Customer Need Identification

An old business chart. . .

Phase 1 Concept Development Mission Statement Identify Customer Needs

Concept Development Phase

Phase 2 Phase 3 System-Level Detail Design Level Design Detail Phase 4 Testing and Refinement

Phase 5 Production Ramp-up

Establish Target Specs

Generate Product Concepts

Select a Product Concept

Refine Specs Development Plan

Analyze competitive Products

Perform Economic Analysis

Plan Remaining Development Project

Concept Development

Whats the Problem?

Our Performance
Customers Need

 Marketing is too important to leave to the marketing department

Bill Hewlettone of the founders of Hewlett-Packard Co.

Kano's "3 Arrow Diagram"

Satisfied Feeling

Neutral
Physically Fulfilled Condition (Need is met)

(Need is not met)

Dissatisfied Feeling

Feeling

Kano's "3 Arrow Diagram"

Satisfied Feeling

(Need is not met)

Physically Fulfilled Condition (Need is met)

Unstated, Expected Quality

Dissatisfied Feeling

Taken for granted

Kano's "3 Arrow Diagram"

Satisfied Feeling

Competitive
the more the better

(Need is not met)

Physically Fulfilled Condition (Need is met)

Unstated, Expected Quality

Dissatisfied Feeling

Taken for granted

Kano's "3 Arrow Diagram"

Surprise & Delighters
Exciting Quality
Physically Fulfilled Condition (Need is met)

Satisfied Feeling

Competitive
the more the better

(Need is not met)

Unstated, Expected Quality

Dissatisfied Feeling

Taken for granted

Kano Diagram
Satisfaction
Exciters (unspoken) Performance Wants (revealed)

Functionality

Basic Expectations (unspoken)

Kano's "3 Arrow Diagram"

What was exciting yesterday becomes expected tomorrow

Satisfied Feeling

(Need is not met)

Physically Fulfilled Condition (Need is met)

Unstated, Expected Quality

Dissatisfied Feeling

The goals for Identifying Customer Needs

1. 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 Needs

1. 2. 3. 4. Define the scope of the effort Gather raw data from customers. Interpret the raw data in terms of customer needs. 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.

 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 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 Customer statement

I always get lost when I am on campus.

Interpreted Need
The solution will be available anywhere on campus.

when I am driving I cant find the The direction to visitors lots will visitors lot. be visible from all major roadways. I have more trouble finding my way around at night. This is huge campus. People dont know what they are in for. I would like to know my directions before I arrive on campus. The solution can provide directions 7 X 24. The solution will be easy to operate anywhere on campus. The solution can provide directions without being on campus.

 Step 4 Organize the Needs into a Hierarchy

Write each Need statement on a sticky note, and put them on the wall. 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 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 cant envision? Do we have some weak areas of analysis? Are we surprised by the results? And why? Did we get the key stakeholders involved?

Interpret these Customer Statements as Customer Needs

We have 150,000 visitors each year Our budget for the 2005-2006 school year is $150,000 to solve this problem. A lot of the visitors are looking for just 4 or 5 places like the visitors office, MOA, Bean Museum, Wilkinson Center, and the Marriott Center. The solution will be used by visitors and new students People complain they keep getting lost We need to get this information into our visitors hands before they arrive on campus Students say they are late getting to class and to meetings Getting lost on campus turns a lot of people off about BYU People driving are some of the worst; they go the wrong way on one way streets and park in illegal spaces We tried information kiosks, but people got lost looking for the kiosk This is a huge campus. People dont know what they are in for. + inputs from the 5 interviews your team made

Control Documents
Identify Customer Needs

Establish Target Specs

Generate Product Concepts

Select a Product Concept

Refine Specs

Analyze competitive Products

Perform Economic Analysis

Plan Remaining Development Project

FSD

CES

FSD

Schedule

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.)

Control Documents
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 customers 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.

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.

 Project Description and background: What is the project, and what is expected to be accomplished. Project Requirements: The customer needs and requirements including their relative importance. Functional Specifications: The measurable engineering characteristics & target values for the product. 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.

FSD Requirements