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Shad Valley MUN

Introduction to Product Design and Development

Lecture 2: Mission Statement and Identifying Customer Needs

Dr. Leonard M. Lye, PEng, FCSCEProfessor of Engineering

Program Director, MUN Shad

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Concept Development• The concept development process generally

includes the following activities:– Recognizing an opportunity gap– Identifying customer needs– Establishing target specifications– Concept generation– Concept selection– Concept testing– Setting final specifications– Project planning– Economic analysis– Benchmarking of competitive products– Modelling and prototyping

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Detailed generic product development process

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Customer Needs Process• Define the Scope

– Mission Statement• Gather Raw Data

– Interviews– Focus Groups– Observation

• Interpret Raw Data– Need Statements

• Organize the Needs– Hierarchy

• Establish Importance– Surveys– Quantified Needs

• Reflect on the Process– Continuous Improvement

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Mission Statements

• In product design, the ability to frame the problem, to ask the right questions, at the right time, and of the right person(s), is essential to success.– “The mere formulation of a problem is far often

essential than [is] its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science” – A. Einstein

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• A mission statement and technical clarification of the task are important first steps in the product design process. They are intended to:– focus design efforts– define goals (goals must be stated before they can be

met)– translate the business case to the development team– Provide a schedule for tasks (define timelines and

milestones for task completion)– Provide guidelines for the design process that will

prevent conflicts within the design team and other teams)

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Uses of the Mission Statement

• Written by the project manager or team• Distributed to all development team

members at the project kick-off, to explain what they will be doing and the project goals.

• Can also be used as a calling card to explain what the project is about when interviewing customers, meeting potential suppliers, or carrying out design reviews.

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The Mission Statement• The mission statement may include some or all of

the following information:– Brief (one sentence) description of the product. E.g.

Key customer benefit.– Key business goals: corporate strategy, goals for time,

cost, and quality. – Target markets for the product: primary and secondary

markets– Assumptions and constraints that guide the

development effort: price, technology, environmental, etc.

– Stakeholders: people affected by success or failure of the product.

– Avenues for creative design: key areas for innovation

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Customer Needs Example:Cordless Screwdrivers

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Mission StatementExample 1: Screwdriver Project

Product Description•A hand-held, power-assisted device for installing threaded fasteners

Key Business Goals•Product introduced in 4th Q of 2006•50% gross margin•10% share of cordless screwdriver market by 2008

Primary Market•Do-it-yourself consumer

Secondary Markets•Casual consumer•Light-duty professional

Assumptions•Hand-held•Power assisted•Nickel-metal-hydride rechargeable battery technology

Stakeholders•User, Retailer, Sales force, Service center, Production, Legal department

Avenue of Creative Design• Ergonomic shape, compact stowage, lightweight, elegant

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Mission Statement: Example 2Finger Nail Clipper

• Product Description– Remove and file excess fingernail length

• Key Business Goals– 6 month development of beta prototype– 30% profit margin– Initial 5% market share– Supplement fingernail polish business

• Primary market– Adult of all ages, focusing on fingernail polish users

• Secondary market– Knife collectors, business executives

• Assumptions and constraints– Small, compact stowage volume, long life span (10-20 years)– Steel processing and moldable plastic

• Stakeholders– XXX Corporation; user; salons; retailers

• Avenues for creative design– Ergonomic shape; store/capture of nails; compact stowage; ease of cutting

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Identifying Customer Needs• Is there a need for your product? Who would buy

it? What do they want out of your product?• The technologist’s problem:

– “Our plan is to lead the public to new products rather than ask them what they want. The public does not know what is possible, we do” – Akia Morita, 1986.

• This result is often products like the Betamax videotape. Such technology-focused thinking causes market failure of innovative products. They fail to satisfy the customer!

• It is also true that sometimes customers do not know what is possible – but creative inventors do.

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Customer populations• The customer is a statistical concept; there are

numerous potential purchases of a new product being designed.

• The customer population is a set of persons whom we want to be purchasers of our new product.

• Customer populations are very varied; different customers use the product differently, have different objectives for the product, operate the product in different environments, and generally have different expectations.

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Types of Customer Needs• Direct, latent, constant, variable, general

and niche needs• Needs are largely independent of any

particular product we might develop; they are not specific to the concept we eventually choose to pursue.

• A team should be able to identify customer needs without knowing if or how it will eventually address those needs.

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Process• Identifying customer needs is itself a

process. There are 5 steps:– Gather raw data from customers– Interpret the raw data in terms of customer

needs– Organize the needs into a hierarchy of primary,

secondary, and (if necessary) tertiary needs– Establish the relative importance of the needs– Reflect on the results and the process

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Step 1: Gather Raw Data • Interviews: one-on-one interview• Focus groups: Moderator facilitates a 2-

hour discussion with a group of 8 to 12 customers – may be videotaped.

• Observing the product in use: watching customer use an existing product.

• Be the customer: depending on the product – use it yourself.

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Eliciting Customer Needs Data

• Helpful questions and prompts for use after the interviewers introduce themselves and explain the purpose of the interview:– When and why do you use this type of product?– Walk us through a typical session using this product– What do you like about the existing product?– What do you dislike about the existing product?– What issues do you consider when purchasing the

product?– What improvements would you make to the product?

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General Hints for Effective Interaction with Customers

• Go with the flow – let the customer talk.• Use visual stimuli and props – bring a collection of

existing and competitors products.• Suppress preconceived hypotheses about the

product technology. Don’t bias the discussion.• Have customer demonstrate the product and/or

typical tasks related to the product• Be alert for surprises and the expression of latent

needs – use follow up questions.• Watch for nonverbal information – facial

expressions, the way they hold the product, etc.

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Documenting interactions with customers

• Audio recording – need to transcribe• Notes – designate someone as note taker,

someone else as questioner.• Video recording – focus group session, use

environment, non-verbal clues.• Still photography – easier to display

images, inability to record dynamic info.• Don’t forget to send a thank you note to the

customers interviewed.

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Step 2: Interpret Raw Data • Customer needs are expressed as written

statements and are the result of interpreting the need underlying the raw data gathered from the customers.

• Each statement or observation may be translated into any number of customer needs. Below are 5 guidelines for writing need statements. The first two guidelines are fundamental and are critical to effective translation; the remaining three ensure consistency of phrasing and style across all team members.

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Sample customer interview data: electric wok redesign

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Guidelines for Needs Statements

• Express the need in terms of what the product has to do, not in terms of how it might do it.

• Express the need as specifically as the raw data

• Use positive, not negative, phrasing• Express the need as an attribute of the

product – not always possible.• Avoid the words MUST and SHOULD.

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Five Guidelines for Writing Needs Statements

Guideline Customer Statement Need Statement-Wrong Need Statement-Right

What Not How

Specificity

Positive Not

Negative

Attribute of the

Product

Avoid “Must” and

“Should

“Why don’t you put protective shields around the battery contacts?”

“I drop my screwdriver all the time.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, I still need to work outside on Saturdays.”

“I’d like to charge my battery from my cigarette lighter.”

“I hate it when I don’t know how much juice is left in the batteries of my cordless tools.”

The screwdriver battery contacts are covered by a plastic sliding door.

The screwdriver battery is protected from accidental shorting.

The screwdriver is rugged.

The screwdriver operates normally after repeated dropping.

The screwdriver is not disabled by the rain.

The screwdriver operates normally in the rain.

An automobile cigarette lighter adapter can charge the screwdriver battery.

The screwdriver battery can be charged from an automobile cigarette lighter.

The screwdriver should provide an indication of the energy level of the battery.

The screwdriver provides an indication of the energy level of the battery.

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Step 3: Organize the Needs into a Hierarchy• The result of steps 1 and 2 should be a list of need

statements (up to 300 sometimes).• The goal of step 3 is to organize this list into a

hierarchical list.– Primary needs: most general needs– Secondary and tertiary needs: express needs in more detail

• Not all primary needs have secondary needs• This activity is best perform on a wall or large table by a

small group of team members – use of Post-it notes is a good approach. – Eliminate redundant needs– Group similar needs– Consider creating super groups of 2 to 5– Review and edit the organized needs statements

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Example: Sorted customer needs – electric wok.

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Step 4: Establish the Relative Importance of the Needs

• This establishes the relative importance of the needs identified in steps 1 to 3.

• Outcome is a numerical weighting for a subset of the needs.– Relying on consensus of the team members based on

their experience with customers: asking customers to indicate importance during interview

– Basing on further customer surveys: asking customers interviewed to rank the needs

• Trade-off between the two approaches is cost and speed versus accuracy.

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Step 5: Reflect on the Results and the Process

• The process of identifying customer needs can be usefully structured, it is not an exact science.

• The team must challenge its results to verify that they are consistent with the knowledge and intuition the team has developed through many hours of interaction with customers.– Have we interacted with all important types of customers in our

target market?– Have we capture the latent needs of our target customers?– Are there areas we should have pursued in follow-up interviews

or survey?– Which customers we spoke to gave good feedback?– What do we know now that we didn’t when we started?

Surprises?– How might we improve the process in future efforts?

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Summary• Identifying customer needs is an integral part of the

concept development phase of the product development process.

• 5 steps process:– Gather raw data from customers– Interpret raw data in terms of customer needs– Organize the needs into a hierarchy– Establish the relative importance of the needs– Reflect on the results and the process

• Customer needs should be expressed in terms of what the product has to do, not in terms of how the product might be implemented gives maximum flexibility to generate and select product concepts

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Summary (Continue)• The key benefits of identifying customer needs are:

– Ensuring that the product is focused on customer needs and that no critical customer need is forgotten

– Developing a clear understanding among team members of the needs of the customers in the target market

– Developing a fact base to be used in generating concepts, selecting a product concept, and establishing product specifications

– Creating an archival record of the needs phase of the development process.

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Needs Translation Exercise:Book Bag Design Example

“See how the leather on the bottom of the bag is all scratched; it’s ugly.”

“When I’m standing in line at the cashier trying to find my checkbook while balancing my bag on my knee, I feel like a stork.”

“This bag is my life; if I lose it I’m in big trouble.”

“There’s nothing worse than a banana that’s been squished by the edge of a textbook.”

“I never use both straps on my knapsack; I just sling it over one shoulder.”

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Visual Information Example: Book Bag Design