The Kano customer satisfaction model provides a disciplined process for using customer data to uncover hidden needs and the key features that trigger purchase decisions. In the webinar posted below, expert Wayne Mackey walks us through the Kano methodology, provides some examples of how it is best employed and also talks about a new collaborative program to help people get the most out of what these important tools can offer.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” is how the old saying goes that illustrates the vast diversity of the human concept of value. What is essential to some is meaningless to others, which represents the most perplexing challenge of product definition and portfolio management. Even if you could put every feature possible into a product, research has shown over and over again that only a critical few will affect the customer’s purchase decision.
The automobile cupholder is the perfect example of a product feature that was considered an afterthought by most, but which actually held tremendous power over the consumer, sometimes holding the important distinction of “dealbreaker” if missing or poorly executed. The challenge for product developers is to find a systematic way to focus scarce innovation resources on these powerful features and minimize time wasted on insignificant others.
The “Kano” customer satisfaction model, named after it’s creator, Noriaki Kano, was created to help product developers analyze their product around how customers view important features. At it’s basic level, the premise is that most features fall under one of three categories:
By doing a formal Kano exercise, including customer surveying and data plotting/mapping, one can quickly identify areas to focus on which will affect the bottom line and help teams make better decisions on critical design tradeoffs and investments.
If you’d like to learn more about the Kano model and how to make it work for you, Management Roundtable is offering a free webinar on June 10, 2015, “Kano Innovation Collaborative: Finding True Differentiators – Making More Profitable Products.” Follow the link provided for more information and to register for this session.
In this short video segment, Andrew McCaskey of SDRNews speaks with TechZecs‘ Scott Elliott on the latest successful efforts to apply best practices in agile software development to physical product development environments. Scott answers such questions as how scrum and other techniques are adapted and applied outside of the software realm and on hardware components such as ASICS design. You’ll also hear how advancements in prototyping have accelerated R&D cycles, a key factor in achieving lean product development.
Managing new product development and innovation is a road with many forking paths and few helpful signposts (just like driving in downtown Boston!).
NPD expert, author and executive advisor, Wayne Mackey, has identified what he believes are the 10 most critical dimensions facing product development leaders. Each builds upon the other and encompasses the complete value stream of the development process from the highly strategic to the minutest of detail.
Viewed as a whole, the challenges these dimensions present can seem daunting and unmanageable, but according to Wayne, once broken down into constituent parts, each area can be addressed with specific tools that can quickly use data to identify root causes and guide you to an immediate course correction. For example, properly staffing project teams with adequate resources can be simplified and improved using a simple spreadsheet tool known as a “skills matrix.” Each dimension has similar tools and methods for deconstructing a problem without wasting a lot of time.
The 10 critical dimensions of product development innovation are:
Wayne Mackey will be holding a special executive session to go in-depth on these important decision making areas and showing how to apply a comprehensive suite of tools that product development leaders can use to make data-driven decisions that team members yearn for and the business’ bottom line requires. The one-day, intensive “Innovation Leaders’ Reboot Camp” will be held July 15, 2014 in Chicago, visit the Reboot Camp’s website for more information and to register online.
A long time ago I learned that often the best suppliers aren’t the ones that can deliver on their end of the contract but the ones that prevent you from making your own mistakes. For example, a good component supplier is one that builds what you order exactly to spec and delivers on time. A GREAT supplier is one that notices you specified the incorrect material and checks with you to make sure, even at the expense of a delay, saving you a lot of money and time. The next generation of great suppliers are the ones that you choose to participate early in the design and innovation of the product, but identifying those with partnership potential can be a tricky process.
Dr. Robert Handfield, Director of the Supply Chain Research Cooperative at North Carolina State University, has spent his career researching how companies integrate suppliers into new product development, the deliberation that goes into the insource/outsource decision, and the methods used to identify potential supplier partners.
Dr. Handfield will be discussing his research and recommendations for companies during an upcoming free webinar, “Insourcing & Outsourcing Design & Development – Creating Supplier-Led Innovation” on Thursday, March 19, 2014 at 1-2pm ET.
Information will be presented from the National Science Foundation’s three-year study on “Supplier Integration in New Product Development” and subsequent book published by ASQC, which included companies from a wide variety of industries. Despite the differences in product types, a number of common themes were found in how companies decide to insource or outsource an item, as well as the processes used to identify and source design and development of new products.
This webinar will discuss some of the key findings of this research, and establish a framework for supplier-led innovation, including:
While everyone agrees the field is exploding and cemented into our future, the acceleration of technology is quickly outpacing the attention span of in-the-trenches NPD professionals trying to eke out every last bit of efficiency from their outdated development systems. At a workshop conducted by Management Roundtable (MRT) in Chicago last October, representatives from various companies including Kellog’s, Federal Express and Monsanto, among others, shared their perspectives and current challenges with 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing in the real life business environment, things such as:
MRT will be conducting this workshop again on March 6, 2014 at the San Francisco location of Tech Shop, a chain where members of the public can have access to and experiment with industrial tools and equipment. See the video above for a quick look at 3D printing at Tech Shop. During this workshop, participants will benefit primarily from:
Product development professionals of all industries are invited to join in this important conversation with their peers, as they search for real world answers and existing best practices for this emerging field and how to best make the transition and avoid being left far behind.
Gregg Tong
Management Roundtable, Inc.
http://www.ManagementRoundtable.com
Our new blog: MRTplus
I’ve been watching 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing for almost 20 years, when we used to refer to it as “rapid prototyping” and “stereolithography.” The industry has seemed somewhat dormant over that time, but as it matures and breaks free from the realm of “potential” into the role of “game changer,” it’s Q rating and industry mind-share are at an all time high.
In the short video above from GE, you’ll see a quick rundown on how additive manufacturing works, some samples of the types of wares it can produce, and a few of the top level business benefits for product development and engineering. Back in the day, people used to hype the technology’s high ceiling of benefits the same way they do today, but now the economics, the sophistication as well as the need for it seems to currently be in a place that is brewing its respective “perfect storm” and putting us on the doorstep of something special. It’s been a long wait, but the payoff may be worth it.
We are not as far from the Jetson’s future of a replicator in every house as it would seem.
RESOURCES / LINKS TO MORE INFO ON 3D PRINTING / ADDITIVE MFG:
To help you get up to speed with the latest trends, research and industry figures regarding how 3D printing, along with Big Data and the Internet of Things, could create a new industrial revolution, we’ve compiled some links to web resources and a couple recent white papers that will help you round out the big picture of what this could mean to your business and industry.
There are also 2 white papers that can be sent to you via email on request using the form below. These white papers are:
More and more we are seeing a wider adoption of tools from Agile software development migrate into other R&D and product development offices, a logical progression as more and more products are incorporating a software component, forcing some degree of cross-pollination.
In their recently published book, Innovate Products Faster, TC Gen‘s John Carter and Jeanne Bradford outline new configurations of product management for product developers facing today’s growing complexity. Many of these techniques have been incorporated into Apple’s official New Product Development Process.
The following tools from Innovate Products Faster are now being made available as a free download. Fill out the form below and we’ll email you links to the following spreadsheet-based tools from TC Gen:
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Team WheelClearly identify the project team leaders, critical functions and the specific individuals fulfilling these functions. This tool shows a graphical snapshot of the project team and ensures you have the right resources in place at the right time. |
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Function Phase MatrixIdentifies the project objectives, roles and responsibilities of team members, and key deliverables for all project phases. This tool provides an overview of the entire development process in a one-page view. |
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Outsourcing MapCreates a matrix to determine the best source of appropriate skills based on your requirements. This tool takes some of the guesswork out of the outsource selection process and minimizes risk by providing meaningful recommendations. |
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Schedule Predictability AccuracyProvides an effective way to detect and eliminate project risks before they occur. This tool provides a visualization of the entire project over time, with an emphasis on tracking the changes of the schedule over time so you can see how predictable the project manager is, and to help you anticipate the implications on future milestones. |
To request download links to be sent to you via email, please fill out and submit the following form:
Many interesting insights and out of the box tips and tricks were shared at our webinar on May 22, 2013, “Advanced Project Management for Product Development: Leveraging Others–Working with Suppliers & Partners” led by John Carter and Scott Elliott of TCGen, Inc.
See the form below to request a link to a recording of this webinar and a copy of the slides that were presented.
Among the most intriguing recommendations from the webinar:
Other sections of the webinar covered supplier integration practices and the integration of Agile Software Development methods into traditional product development environments as a response to the increasing inclusion of software components to products that were previously software-free.
This webinar was a sample course of a 5-module workshop covering a focused set of tools and techniques for addressing the specific challenges of current day product development projects. The full workshop is available as a customized in-house offering and will also be presented as a public workshop, Advanced Product Development for Product Development on August 22, 2013 in Chicago. A limited time $500/person discount is available for the public workshop until May 31, 2013.
To request a link to the webinar recording and a copy of the presentation slides:
Dr. Noriaki Kano’s customer satisfaction model revolutionized the science of quality and gave a voice to the abstract concepts behind what draws customers to specific product offerings. The heart of Dr. Kano’s methodology was his customer survey designs and how to plot responses in a way that uncovered what customers truly care about with a degree of specificity that exposed the product features that trigger customers to choose one product or feature set over a competitive offering. Created in 2009 by Agile Coach, Sergei Dmitrev, kanosurvey.com is a free website (registration required, though) that can guide you through templates to create your own Kano surveys. While this is intended for software developers, it should work with any types of product features you wish to populate the survey with. Even if you don’t or can’t use the survey for your specific project, it can be a valuable exercise in general Kano survey design if you are just starting out with employing these methods.
Learn more about putting the power of Kano to work for you at Management Roundtable’s Kano Innovation Collaborative.
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