Copyright © 2005 Rochester Institute of Technology Needs Assessment prepared by Prof. Marcos Esterman (ISE) Copyright © 2005 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved.

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

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

Pre-conditions: A Project Exists! Mission Statement: Screwdriver Project Product Description A Handheld, power-assisted device for installing threaded fasteners Key Business Goals Q4 ’06 Product Introduction 50% Gross Margin 10% Market Share by ‘08 Primary Market Do-it-yourself consumer Secondary Markets Casual consumer Light-duty professional Assumptions Hand-held Power-assisted Nickel-Metal-Hydride battery Stakeholders User Retailer Sales Force Service Center Production Legal Dept.

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

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)", ME317A dfM: Product Definition, Stanford University, Lecture 1/7/2004 Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved.

Hair Dryer Example Ishii, K.,“Introduction to Design for Manufacturability (DFM)", ME317A dfM: Product Definition, Stanford University, Lecture 1/7/2004

KAWAKITA Jiro (KJ) Method First come up with anything... Colorful Dries Fast Quiet Operating Cost Easy to Hold Portable Reliable Good Style Easy to Use Safe Long Lasting Fan Motor Weight Heater Control Switch Handle Heat Grip Airflow Casing Ishii, K.,“Introduction to Design for Manufacturability (DFM)", ME317A dfM: Product Definition, Stanford University, Lecture 1/7/2004 Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved.

Then Sort and Cluster... Functional Ergonomic Esthetic Colorful Dries Fast Quiet Operating Cost Easy to Hold Portable Easy to Use Good Style Reliable Long Lasting Safe Fan Motor Weight Heater Control Switch Handle Heat Grip Airflow Casing Product Characteristic Structural Attribute Ishii, K.,“Introduction to Design for Manufacturability (DFM)", ME317A dfM: Product Definition, Stanford University, Lecture 1/7/2004 Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved.

Choosing Customers Sample Size Always gather from end user 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.

What is a Lead User? (Eric Von Hippel is a much cited author in this area) Innovators: a couple of percent Early adoptors: 10-15 % Early Majority: ~1/3 Late Majority: ~1/3 Laggards: the rest Note: life cycle model says basis of competition changes from early adopters to laggards 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 Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved.

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

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, Document HP Example

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

Levels of Contextual Awareness Interviews site interview phone call to customer High Process Participation field service calls Intervention with User human performance lab Participant Observation field observations 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. Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Characterize the Need: Kano Diagram Degree to Which Need is Met Customer Satisfaction Must Have Linear Satisfier Delighter 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

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