Marcos Esterman, Associate Professor Industrial and Systems Engineering Department Rochester Institute of Technology Multidisciplinary Senior Design I Problem Definition: Module 3

NEEDS ELICITATION

Desired Needs List NeedPriority Have a modern look and feel 3 Is Light weight 3 Is Small 3 Is Easy to Use 9 Has Long-Lasting Portable Power 9 Low Cost Functional Prototype 3 Low UMC for Final Design 9 Alert user of the following data: XXX 9 Measure Oxygen Levels 3 Measure CO 2 Levels 3 Transfer Data Wirelessly 9 Assist Human to Breathe 9 Integrates into CPR Process 9 Does not interfere with the following life-saving measures: XXX 9 Improves air quality delivered to patient 9 Is safe 9 Is reliable 9 Needs to use principles in patents #5,211,170 and # 5,398,676 9 Needs to be consistent with FDA 510K Approval 9

Goals of Needs Identification Provide basis for PD decisions Elicit needs that may not be so obvious Provide basis for specifications 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,

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,

Identify the Stakeholders 6

Unresponsive person By-standers First Responders FDA Hospitals Home Users Insurance Companies Ambulance Service Doctors/Ultimate Care- takers Inventors RIT MSD MSD Team Investors? 7

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 Benchmarking 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,

Raw Needs Data Used for P13026 PRP Interviews of  Inventors  EMTs RIT Student External Benchmarking  Other PEVs  PTO

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 10

What a team should know after the customer interview What is (are)…  project about? the problem? the opportunity? deliverables? constraints? Why…  are we doing this? motivation? Higher level goals (profit, productivity, etc.)? commercialization? When…  key milestones? time constraints? is client available and not available? (& how) interact with the client? Who is (are)…  Is client? Stakeholders? Approves? Funds? Uses? How…  Be careful here, how’s are not needs, but you should understand client’s preconceived notions about the solution

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,

Team’s Cut at Needs NeedPriority Design Similarity3 Maintain Portability3 Include Audio Feedback3 Optimize Battery Life3 Replaceable Batteries3 Minimize Expense3 Display Relevant Data3 Measure Oxygen Levels2 Measure CO 2 Levels2 Transfer Data Wirelessly1 3 – Must Have; 2 – Nice to Have ; 1 – Preference Only

Establish Relative Importance of Needs: Development Team Consensus RatingWeight Very Important9 Important3 Somewhat Important1 14

Sanity Check Did you miss any key stakeholders? Are there any areas that you need to follow- up on or get more information? What do we know now that we didn’t before? Surprises? 15