What users need

1. What users need

2. INTRODUCTION • Innovation…satisfying new or unrecognized needs • What are needs?…something missing • How are needs expressed?…through explicit and implicit stories • How are needs addressed?…through utility, usability and meaning

3. NEEDS DEFINITION Definition of need

4. Self-Actualization Esteem Social Safety Physiology NEEDS DEFINITION The Theory of Basic Needs • Physiological (hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, etc.) • Safety (security, protection from physical and emotional harm) • Social (affection, belonging, acceptance, friendship) • Esteem (also called ego) - internal: self respect, autonomy, status, recognition & attention • Self Actualization (seeking fulfillment for self and giving to others) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

5. NEEDS DEFINITION A characteristic, according to Maslow, may be considered a basic need if it meets the following conditions: • Its absence breeds illness • Its presence prevents illness • Its restoration cures illness • Under certain, very complex, free-choice situations, it is preferred by the deprived person over other satisfactions. • It is found to be inactive, at a low ebb, or functionally absent in the healthy person

6. NEEDS DEFINITION Needs are not fixed but move and shift in concert with our rapidly changing culture. “Needs represent unmet opportunity” Peter Drucker

7. NEEDS DEFINITION “Needs are created by change” Peter Drucker 7 Symptoms of Change 4 within the organization 3 from the outside world

8. NEEDS DEFINITION Seven Symptoms of Change Internal • The unexpected success that is gratefully received but rarely dissected to see why it occurred. • The incongruity between what actually happens and what was supposed to happen. • The inadequacy in an underlying process that is taken for granted. • The changes in industry of market structure that catch everyone by surprise.

9. NEEDS DEFINITION Seven Symptoms of Change External • The demographic changes caused by wars, medical improvements and even superstition. • The changes in perception, mood and fashion brought on by the ups and downs of the economy. • The changes in awareness caused by new knowledge.

10. NEEDS DEFINITION Our working definition: Need— something missing Needfinding— looking for clues to identify that missing something.

11. NEEDS Definition • Needfinding is a paradoxical activity • What is sought is a circumstance where something is missing • In order to find and articulate a need, this missing something must be seen and recognized by someone • What comes first? The need or its solution?

12. NEEDS DEFINITION Needfinding involves both needs and recognition - seeing something that did not previously exist

13. NEEDS DEFINITION Needs vs. Want Are Need and Want different experiences, the same thing, or part of a continuum?

14. Methodology for identifying needs • Aims • Ensure that the product is focused on user needs • Identify latent or hidden needs as well as explicit needs • Provide a fact base for justifying the product specifications • Create an archival record of the needs activity of the development process • Ensure that no critical user need is missed or forgotten • Develop a common understanding of user needs among the development team members

15. Steps • Define the scope of the product. This is written into your project brief. • Gather raw data from users. • Interpret the raw data in terms of user needs. • Organise the needs into a hierarchy if necessary. • Establish the relative importance of the needs. • Reflect on the results and the process.

16. Step 1: Scope the project • Write the design brief

17. Step 2: Gather raw data (1) • Interviews • Focus groups • Observing the product in use

18. Step 2: Gather raw data (2) • Audiotape recording • Notes • Videotape recording • Still photography

19. Step 3: Gather raw data (3)

20. Step 3: Interpret raw data • Express the need in terms of what the product has to do, not in terms of how to do it • Express the needs as specifically as the raw data • Use positive, not negative phrasing • Express the need as an attribute of the product • Avoid the words must and should

21. Step 4: Organise into a hierarchy • You may find redundant need statements. Group them together according to similarity of the needs they express. • Decide, based on the product goals, which needs are • critical (must haves) • linear satisfiers (product is better if the need is better) • delighters (emotional) • nice to have

22. Step 5: Reflect • Did we capture latent needs or only obvious ones our competitors will find? • Have we interacted with all important users? • Are these needs we can readily address? • What new needs did we discover? • Does the data make sense?

23. NEEDS EXPRESS AND ADDRESS Why Address Culture? “Successful products are more than just a bunch of technical solutions. They are also bundles of cultural solutions. Successful products, unlike inventions, succeed because they understand the values, institutional arrangements, and economic notions of that culture.” W. Bernard Carlson Cultural Historian Utility

24. NEEDS Express and Address Elements of Culture Culture is… …the way a group of people give meaning to the world around them.

25. NEEDS Express and Address Elements of Culture Culture is… …how people solve problems.

26. NEEDS Express and Address Elements of Culture Culture is… …what defines peoples’ realities and structures the way in which they think and act.

27. NEEDS Express and Address Elements of Culture Stories... …organize our experiences and make them memorable. …are the means by which culture is communicated, maintained and changed. …are the way we communicate needs.

28. NEEDS Express and Address Elements of Culture “The fact that we can all listen to Walkmans and eat hamburgers tells u that there are some novel products that can be sold on a universal message, but it does not tell [us] what eating hamburgers or listening to Walkmans means to different cultures.” Fons Trompenaars

29. NEEDS Express and Address Elements of Culture “Dining at McDonald’s is a show of status in Moscow, where in New York it is a fast meal for a fast buck.” Fons Trompenaars

30. NEEDS Express and Address Materializing of Culture • Products directly address our needs • Products define our culture and are defined by our culture

31. NEEDS Express and Address Video: Reckitt and Coleman

32. NEEDS EXPRESS AND ADDRESS Products stories which our culture tells to address new needs Were these needs obvious? As a project manager would you have supported them? • Tamagotchi • Disposable camera • Bottled Water • New Beetle

33. So how do I connect anyhow?You'll notice a heart shaped icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen use the 'A' button to get to this icon. Face your Tamagotchi head-to-head with your friends Tamagtochi and then press the 'B' button twice (this may take a little practice to get right). Once you're connected, your Tamagotchi will automatically play games or visit the other Tamagotchi to leave presents. There are two games which your Tamagotchi can play and win depending on the level of training and overall happiness it has. NEEDS Express and Address Tamagotchi

34. NEEDS Express and Address Disposable Camera

35. NEEDS Express and Address Bottled Water

36. NEEDS Express and Address New Beetle

37. PROCESS Turning cultural stories and needs into innovative products, services and communication Consumer trending Cultural Studies Anthropology & ethnography Discovery- collect dues Synthesis- identify new meaning Realization- make meaning tangible through utility and usability Semiology

38. SUMMARY • Innovation…satisfying new or unrecognized needs • What are needs?…something missing • How are needs expressed?…through explicit and implicit stories • How are needs addressed?…through utility, usability and meaning

39. Credits • Slides 1-13 and 23-38 from GVO. • Slides 14-22 based on Product Design and Development by Karl T Ulrich and Steven D Eppinger, Chapter 3.