Teaching Chapter 5: Identifying Customer Needs
Timing
This session describes the beginning of the concept development phase, so it naturally belongs at the very beginning of the course. We have also found it useful for the students to understand what is involved in identifying customer needs before they even choose their course projects, since the availability of customers and the product’s use environment is crucial to this process. We generally teach this session in the second week of class.
Objectives and Strategy
This session can be used to emphasize that the satisfaction of customer needs is the fundamental metric of product quality and that teams must understand these needs in order to develop the right product. For many students, this will be their first exposure to structured methods, so it may take some time for these students to realize that some form of "generic instructions" can exist for product development. In addition to reviewing the basic procedure for identifying customer needs, we find it useful to present some of the subtleties and caveats that are not emphasized in the chapter reading.
Session Outline
The session can follow this flow:
This material can easily fill two hours of class time. It does work well in an 80-minute session, however some of the fine points and discussions must be left out. For a single 50-minute session, students must be extremely well prepared.
Introduction to Concept Development Phase
It is useful to begin the class by placing the "needs method" within the context of the broader product development process. Two diagrams from the text can be shown as slides: Exhibit 1-4 (top portion only) and Exhibit 5-2.
We like to begin the class by showing examples of products where the developers appear to have gotten the customer needs right. Counter-examples are also useful, and students like to add their product gripes at this point. Some of our favorites are listed in the "Props" section below.
Note that, we have sometimes moved the concept development material to the first class session. This can free up some time for more in-depth treatment of customer needs.
Benefits of Structured Methods
Since this is likely to be the first structured method presented in the course, it is useful to review the goals and benefits of using such a procedural approach. The following points are taken directly from Chapter 1 and may be included on a slide for use in class.
Review of Customer Needs Method
If students are prepared for class, it is not necessary to explain how the method works (indeed there isn’t time), only to review the six steps. This is best done by showing an example of each step.
Principles and Caveats
We find it interesting to step through the above discussion of the method and to bring up the following points along the way. These can be captured in a bullet list (titled "Principles") on the board as the discussion progresses.
Props
It is helpful to display several examples from companies that get it right, such as:
In-Class Exercise
In the class, we have used Exercise 5.1 directly from the chapter. Simply ask the class to translate the customer statements about a student book bag into proper needs statements. It works well to either write the statements on the board or to have them prepared on individual transparencies. See the solution given below.
This session describes the beginning of the concept development phase, so it naturally belongs at the very beginning of the course. We have also found it useful for the students to understand what is involved in identifying customer needs before they even choose their course projects, since the availability of customers and the product’s use environment is crucial to this process. We generally teach this session in the second week of class.
Objectives and Strategy
This session can be used to emphasize that the satisfaction of customer needs is the fundamental metric of product quality and that teams must understand these needs in order to develop the right product. For many students, this will be their first exposure to structured methods, so it may take some time for these students to realize that some form of "generic instructions" can exist for product development. In addition to reviewing the basic procedure for identifying customer needs, we find it useful to present some of the subtleties and caveats that are not emphasized in the chapter reading.
Session Outline
The session can follow this flow:
- Introduction to Concept Development Phase and to Customer Needs
- Benefits of Structured Methods
- Review of Customer Needs Method
- Discussion of Principles and Caveats
- Needs Interpretation Exercise
This material can easily fill two hours of class time. It does work well in an 80-minute session, however some of the fine points and discussions must be left out. For a single 50-minute session, students must be extremely well prepared.
Introduction to Concept Development Phase
It is useful to begin the class by placing the "needs method" within the context of the broader product development process. Two diagrams from the text can be shown as slides: Exhibit 1-4 (top portion only) and Exhibit 5-2.
We like to begin the class by showing examples of products where the developers appear to have gotten the customer needs right. Counter-examples are also useful, and students like to add their product gripes at this point. Some of our favorites are listed in the "Props" section below.
Note that, we have sometimes moved the concept development material to the first class session. This can free up some time for more in-depth treatment of customer needs.
Benefits of Structured Methods
Since this is likely to be the first structured method presented in the course, it is useful to review the goals and benefits of using such a procedural approach. The following points are taken directly from Chapter 1 and may be included on a slide for use in class.
- Structured methods allow the team to maintain focus on the important issues, in this case on the needs of the customers.
- Structured methods provide a decision process that the team can follow and use to develop consensus throughout the project.
- Structured methods produce documentation of the development process and its key decisions.
Review of Customer Needs Method
If students are prepared for class, it is not necessary to explain how the method works (indeed there isn’t time), only to review the six steps. This is best done by showing an example of each step.
- Define the Scope
Discuss the mission statement, its purpose and content. Refer to Exhibit 5-3 or use the exhibit as a slide. - Gather Raw Data
Most students will have had some exposure to interviews, focus groups, or surveys (at least filling out a product survey). It is useful to discuss how many customers need to be included in this process. Griffin and Hauser’s results are relevant here, and Exhibit 5-4 can be used to bring up the differences between focus groups and interviews. A video clip from a focus group session can be used to show the richness of customer interactions and unexpected needs. - Interpret Raw Data
Five guidelines for translating customer statements into needs statements are given in the chapter. While these are effectively illustrated with Exhibit 5-7, we have had success using a brief in-class exercise in needs interpretation as described below. - Organize the Needs
Discuss the utility of boiling the list of 100 or more needs into a summary with 10-20 primary need statements, supported by the secondary details. Exhibit 5-8 provides a good example. Students familiar with affinity diagramming may be able to describe how these techniques work. - Establish Importance
Discuss the value of understanding the customers’ tradeoffs. Some needs are more important than others. There are rigorous marketing science methods for ranking needs, and this is an appropriate time to refer interested students to marketing literature and courses. We sometimes draw a Kano Diagram (see Shiba’s book) to explore the concept that customer satisfaction can vary nonlinearly with fulfillment of needs. - Reflect on the Process and the Results
This is the final step of all of the structured methods in the book. We emphasize the need for organizations to continuously improve their development practices and to adapt our basic methods to their own situations. We encourage students to critique these methods as they practice them in their team project work (not before).
Principles and Caveats
We find it interesting to step through the above discussion of the method and to bring up the following points along the way. These can be captured in a bullet list (titled "Principles") on the board as the discussion progresses.
- Involve the Whole Team
Don’t just let the marketing representatives perform the needs process. Get the rest of the team involved. - Capture the Use Environment
Video and/or still photography is valuable to document the environment in which the product will be used. These images will come in handy during concept generation and for making presentations later. - Identify the Lead Users
Seek out those who experience needs ahead of others and those who stand to benefit greatly from new products. They often have useful innovations to share. - Look for Latent Needs
These are the needs that are most difficult to identify, however products which first are able to satisfy such needs are often phenomenally successful. Students can debate whether the structured approach presented here is capable of identifying latent needs. The Walkman example is a classic one: There are several ways that Sony could have figured out that people would like portable music. - "What Not How"
The most important guideline in translation of needs is to capture the essence of what the customer needs, not how to accomplish it. Of course when useful solutions are suggested, the team should make a note which can be saved for concept generation later. - Use Props
It is useful to bring props to customer interviews and focus groups. This can stimulate discussion about needs and will reveal problems with existing products. Suggested props include existing products, items related to the product use environment, etc.
Props
It is helpful to display several examples from companies that get it right, such as:
- Apple iPod (portability, ruggedness, capacity, style, ease of use)
- Remote Door Locks (locks/unlocks your car without keys—a latent need identified)
- Good Grips Kitchen Utensils (handle comfort, ease of use)
- Sanford Logo pencils (latent need for more eraser)
- Nikon CoolPix Camera (many, many features with a very simple user interface)
- Canon Elph Camera (very small, organic shape, integral case/cover)
- Black & Decker Snakelight (addresses latent need to aim the flashlight)
- Contact Lens Solution Bottles (same shape and color for both disinfectant and saline solution— easy and dangerous to confuse the two, particularly for people who can’t see well)
- Typical VCR Remote Control (confusing and non-intuitive interface)
- CD "Jewel Box" (hard to open; easy to break hinges)
- Most Alarm Clocks (difficult to use in the dark)
- Polaroid Captiva Camera (poor user interface, heavy and bulky)
In-Class Exercise
In the class, we have used Exercise 5.1 directly from the chapter. Simply ask the class to translate the customer statements about a student book bag into proper needs statements. It works well to either write the statements on the board or to have them prepared on individual transparencies. See the solution given below.