Don Rickert Research & Design

About Don Rickert Research & Design...

 

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Contact: drickert@bellsouth.net; (404) 713-3750

Don Rickert Research & Design helps other companies to create successful goods and services.

We are a Research and Design firm that provides New Product Development (NPD) services to companies that want to create a successful new product (or fix a flawed or outmoded existing product).

Often beginning with Ethnography (observing and interviewing people on their own turf), we identify what is missing in your customers' lives—opportunities for you to fill critical gaps between what is and what could be…if you only knew. But we don't stop there—we work with your teams to transform those previously hidden opportunities into breakthrough products. Download Don Rickert Research & Design Ethnography Examples with Design Insights

Much of our work is in the realm of USER EXPERIENCE (UX), with an emphasis on usefulness, usability and appeal (desirability), the three main components of VALUE to customers. Drawing from our extensive experience with interactive products as well as physical goods, we carry out the appropriate QUANTITATIVE, QUALITATIVE and HYBRID (a mix of quantitative and qualitative research, such as usability evaluation) consumer research services. Then, we integrate the discoveries from the various approaches into ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS that you can use.

Some of the methods we employ are:

• usability evaluation (more...)
• card-sorting studies and analysis (called Cluster Analysis) to determine optimal terminology (e.g. names for buttons and controls, etc.) (more...)
• observing real people doing real things with current versions of YOUR product and competitors' products (ethnography, depth interviewing, etc.) (more...)
• prototyping, model building (more...)
• interviewing (structured as well as Depth Interviewing)
• questionnaire design, implementation and analysis
• and all the rest... (see Methods & Technical Expertise)

Our work boils down to discovering what you really need to know to win with a groundbreaking product, just as we have helped a number of other companies to create successful goods and services.

Ethnography Examples: Don Rickert Research & Design

The document, which you may download, describes a number of ethnographic studies (WITH THE IMPORTANT DESIGN INSIGHTS) conducted by Don Rickert Research & Design or in which we participated significantly.

Download Don Rickert Research & Design Ethnography Examples with Design Insights

Don Rickert's Resume

Download Dr. Don Rickert's Current Resume (MS Word)

Download Resume (Adobe PDF)

Do You Have any of these Problems?

These are all symptoms of a product that is not perceived as useful and/or not easy to use and/or unattractive and/or unappealing. Don Rickert Research & Design has the experience, know-how and process to address all of these problems.

• Your Baby is Ugly and You Know It

You know that your product is ugly, hard-to-use or lacks important features and you need fast, actionable advice on how to make your product more useful, usable and or attractive.

• Customer Complaints
• Reduction in Units Sold (or Reduction in 'Page Hits')
• High Shopping Card 'Bail-out' Rate
• Complaints from the Sales Force
• Returns
• Swamped Call Center

You are having high volume of complaints to Customer Service and you need to know what is wrong and how to make it right--fast! An overwhelmed Call Center usually points to a serious usability or customer appeal problem with a product.

• Most Customers Don't Respond to Your Satisfaction Surveys
• Those Who Do Respond Give You Low Ratings
• Less than 100% Repeat Business
• Friction Between Product Management and Engineering
• Your Product Is Not What You Thought that Engineering Was Building

The Essential Questions in New Product Development

Every company with a product needs good answers to certain basic questions. This is true regardless of whether the product is an online application, a web site, a gadget, a violin or a boat.

How you go about answering these essential questions can make the difference between success and failure. Click here for a discussion of the right and wrong way to seek the answers.

• If you have a current product, how do people really use it? 
• How do people use your competitors' products? 
• What are the attributes of products in your space that delight customers?
• Will anybody care about your new product?
• Who are these people?
• What are the real problems that people want to solve with products like yours, especially the hidden requirements (the “must-haves” that nobody thinks to tell you about until after you get it wrong!)?
• What are the "enragers" (the things that will make people hate your product)?
• What do consumers think that your products should look, feel, and even sound like?
• How should it behave?
• Will people pay enough for your product for you to make money?

These questions all boil down to a single question... “What attributes does a new product need in order for it to be seen as valuable and appealing to people?”

Finding the Answers to the Essential Questions

There are really good ways to find out the answers to the Essential Questions of New Product Development and some not so good ways.

Great Ways

• Engage Observational Research Experts (Ethnography Experts) to go out into the real world and observe real people, conducting Depth Interviews whenever possible
• Use the insights gained from expertly conducted real world observation (ethnography) to iteratively design and evaluate (for usefulness, usability and desirability) potential products to address peoples' real needs and desires.
• Confirm all of the above with appropriate quantitative research and analysis...often this will involve questionnaires, card-sorting, formal usability testing where quantitative measurements are taken.

Pretty Good Ways

• Engage Observational Research Experts (Ethnography Experts) who have performed prior studies related to your business to provide advice and brainstorm with you.
• Use the insights gained from consulting advice and brainstorming to iteratively design and evaluate (for usefulness, usability and desirability) potential products to address peoples' real needs and desires.
• Confirm all of the above with appropriate quantitative research and analysis.

Moderately Ineffective

• Hand the problem off to your Usability, Design or User Experience group (unless one or more of these groups has formal training in Ethnography at least 1,000 collective hours of DOING Ethnography or similar Observational Field Research)

Extremely Ineffective Ways

• Hand the problem off to Product Management
• Ask your spouse, relatives, friends what they think
• Ask the Senior Management team what they think
• Read seemingly relevant articles

The Most Risky Way Possible

• Go with you "gut".

Process

Since every consulting engagement is different, and our clients have their own product development processes, there is no single process. That being said, when developing our own products we do follow a specific NPD process, summarized on the diagram below. The diagram is a good way to organize communication of all of the things we can do FOR YOU. Click on the diagram for more...

What Does Ethnography Look Like?

Much of the value we add comes from years' of experience in observing REAL PEOPLE doing REAL THINGS in the REAL WORLD...this is often called Ethnography. The skill, experience and formal training for doing ethnography correctly is ALMOST NEVER found in-house; although, you may feel that it is. It would be an exceedingly rare organization that has qualified in-house ethnography expertise.  See our postings on Ethnography by clicking the Ethnography category on the right of the screen.

So what does Ethnography look like?: The short answer is that it looks like real life. The photos that follow with accompanying commentary may help to communicate the different variations of Ethnography.

Our own New Product Development

Don Rickert Research & Design also does its own in-house product development and manufacture. Ground-breaking stringed musical instruments and specialized adventure equipment (e.g. high-performance rowing craft) have been our initial areas of focus. Our "spin-off" company, Rickert & Ringholz Musical Instruments, has in fact earned an international reputation for innovative modern violins. There are about 25 Patent Pending applications either already filed or in progress for the various musical instruments. The curious reader can see and hear our cutting-edge instruments being played by visiting  (YouTube www.youtube.com/user/DoctorFiddle).

You can see various photos from a sea trial of one of Don Rickert's rowing craft prototype at www.warp3insights.com/boats.html. This boat can handle 3+ foot ocean swells and is faster than an Alden Ocean Shell, something thought to be impossible for an inflatable boat.

We don't just talk about invention and innovation in New Product Development (NPD), but we DO IT!

WHY VIOLINS AND BOATS?

In order to save you the trouble of having to ask what our involvement in these niche products has to do with Design Research and Product Development consulting, you may want to look at the page entitled "Why Violins and Boats?".

The ‘Fuzzy Front End’ of New Product Development

The Front End of New Product Development is where:     

• Users and stakeholders are identified
• Personas (i.e. users) and Scenarios (i.e. what they do) are created
• Gaps between current products and user needs/desires are identified
• Potential market size and competitors are assessed
• The right questions for surveys and the right tasks for usability tests are identified
• The all-important prototyping, usability testing, depth interviews, appeal assessment and ideation occur
• The Product Concept is defined and refined
• The Market Definition is refined
• Pricing Analysis is done
• Technical feasibility is assessed

The result of the Front End of NPD is a well-refined Product Concept that is certified as having Appeal and Value to users—in other words: is useful, usable and desirable, as well as technically feasible.

In many ways, the most difficult part of NPD is the beginning, invariably called the ‘Front End’ in contemporary NPD literature, with variations such as the ‘Front End of Innovation’ or the ‘Fuzzy Front End.’ One reason for the difficulty is that Front End is inherently qualitative in nature. Except for those disposed to and trained in qualitative inquiry, doing work without hard-and-fast rules is extremely difficult.

The insights gained during a well-run NPD Front End process are absolutely essential input (either directly or indirectly) to so many other downstream NPD activities, that ignoring the Front End has the potential to doom a project to failure.

Types of Organizations and Products We Have Worked On

 

Types of Organizations Broadcast Media Technology Telecommunications Camping and Adventure Gear Communications Publishing Energy Research & Development Interactive Television        Consumer Electronics Cable TV CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Insurance Medical Higher Education Financial Services Professional Services Interactive Media Supply Chain Management Food Retail (i.e. Grocery Stores) Musical Instrument Manufacturers Urban Planning & Design

Types of Products Bank automation Online Rate Quote for auto insurance Teller systems Self-service point-of-sale systems ATMs Medical informatics Wireless devices and other consumer products Handheld remote controls Interactive television user experience Online insurance Consumer banking, and other forms of e-commerce such as online retail Musical instrument design (e.g. electric violins, baritone violins and ground-breaking acoustic instruments) Rowing innovations Web-based Transactional Systems (Client-Server and Hybrid Client-Server        applications running in web browsers) Corporate Websites (informational) Training Systems