What users need

INTRODUCTION

Innovation…satisfying new or unrecognized needs

What are needs?…something missing

How are needs expressed?…through explicit and implicit stories

How are needs addressed?…through utility, usability and meaning

NEEDS

Definition of need

DEFINITION

NEEDSDEFINITION

1 Physiological (hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, etc.)

2 Safety (security, protection from physical and

emotional harm)

3 Social (affection, belonging, acceptance,

friendship)

4 Esteem (also called ego) - internal: self

respect, autonomy, status, recognition &

attention

5 Self Actualization (seeking fulfillment for self

and giving to others)

The Theory of Basic Needs

Self-Actualization

Esteem

Social

Physiology

Safety

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

NEEDS

A characteristic, according to Maslow, may be considered a basic need if it meets the following conditions:

DEFINITION

1 Its absence breeds illness

2 Its presence prevents illness

3 Its restoration cures illness

4 Under certain, very complex, free-choice situations, it is preferred by the

deprived person over other satisfactions.

5 It is found to be inactive, at a low ebb, or functionally absent in the

healthy person

NEEDS

Needs are not fixed but move and shift in concert with our rapidly changing culture.

“Needs represent unmet opportunity”

Peter Drucker

DEFINITION

NEEDS

“Needs are created by change”

Peter Drucker

7 Symptoms of Change

4 within the organization3 from the outside world

DEFINITION

NEEDSSeven Symptoms of Change

Internal

1 The unexpected success that is gratefully received but rarely dissected to see why it occurred.

2 The incongruity between what actually happens and what was supposed to happen.

3 The inadequacy in an underlying process that is taken for granted.

4 The changes in industry of market structure that catch everyone by surprise.

DEFINITION

NEEDS

Seven Symptoms of Change

External

5 The demographic changes caused by wars, medical improvements and even superstition.

6 The changes in perception, mood and fashion brought on by the ups and downs of the economy.

7 The changes in awareness caused by new knowledge.

DEFINITION

NEEDS

Need — something missing

Needfinding — looking for clues to identify that missing something.

DEFINITION

Our working definition:

NEEDS

Needfinding is a paradoxical activity

What is sought is a circumstance where something is missing

In order to find and articulate a need, this missing something must be seen and recognized by someone

What comes first? The need or its solution?

Definition

NEEDS

Needfinding involves

both needs and

recognition - seeing

something that did not

previously exist

DEFINITION

NEEDS

Needs vs. Want

DEFINITION

Are Need and Want different experiences, the same thing, or part of a continuum?

Methodology for identifying needs

• Aims• Ensure that the product is focused on user needs• Identify latent or hidden needs as well as explicit

needs• Provide a fact base for justifying the product

specifications• Create an archival record of the needs activity of

the development process• Ensure that no critical user need is missed or

forgotten• Develop a common understanding of user needs

among the development team members

Steps

1. Define the scope of the product. This is written into your project brief.

2. Gather raw data from users.

3. Interpret the raw data in terms of user needs.

4. Organise the needs into a hierarchy if necessary.

5. Establish the relative importance of the needs.

6. Reflect on the results and the process.

Step 1: Scope the project

• Write the design brief

Step 2: Gather raw data (1)

• Interviews• Focus groups• Observing the product in use

Market Segment 1

(Lead users)

Market Segment 2

(Users)

Market Segment 3

Market Segment 4

User type 1

User type 2

User type 3

Step 2: Gather raw data (2)

• Audiotape recording

• Notes

• Videotape recording

• Still photography

Step 3: Gather raw data (3)Customer: John Roo

Interviewer: Jane Echid

User type: Experienced bouncer

Question/Prompt Customer Statement Interpreted Need

Typical activities Carry things in my pouch

The pouch carries objects of varying sizes.

Dislikes Strap cuts into my waist

The pouch fits comfortably on standard male body.

Suggested improvements

Would be nice if pouch transferred weight to legs

The pouch can lift the weight of the load.

Step 3: Interpret raw data

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

• Express the needs as specifically as the raw data

• Use positive, not negative phrasing

• Express the need as an attribute of the product

• Avoid the words must and should

Step 4: Organise into a hierarchy

• You may find redundant need statements. Group them together according to similarity of the needs they express.

• Decide, based on the product goals, which needs are• critical (must haves)• linear satisfiers (product is better if the need is

better)• delighters (emotional)• nice to have

Step 5: Reflect

• Did we capture latent needs or only obvious ones our competitors will find?

• Have we interacted with all important users?

• Are these needs we can readily address?

• What new needs did we discover?

• Does the data make sense?

NEEDS

Why Address Culture?

“Successful products are more than just a bunch of technical

solutions. They are also bundles of cultural solutions.

Successful products, unlike inventions, succeed because

they understand the values, institutional arrangements, and

economic notions of that culture.”

W. Bernard CarlsonCultural Historian

EXPRESS AND ADDRESS

Utility

NEEDS

Culture is…

…the way a group of people give meaning to the world around them.

Express and Address

Elements of Culture

NEEDS

Culture is…

…how people solve problems.

Express and Address

Elements of Culture

NEEDS

Culture is…

…what defines peoples’ realities and structures the way in which they think and act.

Express and Address

Elements of Culture

NEEDS

…organize our experiences and make them memorable.

…are the means by which culture is communicated, maintained and changed.

…are the way we communicate needs.

Express and Address

Elements of Culture Stories...

NEEDS

“The fact that we can all listen to Walkmans and eat hamburgers tells u that there are some novel products that can be sold on a universal message, but it does not tell [us] what eating hamburgers or listening to Walkmans means to different cultures.”

Fons Trompenaars

Express and Address

Elements of Culture

NEEDS

“Dining at McDonald’s is a show of status in Moscow, where in New York it is a fast meal for a fast buck.”

Fons Trompenaars

Express and Address

Elements of Culture

NEEDS

Products directly address our needs

Products define our culture and are defined by our culture

Express and Address

Materializing of Culture

NEEDSExpress and Address

Video: Reckitt and Coleman

NEEDS

Products stories which our culture

tells to address new needs

Were these needs obvious?As a project manager would you have supported them?

EXPRESS AND ADDRESS

Tamagotchi

Disposable camera

Bottled Water

New Beetle

NEEDSExpress and Address

Tamagotchi

So how do I connect anyhow?You'll notice a heart shaped icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen use the 'A' button to get to this icon. Face your Tamagotchi head-to-head with your friends Tamagtochi and then press the 'B' button twice (this may take a little practice to get right). Once you're connected, your Tamagotchi will automatically play games or visit the other Tamagotchi to leave presents. There are two games which your Tamagotchi can play and win depending on the level of training and overall happiness it has.

NEEDSExpress and Address

Disposable Camera

NEEDSExpress and Address

Bottled Water

NEEDSExpress and Address

New Beetle

PROCESS

Discovery - collect dues

Synthesis - identify new

meaning

Realization - make meaning

tangible through utility and

usability

Turning cultural stories and needs into innovative products, services and communication

Consumer trending

Cultural StudiesAnthropology & ethnography Semiology

SUMMARY

Innovation…satisfying new or unrecognized needs

What are needs?…something missing

How are needs expressed?…through explicit and implicit stories

How are needs addressed?…through utility, usability and meaning

Credits

• Slides 1-13 and 23-38 from GVO.

• Slides 14-22 based on Product Design and Development by Karl T Ulrich and Steven D Eppinger, Chapter 3.