CHAPTER 3

IDENTIFVING CUSTOMERNEEDS

Developed in coll aboration with Jonathan Sterrett.

EXHIBIT 1 Exisl ing producls used lo drive screws : manual screwdrivers. cordless screw­driver, screw gun, cordless drill with driver bit. (Stuart Cohen)

A su ccessful hand tool m anufacturer was exp lo ring the growing market forh and-held power tools. Aíte r performing initial res earch , the firm decided lOenter th e market with a co rd less screwdriver, Exhibit 1 shows several existingproduces uscd to drive scre ws. Arrer sorne initial concep t work, the manufactur­e r 's d evclopment team rabi icated and field-restcd severa] prOlotypes. The resu ltswere d iscou i aging . Although so rne of th e products were liked bettcr than others,each o ne had SO IlH' Ica ture i hat cus ro mers obje ct ed to in u n e way o r another,The rc su lts were quite m)"stil )'ing sílice th e com pany liad been su cc essful in relat­ed consumer products 1'0 1' years. After much discussion , the team decided th atits pro cess for id entifying custorner nceds was inadequate .

This chap te r presents a methodology for comprehensively id entifying a se t 01'cus to rner n eeds. The goals 01'th e methodology are lo:

• Ensure that the product is focused on cus tomer needs

• Id entify latent o r hidden necds as well as exp lic it needs

• Provide a fact base ro l' justifyin g th e product sp ecifica tio n s

• Crea re a n archival record of th e needs activity o f the d evelopment pro ces s

• Ensure that n o critical customer n eed is missed or forgotten

• Develop a co m mon understanding 01'cus to mer needs a m o n g the develop­ment team m embers

The philosophy behind the m ethodology is 10 create a hi gh-quality informa­tion channel that runs di rectly between customers in the target market and thed evelopers of the product. This philosophy is built on the premise that thosewho directly control the details 01' the product, including the engineers andindustrial d esigners, must interact with cus to mers and experience the use envi­ronment 01' the product. Without this emphasis on direct experience, technicaltrade-offs are not likely to be m ade correctly, innovati ve solutions 10 cus to rnerneeds m ay never be discovcred, and the development team may never develop adeep co m m itme n t to meeting customer needs.

The process of identifying customer needs is an integral part of the largerproduct development process and is most dosely rclated to co n cep t generation,concept sel ectio n, co m pe ti tive benchmarking , and the establishment of productspecifications. The cus to m er-n eeds activity is shown in Exhibit 2 in relation toth ese other e arly product d evelopment activitie s, which co llec tive ly ca n bethought 01'as th e ronrei)! druelopment phase .

The coucept developrucm phase illusuated in Ex h ibit 2 implies a di stinctionbetween customer needs and product spe cifica tion s. This distinction is su b tlebut important. Needs are largely independent of any particular product we mightdevelop; they are not specific to the co nce p t we eventually choose to pursue. Ateam sh o u ld be able to identify custorner n eeds without knowing if 01' how it willeventually address those needs. On the other hand, specifications do depend onthe concep t we sel ect. The specifica tio ns for the product we finally choose tod evelop will depend on what is technically and eco n o m ically feasible and on

34

e H APTER 3 : I DE NT I FYI NG e U 3 T O M ER N E é o s 35

.1

PlanRemain ing

Developm entProjeet

r:; ISpecifications !

IrSeiact aProdu etConcepí

r--r . Perform

EconornicAnalysis

Eslabhsh H'

GenerareTarge! Prcduet

Spscificat icns I Concepts¡ L--_--.J1_ _ __L

Ail a,yz;lCornpeti tive

Produ ets

IdenlifyCusto rner

Needs

- - - - - - - - - - - - CON CEPT DEVELOPMENT --- - --- - --- -

I

I

l.

Missionstatomcnt

EXHIBIT 2 The custorner-needs activity in relation to other concepl development activities.

what uur competitors o ífc r in th e marketplace, as well as un c usto rn er needs.(See the chapter "Estab lish ing Pr oduct Specifi cations" for a more detailed dis­cussion o f this di stinction .) Also note th at we ch oose to use th e word need to labelany attr ibute o f a potential product th at is desired by the cus to mer ; we d o notdi stinguish he rc betwecn a want a ncl a n eecl . Other terms uscd in industrial p rac­tice to refer l o custo m e r ne cds include customer auributes an d customer require­ments.

Identi fyin g custo rne r needs is itself a process, for whi ch we present a six-stc pm ethoclology. We believe th. u a little str uct u rc goes a long \Vay in fac ilita tingeffective product deve lopment practi ces, and we hope and e xpect that thisrnethodology will not be viewe d as a rigid process by th ose wh o e rn p loy it butrather as a sta n ing poin t for co u tin uou s impro vement and refinement. The sixste ps a re :

1 Define th e scope o f th e e ffo r t.

2 Gather raw data frorn cus to rne rs .

3 Interpret th e raw data in te rm s of cus to rner needs.

4 O rganize i he necds into a hi erarchy o f p rimal) ', se co n dary, and (if n eces­sa ry ) terti .uv n c e rls .

5 Estahlish lile re la rivc- illlpo rl;lllc e o f rhc- I ]( '( ·ds .

ti Refl cct on 1he resu lts and th e process.

We treat each of th e six steps in turn a nd illustrat e the key points with th ecordles s screwdriver e xa m ple . \Ve chose the screwd river because it is simpleenough that the m ethoclology is not hidden by the co m p lexity of the example.However, n ote th at th e same methodology, with minor adap ta tio n , has been suc­cessfully a pp lied to hundreds of products ranging fr orn kitcheri utensils cos tin gle ss than $ 10 to machin e tools costing hundreds of thousands of dollars .

The cordless screwclr ive r caregory of p roducts is alr eady reJatively well devel-

36 PAODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

o~ed. Su ch products are parti cularl y well sui ted to a structured process for gathen ng custorner needs, One could re asonably ask whether a structured method­ology is effectivc for co rnple te ly new categories of products with which customershave no experience , Satisfyirig necds is just as important in revolutionary prod­\ICL'\ as in inciemental products. A n ccessary condition for product success is tha ta product offer perceived benefits to the custorner. Products offer benefits whenth ey satisfy needs. This is true whether the product is an in cremental variationo n an cx isting product 0 1' whether it is a completely new product based on a rev­o lu tio nary invcntion. Developing an e n tirely new category of product is a riskyundertaking, and to so rne extent the only real indication of whether customerneeds have been identified correctly is whether customers like the tearn 's firstprototypes. Nevertheless, in our opinion, a stru ctu red methodology for gather­in g data from customers remains useful and can lower the inherent risk indeveloping a radicalIy new product. Whether or not customers are able to fuIlyart icu la te th eir latent needs, inte raction with customers in the target market willhelp th e deveIopment tearn develop a personal understanding of the us er's envioronment an d point of view. This information is always useful, eve n if it does notre sult in the identification of every need the new product wiII address.

STEP 1: DEFINE THE SCOPE OF THE EFFORT

For completeness we inelude defining the scope of th e product developmenteffo rt as pan of the customer needs phase of development, alth o ugh this step isusualIy performed as part of a product planning activity preceding formal prod­uct development. In defining the scope of the development effort the firm spec­ifies a particular mark et opportunity and lays out the broad constraints andobjectives for the project. This information is frequently formalized as a missionstatement (also sorne times called a charter or a design lniej) . The mission statementspecifies which direction to go in but generally does not specify a precise desti­nation or a particular way to proceed. The mission statement for the cordlessscrewdriver is shown in Exhibit 3 . The mission statement may in elude sorne orall of the following information:

• Brief (one-sentence) description 01 the product: This description typicallyineludes the key customer benefit of the product but avoids implying a spe­cifi c product con ce pt.

• Key business goals: Often these goals in elude th e timing of th e new productin tro d u ction, market sh are targets, and desired financial performance.

• Target market(s) lar the product: There may be several target markets for theproduct. This part ofthc mission statement identifies the primary market aswell as any secondary markets that should be considered in the deveIop­ment effort.

• Assumptions that constrain the deuelopment effort: Assumptions must be made

CHAPTER 3 : IDENTI FYING C US TO M E R NE E D S 37

Miss ion S!atement : Screwdriver Project

ProductDescription

Ksy BusinessGoals

Primary Market

Secondary Markets

Assumptions

Stakeholders

A hand-held . power-assisted de,..ice ' ~ i:l stall ing threadeciIasteners

• Product introducsd in tourth quarte r of 1997

• 50% gross margin

• 10% share ot cordless screwdriver market by 1999

• Do-it-yourself consumer

• Casual consumer

• Liqht-duty profe ssiona l

• Hand-held

• Power-assi sted

• Nickel-metal-hydride rechargeable battery technology

• User

• Retailer

• Sales torce

• Service center

• Production

• Legal department

EXHIBIT 3 Mission statement tor the cordless screwdriver.

ca re fu lly; a ltho ugh th ey restrict the range of possibl e product co ncep ts,they h elp to maintain a manageable project scope. We have already im plie do ne assumption in our exam ple by cal!ing the product a cordless screwd riv­el'. The implication is that th e screwdriver will be p owered but wil! n ot usea corded power su p ply.

Stakeholders: One way to e ns u rc that many of the sub tic development issuesare ad d ressed is to explicitly list al! o f th e product's stakeholders, th at is, al!0 1' the gro llps 0 1' peoplc wh o a re affect cd by th e product's a u rib u tcs , Thcstakeholde r list begin s " '¡Ih 1111" e nd u se- r (the ulr ima tr-. c xtcrn al (' 11"" '1 11<' 1 '

.uu t lil e ex te rna! cus to me r wh o makes th e buyin g d ecision about th e prod­u ct. St akeholders also include the customers of the product wh o residewithin th e firm, such as the sales force, the service organization , and th eproduction departments. Although this chapter is primarily about identify­ing the needs of external chstomers, the list of stakcholders serves as arerninder to consid er th e needs of eve ryone who will be influenced by th eproduct.

38 PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

STEP 2: GATHER RAW DATA FROM CUSTOMERS

Consistent with our basic philosophy of creating a high-qualíty informationchannel directly frorn the customer, gathering data involves contact with cus­tomers and experience with the use environrnent of the product. Three meth­ods are co mmo n ly used:

1 Interviews: One or more dcvelopment tearn mernbers discuss needs with asingle customer. Interviews are usually co nd ucted in th e customer's envi­ronment and typically last one to two hours.

2 Focus groups: A moderator facilitares a two-hour discussion with a group of8 to 12 customers. Focus groups are typically conducted in a special roomequipped with a two-way mírror allowing several members of the develop­ment team to observe the group. The proceedings are usually videotaped.Participants are usually paid a modest fee ($50 to $100 each) for their atten­dance. The total cost of a focus group, including rental of the room, par­ticipant fees, videotaping, and refreshments is about $2 ,000. In most U.S.cities, firms that rent focus group facilities are listed in the telephone bookunder "Market Research."

3 Obseroing the product in use: Watching customers use an existing product orperform a task for which a new product is intended can reveal importantdetails about customer needs. For example, a customer painting a housemay use a screwdriver to open paint cans in addition to driving screws.Observation may be completely passive, without any direct interaction withthe customer, or may involve working side by side with a customer, allowingmembers of the development team to develop firsthand experience usingthe product. For sorne products, such as do-it-yourself tools, actually usingthe products is simple and natural; for others, such as surgical instruments,the team may have to use the products on surrogate tasks (e .g., cutting fruitinstead of human tissue when developing a new scalpel) .

Sorne practitioners also rely on written surveys for gathering raw data. Whilea mail survey is quite useful later in the process, we cannot recommend thisapproach for initial efforts to identify customer needs; written surveys simply donot provide enough information about the use environment ofthe product, andthey are ineffective in revealing unanticipated needs.

Research by Griffin and Hauser sh ows that one 2-hour focus group revealsabou t the same number of needs as two l-hour interviews (Griffin and Hauser,1993) . (See Exhibit 4.) Because interviews are usually less costly (per hour) thanfocus groups and because an interview often allows the product developmentteam to experience the use environment of the product, we recommend thatinterviews be the primary data collection method. Interviews may be supple­mented with one or two focus groups as a way to allow top management toobserve a group ofcustomers or as a mechanism for sharing a comrnon customerexperience (via videotape) among the members of a larger team. Sorne practi­tioners believe that for certain products and custorner groups, the interactionsamong the participants of focus groups can elicit more varied needs than are

ú,UQ)Q)

z 40eQ)oQ;

Q.

20

CHAPTER 3. iDENTIFYING CUST:JMER NEEDS 39

o One-on-One Interview (1 hour)o Fccus Group (2 hour)

o 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Number of Interviews or Groups

EXHIBIT 4 Comparison 01 the percentages 01customer needs that are revealed ter locus groups and inter­views as a lunction 01 the number of sessions. Note that a locus group lasts two hours, while aninterview lasts one hour. (Abbie Griffin and John R. Hauser, "The Voice 01 the Customer,"Marketing Science, Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter 1993.)

revealed through interviews, although this belief is not strongly supported byresearch findings.

Choosing Customers

Griffin and Hauser have al so addressed the question of how many custornersshould be interviewed in order to reveal most of the custorner needs. In onestudy, they estimated that 90 percent of the custorner needs for picnic coolerswere revealed after 30 interviews. In another study, they estimated that 98 per­cent of the custorner needs for a piece of office equipment were revealed after25 hours of data collection in both focus groups and interviews, As a practicalguideline for most products, conducting fewer than 10 interviews is probablyinadequate and 50 interviews are probably too many. However, interviews can beconducted sequentially and the process can be terminated when no nc-w needsare revealed by additional interviews, Teams containing more than 1() pcoplcusuallv collect data frorn plcnty of customers simplv by involving ever;( .ue in the1,j(Jl('" FuI' ,,,-,lI"¡Jk, .. t i n u.uu is di\lllcd I¡¡,u tin ¡J<tirs ,tjHi Clcl . ¡',lir «JI1­

ducts {) interviews, the team will conduct 30 interviews in total.Needs can be identified more efficientiy by interviewing a class of customers

called lead users. According to von Hippel, lead users are custorners who experi­ence needs months or years ahead of the majority of the marketplace and standto benefit substantially from product innovations (von Hippel, 1988). These cus­tomers are particularly useful sources of data for two reasons: (1) thev are oftenable to articulare their emerging needs, because they have had to struggle withthe inadequacies of existing products, and (2) they may have airead" invented

40 PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

II

!I Retaller or 5e;vlce ILead users Users Sal~;; Outiet i Centers

r-- ! II HomeownerD 5(occaslonal use) I

- - 2 IHandy person3 10 3(frequent use)

Professional3 2 2

(heavv-dutv use)EXHIBIT 5 Customer selection matrix lar the cordless screwdriver project.

so lutions to meet their needs. By focusing a portion of the data collection effortson lead users, th e team may be abl e to identify needs which, although explicitfor lead users, are still latent for th e majority of the marketplace. Developingproducts to meet these latent needs allows a firm to anticípate trends and toleapfrog competitive products.

The choice of which customers to interview is complicated when several dif­ferent groups of people can be considered "the customer." For many products,one person (th e buyer) m akes the buying deci sion and another person (theuser) actually uses the product. A good approach is to gather data from the enduser of the product in all situations, and in cases wherc other types of customersand stakeholders are clearly important, to ga ther data from these as well.Furthermore, ifthere are multiple market segments to be addressed by th e prod­uct, it is important to gathcr data from each segment in order to understand thedifferences in th eir re spective needs.

A cus to mer sel ection matrix is use ful fo r planning explora tio n of both marketand customer vari ety. Burchill suggests that market segments be listed on the leftside of th e matrix while the different types of customers are listed across the top(Burchill e t al. , 1992) , as shown in Exhibit 5. The number of intended customercontacts is entered in each cell to indicate the depth of coverage.

ActualIy locating customers is usualIy a matter of making telephone calIs . Indeveloping industrial products within an existing manufacturing firm, a fieldsales force can often provide names of cu stomers, although the team must becarefu l abou t biasing the sclection of customcrs toward those with alIegiances toa particul ar m anufacture r . The tel ephone book can be used to identify names ofsorne types of customers for sorne classes of products (e.g., building contractorsor insurance agents) . For industrial products that are integral to a customer'sjob, getting someone to agree to an interview is usualIy simple; these customersare anxious to discuss their needs. Also , most consumers are frustrated qu ite reg­ularly by products that do not fulfilI their needs-much more often than they arebothered by surveys and interview requests.

C H A P T E R 3 : I D E N TI F YI N G C US T Oiv1 E R N EE DS 41

The Art of Eliciting Customer Needs Data

Th c tc c.hniqucs wc p resenl hcre a re a im c d primarilv .u intclv iewin i-\" e nd U,'itT S,h ut thcse m etho cls d o a p p '" l O ,d I 0 1' th e th re c d a ta -!-',a ¡h e ¡-in i-\" l1Io d es a nd 1<: ,tl!

IY¡H'S 01'sta ke h o ld crs. The b.i- ic ap p ro.rch is to h e re cc pti \'c lo iní o rmauo n pro­\'ided by c u sto m e rs .ui d I () avoi d co n rro ll ta l io n s 0 1' dcfensi ve p o stu r ing( ;a lh (T in i-\" necds d .u a is ,,'el\ d ift e rell t Irom a sak~. ca ll: th« goal is lo rlici t ; lI l

hom-st c x p rr-ssio n u f n f,'l' d s, no t lO cu n \'ÍIlCe a t'US{OIl1 l:' r o íwh:« h e o r slu : n ('< 'd s,In most cases CUSlo nHT in u -r.ut io ns will he ve r ba l; in tervi ewers as k q u estio ns .u irlthe custorne r res po n d s. A prc pa rcd in tcrview g ll iele is va lua b le 1'0 1' suuc tu ringi h is d ial o gue , Sorne h elplul q uesti ons an d pro mpts rol' u se a íte r th « int e rvi c wc-rsintroduce t h e m sc lves a u d c x p la in i he p u rpose 0 1' i h« in tc rview are :

• Walk LIS th rollgh a typ ica l sessi o n llsing rhe procluct .

• \Vh at elo vou like abo u r t h e cx isting p ro duct x?

• \Vhat do vo u d isl ikc a b o u : t h t: exisl ing p rocluc tx-

• What issuc s do yo u conside r whe n p u rc hasing the p ro duct -

• \Vhat im pro vern e u ts wou ld yo u rnake to the produ ct?

Here are so rn e ge nera l hin ts [01' cffec tive inte racti on with c u sto rn c rs:

• Co with the flow. Ir the cus to mer is provi ding in te re sting in forrn a tio n , d o notWOIT Y a b o u t con fo rrning lo th e in terv iew g uide . T h e goal is to ga ther in te r­esting a n el important elata on c ustom e r n eeds, not lo com p le te the in te r­vie w guide in thc a llotted tim e ,

• Use visual stimuli aud props. Br in g a collec tion 0 1' e xisli ng an d co m pc tiio rs 'p roducts, 0 1' even pro d uc ts th a t a re tan gcn tia lly rc la ted to the productlinde l' deve lo pmcn t. AL the e nd of a sessio n, th e interview c rs rn igh t evc nsh ow so m c pre lirn in ary product co n cep ts 10 ge t cus to rners' c a rl y reac t ionsto var io us a p p roaches.

• Suppress preconceived hypotheses about the product techllOlogy. Frequently C lIS­

torn ers will m a ke as su mptio ns a boli t the p roduc t eo ncep t th ey expe ct wouldm eet thei r need s. In these si tuatio n s, the in te rviewe rs sh ould avo id bi asin gthe eliscussion with assu m p tio n s abou t how th e p rodu c t will e ve n tua lly beelesigned 01' produ ce el. W h en cus to rne rs m enr io u specific le chnol ogi c s 01'

prorlu ct fc a tu rc-s . i h « inu-rvi cwr-r sho u ld pro be t.... r t lie- 1IlHlerlyin g n e-ed t ln :cust o rn r-r beli c\'('s t1 1(' k ; , 11IH ' \" l) l il rl s:¡l i -;f\ ',

• Have the eustomer demonstrate the product and/or typical tasks related to theproducto If the inte rvi e w is co n elucte el in the use e n viron ment , a d emonstra­tion is usually co n ven ie n t an d invariab ly reveaIs new information.

• Be alert[or surprises and the expression of latent needs. 11' a custorn e r men tio n ssomething su rp r ising, p u rsu e the le a el wi th fo llow-u p questio n s. Fre qlle nlly,an unexpeeted line oI' q u estion ing wi ll reveal latcnt ncc ds- im portan t

42 PROOUCT DESIGN ANO OEVELOPMENT

dimensions of the custorners' needs which are neither fulfilled nor corn­monly articulated and understood.

• Watch [or nonuerbal irformation. The proce~s described in the chapter isaimed at developing bettei physieal producrs. Unfortunately, words are notalways th e best \Vay to communicate needs related to the physical world.This is particularly true 01' n eeds involving the human dirnensions of theproduct, su ch as cornfort, irnage, 01' style . The developrnent tearn must beconstantly aware of the nonverbal messages provided by customers. Whatare their facial expressions? How do they hold competitors' produets?

Note that many of our snggested questions and guidelines assume that thecustomer has sorne farniliarity with products similar to the new product underdeveloprnent. This is alrnost always true. For example, even before the first cord­less screwdriver was developed, people installed fasteners. Developing an under­standing of custorner needs as they relate to the general fastening task would stillhave been beneficial in developing the first cordless tool. Similarly, understand­ing the needs of customers using other types of cordless appliances, such as elee­trie razors, would also have been useful. We can think of no product so revolu­tionary that there would be no analogous produets 01' tasks from which thedevelopment team could learn. However, in gathering needs relating to trulyrevolutionary products with which customers have no experience, the interviewquestions should be focused on the task 01' situation in which the new productwill be applied, rather than on the product itself.

Documenting Interactions with Customers

Four methods are commonly used for documenting interactions with customers:

1 Audiotape recording: Making an audiotape reeording of the interview is veryeasy. Unfortunately, transcribing the tape into text is very time-eonsuming,and it can be expensive to hire sorneonc to do it. Also, tape recording hasthe disadvantage of being intimidating to sorne customers.

2 Notes: Handwritten notes are the rnost eomrnon method of doeumcnting aninterview. Designating one pcrson as the primary notetaker allows the otherperson to concentrate on effeetive questioning. The notetaker should striveto capture sorne of th e wording of ever)' eustomer staternent verbatim.These notes , if transcriben imrnediatelv aft er the interview, can be used tocreare a description of the interview that is very close to an actual transeript.This debriefing immediateIy after the interview also facilitates sharing ofinsights between the interviewers.

3 Videotape recording: Videotape is almost always used to doeument a foeusgroup session. It is al so very useful for doeumenting observations ofthe cus­tomer in the use environment and/or using existing produets. Th~ tape isusefui for bringing new tearn rnembers "up to speed" and is also useful asraw material for presentations to upper managcment. Multiple viewings of

CI-IAPTER 3 ' I DE N TI FY I NG CU8TOM E R N E El' S 43

a vid eo tape of r ustome rs in acti on une n Iar ilita te rh e id eruification ofIaic nt c llslo m e r ne, 'd s, \'ideolaping is ¡!Iso lI SC [u I for t:aptlll in~ man yaspe cts of th e crid u scr's c nvi r o n mcn t,

4 Still pllOtog1"!lpÍly: T ;lking slides 0 1' photograph-, provid cs ~lany o í" t hc ben c­filS 0 1 \ it!CUI"pc IT co ¡"(ling , Thc pri mary ,\C h'¡Ullages (,1' still p!1otugraph y arecase o f di spl av o f t hc: photo s, excellern image q uality, a nd r ead ily avai la b le­cqlliplncnl. The priuuuv disacl\'al1ta ge is ¡he rcla tiv« iuability to recorddvnamic informatiou .

T he fin al result 0 1' rh c daia-gathcring phase of th e pro ce ss is a se t of raw d ata,usu all y in thc form u f custo rn c r suucments hut freq uen tly supplemented byvideo ta pe 01' phol ograph s, A d ata templare implcmeuted with a sp readshee tsoftw are package is u sefu l 1'01' o rga n izin g th cse raw data . Exhibir 6 shows anexample of a portion 01' such a templare. v\'e rcconnuend that th e template befilled in as soon as possibl« afte r the interact ion wit h the cusiorn cr a n d c di ted byth e o ther d evelopmen t tc.uu m embers present during th c interaction . The firstcolumn in th e main body 01'the templare indicates the question or prompt thateli cited th e cus to mer d ata . Th e se co n d co lu m n is a list o f ve rba tim st a ternentsthe custo rne r made 01' a n observation o f a custorncr actio n (frorn a videotape orfrom direct observation ) . The third colu m n co n ta in s the custo rne r need impliedby the raw data . Some e m p has is should be pl aced o n in vestigating clues whichmay identify potential late nt n ecds, Such clues may be in th e forrn of humorousremarks, less serious su ggestions, nonverbal inforrnation , 01' o bse rva tio n s andd es criptions of th e use e nviron m c n t. Techniques íor interpreting the raw datain terms of custo mer n e ecls are g i\'e n in the n ext se ctiou .

The fin al task in step 2 is ro write tha n k-you notes to th e customers involvedin th e pro cess . Invariablv, th e tc am will ne ed to so licit further cus to rne r infor­mation , so devel oping a nd maintaining a good rapport with a set of users isimportant.

STEP 3: INTERPRET RAW DATA IN TERMS OF CUSTOMER NEEDS

Customer needs a re expressed as written staternents an d are the result of inter­preting th e need underlying the raw data gathe red frorn the custorners. Eachsta rement 01' observatiou (as list ed in tlre- second colu rn n o f the d ata template )m ay be translated into Iro rn zero 10 seve ra l cus to m er needs. Griflin and Hauserf " I I I HI tlL 11 mult ipl. : ; \l ¡ ; I! : ' h 11'; llhb l l' 111<.' <.uu«: i l li l '!'\i( ' \ \ ' 11o l ( ' s in to d ill c l l'n ln eeds, so it is useful to have m ore than one team member co n d ucti n g th e trans­lation process. Below we provide five guidelines for writing need statements. Thefirst two gllidelines are fundamental and are critical to effective translation; theremaining three guidelines ensure consistency of phrasing and style among teammernbers, Exhibit 7 provides exarnp les to iIlu strate each guideline.

• Express tite need in terms of what the product has to do, not in terms of how itmight do it. Customers ~ften express their preferertces by describing a solu-

44 PRODUCT DE SIGN AND DEVE L OPMEN T

Cn, ..srnan Model A38

Interviewer(s): Jonathan and LisaDate: 19 December 1994

CUirenily uses:f

Bill Esposito10C Memorial OriveCambridqe, MA 02139617- 864 -1274

Customer:Address:

Telephone:Willing to do Type o user: uilding rnaintenance

follow-up? ves

Qucstion/Prompt Customer Statement Interpreted Need

Typi cai uses I need to drive screws fast, The SO dr ives screws faster i

faster lhan by hand . lhan by hand .

I sometimes do ducl work; use The SO drives sheet metalsheel metal screws. screws into metal duct work.

A 101 of eleclrical: switch covers, The SO can be used laroutlets , fans, kilchen appliances. screws on eleclrical devices.

Likes-currenl tool I like lhe pistol grip; it leels the The SO is comfortable to grip.bes!. II like lhe magnetized lip . The SO lip reta ins lhe screw

Ibelore JI is driven,

Oislikes-currenl 1001 I don 't Iike il when lhe tip slips The SO lip remains aligned Ioff the screw. wilh lhe screw head wíthout :

slipping.

I would like lo be able lo lock il The user can apply torqueso I can use il wilh a dead manually lo lhe SO lo drive a !battery. screw.

I

Can 't drive screws into hard The SO can drive screws into Iwood. hard wood. i

Som etimes I strip tough screws. The SO does not slrip screw¡.heads ,

Suggested An attachment to allow me to The SO can access screws at Iimprovements reach down skinny hales . the end al deep, narrow hales. l'

A point so lean scrape paint off Th e SO allows the user toI

al screws. work with screws that have

ibeen pa inled ove r.

Wou ld be nice jI it cou ld punch The SO can be used to creale \a pilot hale. a pilol hale.

EXHIBIT 6 Customer data template filled in with sample customer statements and interpreted needs. SO isan abbreviation lar screwdriver. (Note thal this template represents a part ial Iist lrom a singleinterview. A typ ical interview session may elicit more than 50 customer statemenls and ínter­preted needs.)

CHAPTER 3: IDENTIFYING CIJSTOMER N!::EDS 45

Guideline Customer Statement Need Statement-Right Need Statement--Wrong

"What" not "how' "Why don't you pul The screwdriver battery is The screwdriver batteryprotective snields around Ihe protected trorn accidental contacte are covered by abaítery contacís?' shortinq. piastic slidíng door.

speclñclty "1 drop my screwdriver ail TI:8 screwdriver operales The screwdriver is rugged.Ihe time" normally atter repealed

droppinq.

Positive not "il doesn't matter il it's The screwdriver operales The screwdriver is nolnegative raining, I slill need lo work normally in Ihe rain. disabled by Ihe rain.

outside on Salurdays."

An attribute of the "l'd Iike lo charge my battery The screwdriver battery can An automobile cigaretteproduct trom my cigarette lighler." be charged frorn an lighler adapler can charge

autornobile cigarette lighler. Ihe screwdriver battery.

Avoid "must" and "1 hale it when I don't know The screwdriver provides an The screwdriver should"should" how much juice is left in Ihe indicalion 01 Ihe energy level provide an indication 01Ihe

batteries 01 my cordless 01 Ihe battery. energy level 01 Ihe battery.lools."

EXHIBIT 7 Examples illustratinq the guidelines lar wriling need statements.

tion concept 01' an implementation approach; however, the need statementshould be expressed in terms independent of a particular technologicalsolution .

• Express the need as specifically as the raw data. Needs can be expressed atmany different levels of detail. To avoid loss of information, express theneed at the same level of detail as the raw data.

• Use positive, not negative, phrasing. Subsequent translation of a need into aproduct specification is easier if the need is expressed as a positive state­mento This is pot a rigid guideline, because sometimes positive phrasing isdifficult and awkward. For example, one of the need statements in Exhibit6 is "the screwdriver does not strip screw heads." This need is more natu­rally expressed in a negative formo

• Express the need as an attribute of the producto Wording needs as statementsabout the product ensures consistency and facilitates subsequent transla­tion into product specifications. Not all needs can he cleanlv expressed asauributes of the product, however, and in most 01 these cases the needs canbe expressed as attributes of the user of the product (e.g., "the user canapply torque manually to the screwdriver to drive a screw") .

• Avoid the words must and should. The words must and should imply a level ofimportance for the need. Rather than casually assigning a binary impor­tance rating (must versus should) to the needs at this point, we recommenddeferring the assessment of the importance of each need until step 5.

46 PRODUCT DFSIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

The !ist of custorner needs is the superset of all thc needs elicitee! frorn all theinterviewed customcrs in th e target marke t. Sorne of th ese needs müy be con­tradictory. Sorne needs may not be technologically realizable. The co ns train ts ofte ch n ical a nd ecunumic feasibility are inc. 'po ra ted into the pruccss of estab­lishing product specifica tio ns in subsequen t developmeru stcps. (See the chap­ter "Esta blish in g Product Specifica tions." )

STEP 4: ORGANIZE THE NEEDS INTO A HIERARCHY

The result of ste ps 1 through 3 shou ld be a list of 50 to 300 n eed statements.Such a la rge number of detailed needs is awkward to work with and difficult tosu m marize for u se in subsequ en t development activities, The goal of step 4 is too rgan ize these needs into a hierarchical list, The list will typically consist of a setuf primary needs, eac h on e of whi ch will be furth er characterized by a set uf sec­o nda ry needs. In cas es of very co m plex products, the secondary needs may bebroken down into tertiary needs as weIl . The primary needs are the most gener­al needs, while the secondary and tertiary needs express needs in more d e ta il.Exhibit 8 shows the resulting hierarchical list of needs for the screwdriver exam­pIe . For th e scrcwdriver, there are 15 primary needs and 49 secondary needs.Note that two of the primary needs have no associated seco n d ary needs.

The procedure for organizing the needs in to a hierarchical list is intuitive ,a nd many teams can successfu lly comple te th e task without detailed instructions.For cornp le te n ess, we provide a step-by-step procedure here. This activity is bestperformed on a large table by a group of six 01' fewer team mernbers.

1 Print or write each need statement on a separate card or selfstick note. (A printmacro can be easily written to print th e need statements directl y frorn th edata template. A nice feature of thi s approach is that the need can be print­ed in a large font in the center of the card and then the original custornerstatement and other relevant information can be printed in a smaIl font atthe bottom of th e card for easy reference. Four "cards " can be cut frorn astandard printed sh ee t.)

2 Eliminate redundant statements. Those cards expressing redundant needstatements can be stapled together and treated as a single cardo Be carefulto consolida te only th ose staternents th at are identical in meaning.

3 Group the cards according to the similarity ofthe needs they exprese. At this point,ihc team sh ould ~lLtempt to crea re groups uf roughly th ree tu sevcn cardsthat express similar needs. The logic by which groups are created deservesspecial attention. Novice development teams often create groups accordingto a technological perspective, c1ustering needs relating to, for example,rnaterials, packaging, or power. 01', they create groups according toassumed physical components such as enclosure, bits, switch, and battery.Bo th of th ese approaches are dangerous. RecaIl that the goal of the processis to creare a description of the needs of the customer. For this reason, thegroupings should be con sisten t with the way customers think about their

CHAPTER 3: IDENTIFYING CU STOM~R NEE D S 47

The SO provides plenty of power to drlve screws.3 l ile SO maintains power tor severa l hours 01 heavy

use3 Trie sr) can drive s 3'1.'S into hardwood.

The SD drives sheet metal screws into metal duc lwork.

The SO drives screws Iaster than by hand.

The SO makes it easy to start a s::rew.3 l he SO reta ins the screw bele re it is driven.3 The SO can be used to create a pilot hale.

The SO works with a variety of screws.4 The SO can lu rn ohillips, torx, socket, and hex

head screws.4 l he SO can turn rnany sizes 01 screws .

The SD can access most screws.Tne SO can be maneuvered in lighl areas .

4 The SO can access screws al the end 01 deep,narrow holes.

The SO turns screws that are in poor condition.The SO can be used lo remove grease and dirt lrom

screws .The SO allows the user lo wark wilh painled sc rews.

The SO feels good in the user's hand.The SO is comlortable when the use r pushes on it.The SO is comlortable when the use r resists

Iwisl ing .The SO is balanced in Ihe user's hand.The SO is equally easy lo use in righl or left hands.The SO we ighl is jusI righ!.

2 The SO is warm to touch in cold wealher.lhe SO rema ips comlortable when left in Ihe sun.

The SO is easy to control while turning screws.The user can easily push on the SO.The user can eas ily resist the SO twisting .

2 The SO can be locked "on."4 The SO speed can be con trolled by the user while

turning a screw.The SO rema ins aligned with the screw head

without slipping.The user can easily see where the screw is.The SO does not strip screw heads.The SO is easi ly reve rsible.

The SO is easy to set-up and use.The SO is easy to turn en .i he SD prevente inadvcrtent swilcn ing ol f.

3 The máx imum torqu e 01 tn« SO can be set bylhe user.

Th8 SD provides ready access to bits oraccess ories .

The SO can be attached to the user la r lemporaryslorage.

The SO power is convenient.The SO is easy to reeharge .

3 The SO can be used while recharging.5 lhe SO recharges quickly.2 The SO batteries are ready to use when new .

The user can apply torque manually lo lhe SO lodrive a screw.

The SO lasts a long time.The SO tip survives heavy use.

2 The SO can be hammered.The SO can be dropped Irom a ladder witho ul

damage.

The SO is easy to store.The SO l its in a toolbox easily.The SO can be charged whil e in storage.

2 The SO resists corrosion when left outside or indamp places .

3 The SO maintains its charge afte r long periods01 storage.

The SO maintains its charge when we!.

The SO prevents damage to the work.The SO prevenls damage lo the screw head .The SO prevenls scral ching 01 l inished surlaces.

3 The SO has a pleasant sound when in use.

The SO looks Iike a professional quallty tool.

The SO is safe.The SO can be used on electrical dev ices.The SO do es not cut Ihe user 's hands.

EXHIBIT 8 Hierareh icallist 01primary and seeondary customer needs lor the eordless screwdriver. Impor­tance ral ings are shown lar some 01Ihe needs (using the rank ing seheme given in Exhibil 9).

necds and not with th e way th e developmen t team thinks about the prod­uct. Thc groups sh ou ld correspond to n ecds customers would vicw as sirni­lar. In fact, sorne p ractitioners argue that cus to mers sh ou ld be th e ones toorgan ize the n eed staterne nts.

48 PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVEI.OPMENT

4 For each group, choosea label. The label is itself a statement of need that gen­eralizes all of the needs in the group. It can be selected frorn one of theneeds in lhe group, 01' lile team can write a new need statement.

:> e .nsider creating "supergroups" consisting of tuio to five groups. If there arefewer than 20 grOLlps, ihen a two-level hierarchy is probablv snfficicnt loo rganize the dala. In this case, the group labels are primal)' needs ami thegrcmp ruernbers are seconrlary needs. However, if there are more than 20groups, th e team may co nsid er creating sllpergroups, and therefore a thirdlevel in the hierarchy. The process of creating supergroups is identical lothe process of creating grollps. As with the previous stcp, cluster groupsaccording lo similarity of th e need they express and then crea re or select asupergroup labe!. These sllpergroup labels become the primary needs, thegroup labels become the secondary needs, and the mernbers of the grollpsbecome tertiary needs.

6 Review ami edil the organized needs statements. The arrangement of needs ina hierarchy is not unique in terrns of being "correct." Al this poinl, the teammay wish to consider alternative groupings or labels.

STEP 5: ESTABLlSH THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE NEEDS

The hierarchical list of needs does not provide any information on the relativeimportance that customers place on different needs. Yet the development teamwill have lo make trade-offs and allocate resources in designing the product. Asense of the relative importance of the various needs is essential to making thesetrade-offs correctIy. Step 5 in the needs process establishes the relative impar­tance of the customer needs identified in steps 1 through 4. The outeome of thisstep is a numerical importanee weighting for a subset of the needs. There arelWO basic approaches to the task: (1) relying on the consensus of the team mem­bers based on their experience with customers, or (2) basing the importaneeassessment on further customer surveys. The obvious trade-off between the twoapproaches is cost versus accuracy: the team can make an educated assessmentof the relative importance of the needs in one meeting, while a customer surveytakes a minimum of two weeks and more realistically one or two months. In gen­e ral, we believe the custo rne r survey is important and worth the time required loeom p le te it. Other development tasks, such as concept generation and analysisof co rnpe titive products, can hcgin before the relativc importan ce survevs arecomplete.

The team should at this point have developed a rapport with a group of CllS­tomers. These same customers can be surveyed to rate the relative importance ofthe needs. The survey can be done in person, by telephone, or by mai!. Few CllS­tomers will respond to a survey asking them to evaluate the importance of 100needs, so typically the team will work with only a subset of the needs. A practicallimit on how many needs can be addressed in a customer survey is 20 to 30 . Thislimitation is not too severe, however, becausc many of the needs are either obvi-

CHAPTER 3 : í D E N T I FY I NG C U S T O ME R NEED S 49

Cordless Screwdriver Survey

Fc r eac h 01 lh~ íol lowi: I g :~rcles :; screwdriver teatures. please indicats en ~ scale 01 I lo 5 hQWimportan: the ts ature is lO YOIJ. h ease use the lo llcwi ng sca!e:

1. Feature is undesirab le. I would not ccnside r 3 produ ct with this lealure.

2. Fealure is nol irnportant , but I would not rnmd havin q it

3. Feature would be nice lo have, bul is nol uec essar y.

4. Fealure is highly desirable, but I would consider a product without it.

5. Fea!ure is critica! I would no! co nside r a product wilhout th is le ature.

_ _ _ _ Th e screwdriver can drive sc rews into ha rdwo od.

___ _ The screwdrive r can turn phillips , torx, soc ket, and hex head screws .

___ _ The sc rewd river can acce ss screws al lhe end 01dee p, narrow holes.

And so forth.

EXHIBIT 9 Example importance survey (partial).

o us ly irnportant (e .g ., th e usc r ca n easily se e wh ere the screw is) o r a re eas)' loim p le rnent (e .g. , thc sc rewd rive r prevcnts in advertent switc h in g o ff) . The te amca n therefo re lirni t th e scope o f the su l've)' by o n ly querying customers abou tn e ecls th at a re likely lo give rise to d ifficult te chnological trade-offs o r costly fe a­tu res in th e p roduc t d esigno Such n eeds wo u lcl inclucle th e ne ed lO val')' speed,th e n cecl lO drive sc rcws in to hardwood , and th e nced lo have rhe sc re wd ri ve rc rn it a pl easant souncl . Alterna tively th e team co u lcl c1evel op a se t 01' sul'v eys loas k a va riety 0 1' cus io mers each about d iffere n t su bse ts 0 1' th e needs list. Therea re many su rvey e1esigns fo r cs tablishi ng th e rel ativ e im po rtan ce 01' custo m e rne ecls. One go od c1esign is illu strated by the portion of the corclless screwdriversu rve y shown in Exhibit 9.

The su rve y responses for each ne ed sta te rne n t ca n be cha racte r ized in a vari­e ty of ways: by the m ean, by sta nd a rd dcvia tio n , o r by th e numbe r 0 1' re sp o n se sin each ca tegory. The responses ca n then be use el lo ass ign an importancewe ighling lo th e need sta te me n ts. T h e sa m e scale o f 1 lo 5 ca n be used lO SU Ill­

m arize th e irnportancc elata , So rn e ofrhe nceds in Exhibir Hare wci ghted ac cord­in g lo th c su rvev d at a .

srEP 6: REFLECT ON THE RESULTS AND THE PROCESS

The final ste p in the methodology is to refl ect on the resu lts ancl the pro cess.While the process o f id entifying customer needs ca n b e usefully structu red, it isn ot a sci ence. The team must continually challenge its results to vcrify that theyare consistent with the knowledge and intuition the team has devel oped th roughmany hours a l' inte racti on with custo rne rs . Some que sti ons lo ask include:

SUMMARV

SO P ROOUCT OESIGN ANO OEVELOPMENT

• H ave we interact ed with aIl o f the important typt:s o f cus tomers in o ur tar­ge t ma rk e t?

• Ar e we able to see beY011d needs related on!y to ex isting products in o rderto ca p lm-e the Iatent n e c ','; of o ur target c us tornc rs?

• Ar e th ere al eas of in q u iry we sh ould pursue in Iollow-up interviews o l' su r­veys?

• Wh ich o f the custo m e rs we spoke to would be good participants in o u r o n­going developmen t efforts?

• Wh at d o we know I ~ OW th at we didn ' t kn ow when we sta r ted? Are we su r­prised by a ny of th e n eeds?

• Did we in vol ve everyo ne within our own o rg ani za tion who needs to d eeplyunderstand custorner needs?

• H ow might we irnprove the p ro cess in futu re c fforts?

Id entifying custome r n eeds is an integral pan ofthe co ncep t d evel opment phaseof the product development process. The resulting cus to mer n eeds are us ed togu idc the team in estab lish ing product specificatio ns , ge ncra ti ng product co n­ce pts, and sc1ec ting a p roduct concep t for further d evel opment.

• The process of identifying customcr n eeds inc1udes six steps:1 Define the sco pe of the product development e ffo r t,2 Ga ther raw d ata fro m customers.3 Interpret the raw dala in terms 01" customer needs,4 O rgan ize th e n ecds into a hi era rchy of prirnary , secon dary, a n d tertiary

n eeds.5 Establish the relative importancc of the needs.6 Reflect on the results and the process.

• Creating a high-quality in fo rm atio n channc1 fr om cu sto m e rs to the productdevelopers ensures that those who directly control the details of the prod­uct, inc1uding the product designers, fuIl y understand the needs o f the cus­tomer.

• Lead users a re a good so u rce of custo mer n eeds bec ause th ey experienceIH'W n ccds m o nt h s or ye ars uh c .id o f t he hulk o f th« m arkctplacc a ndbecause they stand lo benefit substantially from n ew product innovations.Furthermore , they are frequently able to articulate their needs more clear­ly than typical cu sto mers.

• Latent needs are fr equently as important as explicit n eeds in determiningcus to mer satisfaction. Latent needs are those that many customers recog­n ize as important in a final product but d o not or are not able to articu la tein advan ce .

CHAPTER 3: IDENT IFYING CUSTOMER NEI::DS 51

• Cus tn m e r n eeds should h e exp ressed in tcrms of wh at th e produc t h as todo, not in terms o f how rh c p roduct mi ght he implernented . Ad hcrcncc tothi s principle lcaves rhe dcvel opment team with maxirnurn ílexibili ty to ~en ­

U " ·c a n d scl cct produrt co n ccp ts.

~ T he key bencfi ts of th e m ethodology are: e ns uring that th c pi oducr isíocused on custorn e r nceds a n o th a l no critica ! cu siomcr ueed is fo rgoueu :d evcloping a c lca r understanding alilong m cuibcrs 0 1" th e dcvclopmerutc am 01" the n ecds of the c us to mcrs in th e largel marke t: d eveloping a factbas e to be us ed in generatin g co n ce p ts, sel e cting a product concept, a n des ta b lish in g p roduct spccificati ons; and crca tin g an archiva] record of th en eeds phase o f th e developm cnt process.

REFERENCE5 AND BIBLlOGRAPHY

Con cept ('//gi l/f'ering IS a methodol ogy devel oped by rh e Ce nter for QualityManag crn cnt. This chap te r benefits frorn our observations of th e development an dapplicariou of concepl engineering. For a complet e and detailed description of con­cept e ngine e ring , see:

Burehill, Gary, et al., Concept Engineering: Th e Key to Operationall» Defining YourCustomer's Requ irements, Cerner for Quality Managernent, Cam b r id ge, MA,Document No. 71, September 1992 .

The research by Griffin and Hauser is only one of th e rigorous effo rts to validate dif­ferent methods fo r extrac ting n eeds from interview data. Their study of the fra ctionof n eeds id entified as a furiction o f th e nurnber of cus tom ers intervi ewed is particu­larly interesting.

Gr iffin , Abbie , and John R. Hauser, "The Voice of th e Cus to mer," MarketingScien re, Vol. 12 , No . 1, Winter 1993 .

Kinnear and T aylo r th oroughly di scuss data colle cti on methods and survey design in:

Kinnear, Thomas e., and j am es R. Taylor, Marketing Research: An Applied Approach,MeGraw-HiU, New York, NY, 1991. ISBN 0-07-0 34757-3.

Payne 's book is a d etailcd and interesting discussion of how to pose questions in su r­veys.

Payne, Stanley L. , The A ,.t o/ A sking QlII'StiOIlS, Princeton U n iversity Press,Princet on , N.T, 1951.

T or al qualirv man agenwnl (T Q\f) p rovidr-s a valua b le- pe-rspr-cr iv« on ho\\" id enrifv­ing cus to mer needs fits into an overall cí fo rt LO improve the quality of gaods and se r­VIces .

Shiba, Shoji, Ajan Craham, and David Walden, A NeioAmmcan TQM: Four Pra cticalReuolutions in Management, Produetivity Press, Cambridge, MA, and T he Center forQuality Managernent, Cambridge , MA, 1993. ISBN 1-56327-032-3.

Urban an d Hauser provide a thorough discussion of how to ereate hierarehies ofneeds (along with many other tapies) .

52 PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

Urban, Cien L., andjohn R. Hauser, Design and Marketing o/Neui Products, seconded itio n , Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993. ISBN 0-13-201567-6.

\'on Hippei describes many years of research on the role of lead users in innovaiion.He provides uscíul guideiines for idcntifying' lead users.

vo n Hippel, Eri «, The Sources o/Innouation, Oxíord University Prcss, Nev..York , NY,i 988. ISBN 0-19-504085-6.

EXERCISES

Translate the following customer statements about a stu d en t book bag into prop­e r n eeds statements:a "See how the leather on the bottom of the bag is all scratched; it's ugly."b "Wh en I'm standing in line at the cashier trying to find my checkbook while

balancing my bag on my kn ee, I feel lik e a sto rk."e "T his bag is my life ; ifl lose it I'm in big trouble."d "Theres nothing worse than a banana that's been sq uished by the edge ofa

textbook. "e "1 never use both straps on my knapsack; 1just sling it over one shoulder."

2 Using a camera, document user frustration with an everyday task of your ownchoice.

3 Choose a product that continually annoys you. Identify the needs the developersof this product missed. Why do you think these needs were not met? Do you thinkthe developers deliberately ignored these needs?

THOUGHT aUESTIONS

1 How would the needs methodology cha nge if a development team wished to pur­sue two very different market segments with the same product?

2 One of the reasons the methodology is effective is that it involves the entire devel­opment team. Un fo rtu nately, the m eth odology can beeome unwieldy with a teamof more than six people. How might yo u modify the methodology to maximizeinvolvement yet maintain a focused and decisive effort given a development teamof 12 or more people?

3 Can the process of identifying customer needs lead to the creation of innovativeproduet eoncepts? In what ways? Could a struetured process of identifying cus­torner needs lead to a fundamentalIy new product concept lik e the Post-It note?