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

EDGE™ 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 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.

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™ Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved. 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

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

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

EDGE™ Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved. Then Sort and Cluster... Control Heat Airflow Grip Weight Long Lasting Reliable Dries Fast Easy to Use Quiet Easy to Hold Good Style Colorful Operating Cost Fan Heater Handle Casing Switch Motor Functional Ergonomic Esthetic Product Characteristic Structural Attribute Safe Portable Ishii, K.,“Introduction to Design for Manufacturability (DFM)", ME317A dfM: 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™ Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved. What is a Lead User? (Eric Von Hippel is a much cited author in this area) Time Early Majority Late Majority Early Need Users Laggards LEAD USERS Burchill, G., Brodie, C., Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer. Center for Quality Management, 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, 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, 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

EDGE™ Copyright © 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology All rights reserved. High Low Intervention with User FarCloseDistance from User Environment field observations Process Participation field service calls Interviews site interview phone call to customer human performance lab Participant Observation Levels of Contextual Awareness Burchill, G., Concept Engineering: an Investigation of Time vs. Market Orientation in Product Concept development. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D. Thesis, 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, 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 RatingWeight Very Important9 Important3 Somewhat Important1

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™ Characterize the Need: Kano Diagram 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 Degree to Which Need is Met Customer Satisfaction Must Have Linear Satisfier Delighter 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 now that we didn’t before? Surprises? Did organization participate in process? Process improvement.