Identifying Customer Needs

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Chapter 4 Ulrich and Eppinger

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The Product Development Process
Product Development Process
After Ulrich and Eppinger, Exhibit 2-2
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The Product Development Process
Product Development Process
After Ulrich and Eppinger, Exhibit 2-2
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Project Planning
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The Product Development Process
Product Development Process
After Ulrich and Eppinger, Exhibit 2-2
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Concept Development Phase
After Ulrich and Eppinger, Exhibit 2-3
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After Ulrich and Eppinger, Exhibit 2-3
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Concept Development Phase
After Ulrich and Eppinger, Exhibit 2-3
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Identifying Customer Needs

• Goals
• Ensure product is focused on customer needs
• Identify both explicit and latent/hidden needs
• Provide fact base for justifying product
  specifications
• Create archival record of the needs activity
• Ensure no critical customer need overlooked
• Team understands customer needs

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Identifying Customer Needs

• The process
• Gather raw data from customers
• Interpret raw data in terms of customer needs
• Organize needs into a hierarchy (primary,
  secondary, etc.)
• Establish relative importance of each need
• Reflect on the results and the process

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Gather raw data from customers
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Observing product in use

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Interpret raw data in terms of customer needs
• Express need as what, not how
• Express the need as specifically as the raw data
• Use positive, not negative, phrasing
• Express the need as an attribute to the product
• Avoid the words must and should

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Organize needs into a hierarchy
• (one method)
• Print each need on separate card/post-it
• Eliminate redundant statements
• Group cards according to similar needs met
• Choose a label for each group
• Create supergroups (2 to 5 groups) where possible
• Review / edit the organized need statements

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Establish relative importance of each need
• Develop a weighting system for customer needs
• Rely on consensus of the team based on their
  experience with customers
• Or
• Use further customer surveys

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Identifying Customer Needs

• Reflect on the results and the process
• Are results consistent with results of teams
  interaction with the customers?
• Have all important types of customers in target
  market been interacted with?
• What do we know that we didnt know when we
  started? Any surprises?
• How can we improve the process?

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Meeting With The Customers
Proposed Outcomes
Prioritized Outcomes
Prioritized Design Variables
Validated Outcomes New Outcomes
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Kano Diagram
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Expected, Requested, and Surprising Performance
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Establish Hierarchy, Relative Importance
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Summary Identifying Customer Needs

• The process
• Gather raw data from customers
• Interpret raw data in terms of customer needs
• Organize needs into a hierarchy (primary,
  secondary, etc.)
• Establish relative importance of each need
• Reflect on the results and the process

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End