Better Product Definitions

We all know that the very early stages of product development have the biggest impact on product cost and market attractiveness. We also know the rule of tens that says it costs 10 times more at each stage of product development to fix a problem than it does if had been caught and fixed at the previous stage. A company that makes copiers found this rule unpleasantly accurate since they spent several million dollars fixing a problem in the field that would have cost less than $1000 to fix in the early design stage.

So, in this time pressed world of ours, what are the practical things we can do to leverage the early stages of product development for maximum success? Here are some typical early stage problems and practical solutions that are sensitive to the real world demands on product teams and the need to be customer focused.

Understand Customer Requirements

Problem

The product team doesn't have the time, money or interest in customer research methods like focus groups and surveys to determine or at least verify customer priorities.

Solution

Use a basic Voice-of-the-Customer approach.

• Identify 20 - 30 key customers
• Working in pairs, have team members interview customers and observe how customers use the products
• Have customers prioritize needs by using one of the following methods:
  • multi-voting
  • linear rating scale
  • anchored scale
  • constant sum
  • Kano survey
  • Analytical Hierarchy Process
  • conjoint analysis

Define Design Quality

Problem

The product team does not know how to judge the quality of its design (i.e., "How well does the design meet customer requirements?")

Solution

Use a basic QFD House of Quality approach.

• Convert each customer priority to:
  • design metric(s)
  • target value for the metric
  • an evaluation test(s) to assess how well the target value was met

It is important that each evaluation test reflects the customers' real world product use and application environment.

A simple example of converting a high priority customer requirement to a design metric, to a target value and to a prototype evaluation test would be:

Customer Priority Design Metric Target Value Evaluation Test

Pushes easily Pounds of force 4 lbs. Push force test

Develop Technical Product Concept

Problem

Managers and team members have their pet technical solutions and try to sell them to the team to get them accepted. Or, concepts identified are fairly traditional ways of solving the customer's problems, not innovative concepts representing new thinking.

Solution

Use a basic Pugh Concept Development procedure:

• Generate 10 - 20 alternative technical solutions
  • use facilitated brainstorming
  • include "pet" ideas
  • use each customer priority to trigger technical solution concepts
• Develop screening criteria
  • customer priorities (or related design metrics)
  • project goals
  • technical risk
  • business/market goals
  • project constraints
• Select best technical concept
  • select a comparison product (e.g., current best-in-market product)
  • rate how well each concept meets the criteria compared to the comparison product
    • + = Better
    • - = Worse
    • S = Same
  • add up +'s and -'s for each concept
  • eliminate any -'s of the highest scoring concepts (i.e., has the most +'s)
  • select best concept
  • conduct quick prototype tests to check assumptions

Summary

So we have explored how three typical challenges in getting to the best product definition can be overcome by using the wisdom of Voice-of-the-Customer, QFD and Pugh methods, without being overwhelmed by them. This fairly modest effort can provide an excellent return for the time and money spent. As more and more teams experience successes and acceptance grows, teams will be motivated to schedule in more robust use of these techniques.

About the Author

Neil Love is a Partner at LBL Consulting, Inc. in San Jose, CA, and has led several best practices studies in integrated product development and quality management for leading firms. He is a Director of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Society of Concurrent Engineering, a national committee member of the Product Development and Management Association, a State of California Quality Award Examiner and a Certified Management Consultant (CMC). He can be reached at 408-923-9292 or neil@lblconsulting.com or via web site: http://www.lblconsulting.com

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