Transcript

Hello, welcome to the next lecture on translating Customer Need. So till now what we have seen in this module, we saw first what are all the different empathy tools. Then we were looking into voice of customer. Voice of customer is very important. We have to listen to the voice of the customer in his own voice. So rather than we negotiating or advocating for him, we record whatever he says, we understand his plight with and without the tool and try to record what is his priority rather than we assuming that this will be his priority. So, that is why in design thinking tool it is very important to do a thorough empathy study. So, now we will move to the next lecture on translating customer needs.

So, if you look at the Generic Product Development Process, there is here planning. Next, one is Conceptual Development, System Level Design, Detailed Design testing and Refinement and Production Rampup.

So, till now we are more focused only on the conceptual development. In this conceptual development itself if you see there is identifying customer need, establishing targets specification, which we will do next. Then generate product concepts, select product concept, testing, then set final specification plan for downstream. We are more focused towards identifying customer need in this lecture. While this is undergoing, you will have parallely performing economic alliances, bench marking competent products and build and test models and prototypes will happen while this evolution is happening parallely. So customer need plays a very vital role in developing concepts for the product.

So there are four steps for translating customer need. One is gathering the raw data from the customer. So whatever he says, let that be a useful data. Let that be a noise data. Let that be an original signal or a noise signal. No filtration should be applied at this point of time.

Collect all the raw data, whatever he says, whatever she says, whatever a group of people say you collect it, you record it. So, no corrections. So gather all the raw data from the customer. Next, interpret the raw data in terms of customer needs. Don’t try to put your need and then try to interpret. Interpret the raw data in terms of customer need, what he wants, what she wants. In the case of cashew nut shelling. So it is what she wants while doing agricultural ploughing operation. What does a lady she wants while trying to do a tree plantation or while doing tea leaf plucking operation, what he, she thinks and what she thinks interpreting the data for his requirement. Then organizing the need into your hierarchy of primary, secondary and tertiary needs. The last one is establishing the relative to importance of these needs.

These are the four steps which are to be followed in translating voice of the customer to proper customer need. So while gathering the data, it can be having a single person or a group of person and trying to have an interview and while doing interview, if you just go in front of him and tell him that I am here to record the details for developing a product, then they will be feared and scared to share their feelings with you. So first you have to spend enough time, make the customer as comfortable as possible and then start asking your needs and asking him about the product. Then he will relax and share maximum data with you even as subtle point, a non significant point also will be shared with you so that you can note it down and you can use it for further processing. So interview can be one or two hours per person.

So this one or two hours is trying to establish in first contact, understanding bringing him to our platform, where he or she is comfortable and then start interviewing. So that’s what it said, one or two hours per person. The focus group, your moderator facilitates your two hour discussion with the group of 8 to 12 customers. This happens when we do it for agriculture implements. We go to a village, sit down with the panchayat or the head person along with the head person. We also call a group of farmers. Sit with the farmers, understand a group of farmers, what do they want? Because many a times when you try to get input from only one farmer, he might miss out some salient points when that is a group amongst them they discuss amongst them they themselves try to prioritize, they try to give the significant non significant parameters and for a designer it is very much required to get all these insights through the customer.

So observing the product in use. So while this interviewing is going on, this is one way. Suppose, you already have a product and they wanted to improvise the product. You can give them the product, ask them to work and you can keep talking while they are working. So watching the customer use an existing product or perform a task for which a new product is intended. If you see this graph, this graph talks about the percentage of need identified with respect to a number of respondents or groups. You can see here if you do one at a time interview, you get a lesser magnitude of need identified rather than comparing with a focused group. The Quantitative study graph shows that more need can be extracted from the user if your focus group interacts with a customer/user rather than one to one interaction.

So what are the questions generally we ask. Then and why do you use this type of product? If there is a product available, if you want to improvise, you will ask. Otherwise you will ask when and why do you need a product? Then walk us through a typical session using the product. What do you like about the existing product? What do you dislike about the existing product? What issues do you consider when purchasing the product? What improvements would you make to the product? So these are some of the questions which you ask a customer while taking the needs.

Next one, If you see the customer response. So these are the questions. Typical use if your take in terms of a Tea plucking device, we say we need to pluck tea leaves fast. So, the interpreter need is device pluck leaves faster than hand. So now, when we talk about this fast is a relative term.

It was a fast with respect to what? So now, when you put it in a interpretor need, we say faster than your hand plucking. For example, if you can pluck 20 leaves in a minute. Now if you can do 30 leaves in a minute by this plucking device, it’s good. So at least it should have 21 as compared to 20. If you say just by looking at the customer statement, it has to be fast. Then immediately if you think of a number of hundred then the device becomes itself a little complex. So that’s what is told here. Then likes of this device. Why do you like this device? What is so special in this device? Which part of the device you like? Many at times when we have food we try to say, Oh the topping is very nice, the base is very good.

So, we ask the customer what likes of this device is appealing for you? So here, they have said, I like the smallness. So here the interpreter need will be portability of the device is a factor when a worker has to carry it out. So then dislike the device. That is also very important. Tell me what do you don’t like in this device? So gripping is very awkward. We have to carry charger every time. Then suggest improvement. You can ask him, please tell you yourself tell. Though he might be an illiterate, but he is a customer. But he is also using it regularly so he can have suggestions. For example, if this tea plucking device can it be like a pistol, which is the gripper of a pistol. So this is a suggestion, this can work it may need not work. This we are just trying to get his opinion, his suggestion.

Maybe if there is a merit in it we take it further if there is a no merit, we just drop it there. So now this is customer response.

So next is, interpret raw data in terms of customer need. What do you want to solve? And you will also keep in mind, you will not ask not how that means to say. You will not ask him, How do you solve the problem? You will ask what do you want to solve and not how. So that means to that. Don’t try to fix the end product and then start doing our analysis. So why don’t you create a pistol shape handle for gripping.

So a pistol shape handle is more catchy to the user. Ergonomically holding a tool in a certain way is better than the others. This is the need statement which comes out in a very right fashion as against to that of this – Customer statement, Needs statement are wrongly interpreted, and need statement rightly interpreted. So like this, you can also have guidelines for Specificity. You can have Positive and not Negative. You can always say it should be light, it’s easier rather than, say it should not be heavy. Okay, so and then you should also try to have in the guidelines attribute of the product. For example, I would like to charge this plucker from sunlight. So here you are talking about the Tea plucking device, a battery is here, this battery gets discharged. So, I would like to use solar power because that is more talked about today.

So that’s what it is. So these are the guidelines. So for interpreting raw data in terms of customer need, we use this guidelines and we start developing it. What is what is to be solved and not how you will not ask him the end solution upfront, you will ask him what all problems he faces, and what are the significance, and what are his suggestions. We will not ask him tell me what is the ultimate solution.

So organizing the data, whatever we have got from this raw data interpretation, we organize it to like primary data here like making a tea plucker portable is a primary data, using solar power to power the device is a secondary data, using the motors and it’s specification, the rating and the battery storage is a tertiary data, which is a technical data. So you have organized them into hierarchy.

Next, we ask them to do a relative importance within the needs. For example, portable battery charging you have given 4, Change the handle orientation to eliminate. reduce fatigue is 5. Importance is given maximum. Then increasing scoop size is 3. Then making the device all weather is very important is 2. 5 is the highest rating, which is very important 2 is the is a low significant rating. So you can even forgo or try to do little later. The first thing will be given to changing the handle orientation and the battery portability. So these two are very important, which has to be solved. So now what have you done? You have established. Here the Importance of the need.

To conclude… We ensure that the product is focused on customer need. We identified latent or hidden needs as well as explicit needs. We provide a fact based for justifying the product specification. We create and archived records of the need activities of the development process. We ensure that no critical customer need is missed or forgotten, develop a common understanding of customer need among members of the development needs.

So in this chapter we saw what are all the importance of the customer needs? Translating customer needs towards definition of the problem.

Thank you very much.