Winter 2015 ECEn 490 Lecture #4 1 Lecture 4— Capturing the Voice of the Customer Or Marketing 101

Winter 2015 ECEn 490 Lecture #4 1

Lecture 4—Capturing the Voice of the

Customer

OrMarketing 101

Are the customer and user always the same person?

• What are examples of situations or products that may have a different person who is responsible for the purchase than the actual user.


ECEn 490 3

Assumptions can make or break a development project

Body of Facts - BOFs

Strategy or Solution

Critical Assumptions

The BOF is a collection of all the critical information that you know about your project.

Winter 2015

ECEn 490 4

What happens when Assumptions prove to be invalid?

Body of Facts - BOFs

Strategy or Solution

Assumptions Changed!!

UnstableStrategy!!

Winter 2015

ECEn 490 5

Prior Homework

•Read Chapter 4, “Identifying Customer Needs” and/or read the lecture 4 notes. •Team Email assignment;

• Develop the “Body of Facts” (all the information that you currently know about your project).•What are the key assumptions that you are making at the beginning of the project?

Winter 2015


Phase 1

ConceptDevelopment

Phase 2 Phase 5Phase 4Phase 3

System-LevelDesign

DetailDesign

Testing andRefinement

ProductionRamp-up

MissionStatement

IdentifyCustomer

Needs

EstablishTargetSpecs

Analyzecompetitive

Products

GenerateProduct

Concepts

Select aProductConcept

RefineSpecs

PerformEconomicAnalysis

PlanRemaining

DevelopmentProject

DevelopmentPlan

Concept Development

Concept Development Phase


What development phase is the most critical to the eventual success or failure of the product?

Why?

ECEn 490 8

Early phases of Product Development

Market analysisand Strategy

Technology development

Concept Development

Winter 2015


What’s the Problem?

Customers’Need

OurPerformance


“Marketing is too important to leave to the marketing department”—

Bill Hewlett—one of the founders of Hewlett-Packard Co.


Feeling

Kano's "3 Arrow Diagram"

Dissatisfied Feeling

Satisfied Feeling

Physically Fulfilled Condition

(Need is met)(Need is not met)

Neutral



Satisfied Feeling



Unstated, Expected

Quality

“Taken for

granted”




Satisfied Feeling



"One-D

imensio

nal" Qualit

y

Unstated, Expected

Quality

“Competitive”

the more the better

“Taken for

granted”




Satisfied Feeling



"One-D

imensio

nal" Qualit

y

Unstated, Expected

Quality

Exciting Quality

“Surprise & Delighters”

“Competitive”

the more the better

“Taken for

granted”



DissatisfiedFeeling

SatisfiedFeeling

PhysicallyFulfilled Condition


Unstated, Expected

Quality

What was exciting yesterday becomes expected tomorrow



What difference does it make?

• Does it change the effort on customer identification?

• Does it change the risk of product acceptance?

• What about manufacturing?• How does it impact R&D expenditures?


The goals for Identifying Customer Needs1. Ensure that the product is focused on

customer needs.2. Identify unusual or hidden needs.3. Provide a ‘body of facts’ for justifying the

product specification.4. Create an archival record of the needs.5. Ensure that no critical customer need is

over-looked.6. Develop a common understanding of the

customer needs by the team.


The 6 steps in Identifying Customer Needs1. Define the scope of the effort2. Gather raw data from customers.3. Interpret the raw data in terms of

customer needs.4. Organize the needs into a hierarchy of

primary, secondary, and tertiary needs (if required)

5. Establish the relative importance of the needs.

6. Reflect on the results and the process


Step1 Defining the scope– Often included as the Mission Statement or

Project Charter– the project charter usually contains

• a description of the customer and targeted market

• Key business goals• critical customer needs being met• key program assumptions• major stakeholders

Keeps us from “boiling the ocean”– taking on more than we can accomplish.Keeps us from “boiling the ocean”– taking on more than we can accomplish.


Mission Statement: Screwdriver Project

Product Description

Benefit Proposition

Key Business Goals

Primary Market

Assumptions

Stakeholders

•A handheld, power assisted device for installing threaded fasteners.•Drives screws more quickly, with less effort than by hand•Product introduction 4th Qtr. 2006•50% gross margin•10% share of cordless screwdriver market by 2008•Do-it-yourself consumer•Light duty professional•Hand held•Power assisted•Nickel-metal-hydride battery technology•Users•Retailer•Sales force•Production•Legal department


Step 2 Gather Raw Data from Customers

Identify typical customers or users

• sometimes these can be individuals, other times in groups

– develop a set of questions that will draw out needed comments

– decide on using interviews or surveys.– Perform the market study– capture the customer inputs, written statements,

voice, video recording, etc.– compile the final written list of customer

statements.


Customer Needs Interviews

• Generate a ‘script’ or list of questions• Open ended versus closed ended

questions– examples– when to use which

• Let the customer talk - be flexible• Manage your time• Get the whole team involved


Step 3 Interpret the Raw Data in Terms of Customer or User Needs

– express the need in terms of What the product will do, not How it will do it.

– Try to keep the interpretation at the same level of detail as the customer input.

– Use positive statements.– Express the need as a product attribute.– Avoid the words Must and Want


Examples of interpreting customer comments

“I need to drive screws fast, faster than by hand”

Customer statement Interpreted Need

The SD drives screws faster than by hand.

“I sometimes do duct work; use sheet metal screws”.

The SD drives sheet metal screws into metal duct work.

“I like the pistol grip; it feels better in my hand”.

The SD is comfortable to grip.

“I don’t like it when the tip slips off the screw.”

The SD tip remains aligned with screw head without slipping.

“I sometimes drive screws in at an angle”

The SD will show when the screw in not aligned with the surface.


Step 4 Organize the Needs into a Hierarchy

– Write each Interpreted Need statement on a sticky note, and put them on the wall or chart.

– Eliminate redundant statements.– Group the notes according to how similar the

needs are to each other.– For each group of notes, write a label on a bigger

sticky note.– Look for higher level groups of similar sub groups.– Go back and do a “sanity check” on the data.

“how does it feel?”


Step 4 Organize the Needs into a Hierarchy

Quadrotor must be able to hover over the target

Quadrotor must be able to move in any direction at 3 mph.

Quadrotor must be able to fly for 10 mins without recharging

Quadrotor flight

characteristics


Step 5 Establish the Relative Importance of the Needs.

– First try the Team Consensus method– Give every team members three sticky dots

and have them vote. Or just give each team members three votes.

– Be careful that all the primary needs are at the same level.

– If key customers are available, let them help establish importance either by surveys or in focus groups.


Step 6 Reflect on the Results and the Process

– This method is not an exact science.– Did we get the important customers in our

data?– Are there needs that the current customers

can’t envision?– Do we have some weak areas of analysis?– Are we surprised by the results? And why?– Did we get the key stakeholders involved?


Steps in customer needs prioritization.

State the Project Scope or Mission.

Capture customer inputs, one customer need on each Sticky note.

Group similar needs.

Title the groups.

Lay out groups and show relationsbetween groups.

Vote on most important needs and draw conclusion.

Theme

Theme

Theme

Theme

Theme

Theme Conclusion


Email Team discussion Assignment

• Discuss with your team the following:1. Who is the customer or a user?,2. What information do you need to help identify

the critical design features of your project?3. What questions would you ask to get the

information you need?,4. Can you translate the user’s answers into

product needs?5. How would you set a priority on the needs that

are identified?

• Reading Assignment, Class notes for Lecture 5


Examples of Homework example (page 65 text)

“I need to drive screws fast, faster than by hand”

Customer statement Interpreted Need

The SD drives screws faster than by hand.

“I sometimes do duct work; use sheet metal screws”.

The SD drives sheet metal screws into metal duct work.

“I like the pistol grip; it feels better in my hand”.

The SD is comfortable to grip.

“I don’t like it when the tip slips off the screw.”

The SD tip remains aligned with screw head without slipping.

“I sometimes drive screws in at an angle”

The SD will show when the screw in not aligned with the surface.

Priority

** 3M

* 1L

*** 5H

** 3M

* 1L


The Functional Specification Document, FSD, answers the question; What does the customer want, or what will they accept? It is mainly a quantitative measure of user needs that allows the team to know when they have met their goals.

The Concept Generation and Selection Document, CGSD answers the question; How will we deliver the solution to the customer’s requirements, and how do we know that we are offering an optimum solution. Again the meat of the CGSD is a set of tables and matrices showing quantitatively how we have arrived at our project definition.

The Project Schedule answers the question; When will we deliver the solution. The Schedule shows the timing of project tasks, the breakdown of staffing requirements, and dates for project reviews and checkpoints.

Control Documents


Functional Specifications Document

• Most product ideas are initially driven by a loosely defined set of customer inputs that usually are not consistent or complete.

• One of the most common mistakes that companies make, is to go into full-scale product development before these customer needs are thoroughly analyzed and the feasibility of the complementary technologies are determined.

• In several studies of unsuccessful commercial products, it was found that there was a common theme of poorly defined features in the early stages of the project.

• Subsequent project redefinition caused delays and missed expectations to the customer.


FSD Requirements– Project Description and background: What is the

project, and what is expected to be accomplished. (Mission statement)

– Project Requirements: The customer needs and requirements including their relative importance.

– Functional Specifications: The measurable engineering characteristics and target values for the product. You should include preliminary targets for marginal values and ideal values for each specification.

– Linking of the Project Requirements and Functional Specifications: The analysis of the specifications to insure that critical program and customer requirements are being met. (First step in testing document)


Control DocumentsIdentify

CustomerNeeds

EstablishTargetSpecs

Analyzecompetitive

Products

GenerateProduct

Concepts

Select aProductConcept

RefineSpecs

PerformEconomicAnalysis

PlanRemaining

DevelopmentProject

• Preliminary & Final “Functional Specifications Document” - (FSD)

• “Concept Evaluation and Selection Document”- (CESD)• “Project Schedule” with Staffing Assignments – (Schedule)• “Final Project Report”

(Most of the control documents are initiated during the 1st phase, and only updated in later phases.)

FSD CES FSD Schedule