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R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Objective Treesand
Customer Needs Statements
Design Project Management
Mechanical EngineeringRochester Institute of Technology
Needs Assessment
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Goals of Needs Identification
• Provide basis for product development 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 needsFrom: Ulrich,K.T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Steps in Identifying Customer Needs
• Gather the raw data• (This is in your affinity diagram!)
• Interpret the raw data
• Organize the needs
• Establish relative importance of needs
• Sanity Check!
From: Ulrich,K.T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Shopping Cart Affinity Diagram
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Examples of Interpreting Data
• Stay close to the customer language
• What, not how
• Specificity equal to the raw data
• Positive, not negative
• Product Attribute
• Avoid “must” & “should”
From: Ulrich,K.T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
“What not how”
• Focus on the customer need, not a solution that was provided to you.
“I want a Tesla mast on the cart”
“I want seats not facing my parents”
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Customer Need:
The customer needs a shopping cart that is fun for children.
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Specificity equal to raw data
• Don’t make generalizations based on specific examples provided by the customer.
• Don’t read a more specific meaning into a broad statement.
“Easy to recycle”
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Customer Need:
The customer needs a shopping cart that is easy to recycle.
Too specific: The customer needs a shopping cart that is made out of aluminum.
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Positive not negative
• There are lots of things you don’t want your device to do or be. Focus on the smaller set of things you do want the device to do or be.
“Don’t damage food in cart”
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Customer Need:
The customer needs a shopping cart that keeps groceries safe.
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Product Attribute
• Your device interacts with its surroundings, but your work is constrained to the device, not the surroundings.
“Don’t want carts to damage cars”
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Customer Need:
The customer needs a shopping cart that does not damage cars
vs.
The customer needs cars that are not damaged by carts
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Avoid “Must” and “Should”
• That implies priority. More on this next week…
“easy to maneuver individually”
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Customer Need:
The customer needs a shopping cart that is maneuverable.
vs.
The shopping cart must be maneuverable
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Organize the Needs: Objective Tree
• Use your affinity groups!
• Some common themes to look for:• Safety• Cost• Performance• Ease of use• Appearance
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Objective Tree
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Shopping Cart (Partial) Objective Tree
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Test: Sanity Check
• Have we solicited input from all customer types?
• Have we sought out Latent Needs?
• Have we identified any follow-up areas?
• What do we know now that we didn’t before?
• Have we uncovered any surprises?
From: Ulrich,K.T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
Test: Sanity Check
• Did the whole team participate in the process?
• What should we have done differently in retrospect? How can we improve the needs assessment process for next time?
From: Ulrich,K.T. and S. Eppinger, Product Design and Development, Third Edition, 2004
R . I . TMechanical Engineering
In-Class Exercise
• Review your team’s Affinity Diagram (which may not be complete)• Select one group of items that is fairly well-
developed• Identify an objective associated with these items• Use the information in that affinity group to formulate
needs statements
• 2 teams will present their results to the class and receive feedback.
