford University, Lecture 1/7/2004 EDGE™

KAWAKITA Jiro (KJ) Method • First come up with anything. . . Dries Fast Colorful Quiet Easy to Hold Reliable Easy to Use Long Lasting Operating Cost Portable Safe Good Style Fan Control Weight Heat Grip Airflow Motor Heater Switch Handle Casing Ishii, K. , “Introduction to Design for Manufacturability (DFM)", ME 317 A df. M: Product Definition, Stanford University, Lecture 1/7/2004 EDGE™

Then Sort and Cluster. . . Functional Dries Fast Reliable Ergonomic Quiet Easy to Hold Easy to Long Use Safe Lasting Esthetic Colorful Operating Portable Cost Good Style Fan Control Weight Heat Grip Airflow Product Characteristic Motor Heater Switch Handle Casing Structural Attribute Ishii, K. , “Introduction to Design for Manufacturability (DFM)", ME 317 A df. M: Product Definition, Stanford University, Lecture 1/7/2004 EDGE™

Choosing Customers • Sample Size – Ulrich & Eppinger Recommend, 10 < n < 50 • Always gather from end user – Don’t forget other key customers/stakeholders from CVCA • Know your market space & sample appropriately* – Level of abstraction of the need • Nokia 9300? , Nokia Phones? , Cell Phones? , Voice Communication? , Communication? – Type of User • Lead? , Satisfied? , Dissatisfied? , Former? , Customers Never Had *Burchill, G. , Concept Engineering: an Investigation of Time vs. Market Orientation in Product Concept development. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph. D. Thesis, 1993. EDGE™

What is a Lead User? (Eric Von Hippel is a much cited author in this area) Early Need Users Early Majority Late Majority Laggards Time LEAD USERS Burchill, G. , Brodie, C. , Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer. Center for Quality Management, 1997. pg. 54 EDGE™

Lead User Characteristics • Big need for capability of your product • Their needs foreshadow the market • Have extended current product beyond their intended limits • They often have solutions Conceptualized or Implemented Burchill, G. , Brodie, C. , Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer. Center for Quality Management, 1997. pg. 54 EDGE™

Eliciting Customer Needs • Prepare an interview guide • Elicit dialog on a particular task or problem – Have them walk through a specific instance • Don’t ask them to generalize! • Better yet, have them show you • Go with the flow • Use visual stimuli and props • Avoid leading questions – Avoid yes/no questions – Be prepared for latent needs • Focus on the customer pain – What’s the underlying problem that needs to be solved • Document, Document • HP Example EDGE™

Contextual Inquiry • Needs expressed in action • Observe customer using products in normal context • Allows the team to better Support, Extend, and Transform customers’ activities • Important aspect of context – – Location People Culture Values Clausing, D. , Total Quality Development, : A Step-By-Step Guide to World Class Concurrent Engineering, ASME Press, NY 1994, pp. 116 - 117 EDGE™

Levels of Contextual Awareness High site interview phone call to customer Interviews field service calls Intervention with User Process Participation human performance lab field observations Participant Observation Low Far Distance from User Environment Close Burchill, G. , Concept Engineering: an Investigation of Time vs. Market Orientation in Product Concept development. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph. D. Thesis, 1993. Pictorial Representation from K. Ishii. EDGE™

Sources of Existing Data • External Sources – – – Customer Complaints Technical Specifications Market Research Reports Customer Surveys Customer Profiles Industry Benchmarking Studies – Competitor Assessments – Journals • Internal Sources – – – Benchmarking Studies Company Policies Employees Surveys Suggestion Systems Customer Profiles Internal Publications Burchill, G. , Brodie, C. , Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer. Center for Quality Management, 1997. pg. 42 EDGE™

Developing Needs Statements: Guidelines for Interpreting the Data • Understand the value proposition – Your product is solving some problems • What are they? • What value do you allow your customer to deliver? • • • Stay close to the customer language What, not how Specificity equal to the raw data Positive, not negative Product Attribute Avoid “must” & “should” Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Need Statements Guidelines (pg. 63) Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Organize the Needs Hierarchically (pg. 64) Perfect Application for Affinity Diagrams Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Establish Relative Importance of Needs • Development Team Consensus • Customer Surveys • Characterize the need EDGE™

Development Team Consensus Rating Weight Very Important 9 Important 3 Somewhat Important 1 EDGE™

Customer Surveys • Only a subset will be practical to prioritize – N ~ 50 is reasonable • Customer Needs to Focus on – Technical Trade-Offs • Can eliminate needs that are obviously important – Costly Features • Can eliminate needs that are easy to implement • Importance Rating – Mean, Standard Deviation, Number of Responses in Each Category, etc. Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Importance Rating Survey Example (pg. 67) Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Customer Satisfaction Characterize the Need: Kano Diagram Delighter Linear Satisfier Degree to Which Need is Met Must Have • The SD maintains charge for several hours of heavy use • The SD automatically orients screws • The SD can turn Phillips, Torx, socket, and hex head screws Ulrich, K. T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004 EDGE™

Sanity Check • • All customer types? Latent Needs? Any follow-up areas? What do we know that we didn’t before? Surprises? • Did organization participate in process? • Process improvement. EDGE™