Don Rickert Design

Process Details

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Front End

Discovery—finding the gaps between current products and what people really need and want, as well as emerging trends

Research—achieving a true understanding of what it will take to make the product experience valuable and appealing to the people who will be using it; in other words—useful, usable, and desirable

Actionable Insights—making sense of Discovery and Research findings in order to derive actionable insights to drive product design

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Transitional (Incorporating the findings, discoveries and actionable insights from Front End activities in the beginning of Product Development)

Concept Development—transforming Actionable Insights into a Product Concept and a corresponding Refined Prototype that will be valuable and appealing (i.e. useful, usable and desirable) to customers

Rigorous Market Research--traditional Market Research activities, including pricing research (e.g. Conjoint Analysis), online surveys, etc..

Concept Refinement—creating a Refined Product Concept that is empirically certified as useful, usable and desirable and ready for implementation

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Discovery

Discovery

Goals of Discovery

1. Looking for the gaps between current products and what people really need and/or want

2. Exposing the ‘work-arounds’ and pain points with existing products

Methods Used in Discovery

1. Observation of Real people in the real world doing what they really do! (i.e. Ethnography)

2. Trend Analysis

3. Popular Literature Review

Deliverables of Discovery

1. Clear description of a Product Opportunity
2. Initial Persona & Scenarios

What is a Product Opportunity?

•  A gap between current products and people’s needs and/or desires.
• Described in terms of the experience of using the product rather than a traditional set of product requirements

What is a Persona Profile?

• A description that embodies the important characteristics of potential users or stakeholders

What is a Scenario?

• A story intended to illustrate one or more Persona performing an activity
• Usually illustrates how deficiencies in a currently available products make the activity more difficult and/or less fun than it ought to be
• Captures the ‘work-arounds’ that people invent to achieve their goals with existing tools available to them

What Does a Scenario Diagram Look Like?

What Does a Scenario Diagram Look Like?

Scenario Diagram Example: Day in the life of a Banker

 

Research

Research

Research Goal

Achieving a true understanding of what it will take to make the product experience valuable and appealing to the people who will be using it

Methods Used in Research Phase

1. Rigorous Observation (Ethnography)

2. Persona & Scenario Refinement

3. Initial Market Research

4. Human Factors Analysis

5. Questionnaire Pilot Testing

6. Usability Evaluation Planning

Research Deliverable

1. Refined Personas & Scenarios
2. An initial assessment of potential market size and competitors
3. Results from questionnaire pilot testing
4. Initial Usability Testing Plan

Actionable Insights

Actionable Insights

Goal of Actionable Insights

Making sense of Discovery & Research findings

Actionable Insights Deliverables

1. Articulation of Value Opportunities

2. Description of Product Characteristics

3. Market Insights from early Marketing Research

What are Value Opportunities?

Value Opportunities are the things that will make the new product appealing: i.e. Useful, usable & desirable.

What is the Description of Product Characteristics?

This is not a traditional Requirements Document, but rather documentation of some of the concrete product attributes that will delight customers.

Concept Development

Concept Development

Note:

Concept Development is the so-called User-Centered Development Cycle. Many organizations get it wrong by starting here, ignoring the critical prior stages of Discovery, Research and formulating Actionable Insights.

Goal of Concept Development

Transform Value Opportunities into actual Product Concepts and then reduce the list to one that is…

1. Useful

2. Usable

3. Desirable

Concept Development Deliverables

1. Refined Prototype

2. Product Concept

Rigorous Marketing Research

Rigorous Marketing Research

Rigorous Market Research Deliverables

1. Market Definition (e.g. who is going to buy this product?)

2. Pricing Model

3. Marketing Plan

4. Rollout Strategy

Concept Refinement

Concept Refinement

Goal

Produce a Refined Product Concept that is—

1. Empirically certified as useful, usable and desirable

2. Patentable (if relevant)

3. Ready for Implementation

Methods

1. Design

2. Usability Testing

3. Appeal Assessment

4. Depth Interviews

5. Engineering

Concept Refinement Deliverables

Refined Product Concept with specs for form factor, aesthetic values, core technologies, materials & manufacturing

Implementation

Implementation

This is the point at which the ‘Front End’ is finished and development begins. Many organizations start here, but at a tremendous risk of product failure.