Building in the User-Lecture Notes

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Senior Design Seminar
Building the User into the Development Cycle
John A. Bers Associate Professor of the
Practice Management of Technology Program Nov. 5,
2003 Vanderbilt University School of Engineering
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What things dont we know about our new product?

• Performance Can our product do what we claim?
• Applications What will customers use it for?
• Market Awareness/Interest Do they care?
• Receptiveness Will they accept it?
• Preference Will they prefer it to the
  competition?
• Features What do customers want from our
  product?
• Pricing How much are they willing to pay for
  it?
• Compatibility Will it fit in with the users
  operations?
• Impact What effects will it have on the users
  business?
• Reliability Will our product hold up in the
  field?
• Support What will it take to support our
  product?
• Timing When will our product take off?

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Design as an Iterative Process

• A conversation between developer and user.

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The user as a partner and a resource
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What Can You Learn from User Surveys?
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What You ProbablyCant Learn from Surveys

• Motivations - Why they feel and act as they do
• Underlying customer business processes
• Future Behavior
• intentions and plans
• behavior expected to depart radically from the
  past

Beware the question starting with Would !
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Rapid Prototyping

• Frequent, low-risk market incursions
• use product itself as a market probe
• listen, observe market reaction
• vary, recalibrate the product
• shoot again

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What you can gain from observation and controlled
trials

• Actual usage experience that cannot be captured
  by any other method
• Minimize/address surprises
• Impacts on the users business
• compatibility with existing operations
• unanticipated side effects
• measurable business and financial impacts
• User input/involvement in the design cycle

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Implementing Rapid Prototyping

• Target lead users (early adopters, innovators)

Pre- Launch
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The best prospect for user-innovatorthe Lead
User

• faces needs today that the general market wont
  face for months or years
• is able to benefit significantly from a solution
  to those needs
• may be an industry opinion leader
• (disproportionate influence)
• culture open to new technology

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Examples of Lead Users...

• Technology/Industry
• Textiles
• Financial Services
• Composites
• Parallel Processing
• Retailing Systems
• Medical Diagnostics
• Law Enforcement

• Lead User
• Milliken
• Citicorp
• Air Force
• Oil Industry
• Wal-Mart
• Teaching Hospitals
• FBI

Best lead user may be outside your industry.
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Implementing Rapid Prototyping

• Target lead users
• Involve potential users early in the development
  cycle
• Make product easy for users to try out
• Start with peripheral or minor applications
  (reduce adoption risk)

Pre- Launch
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Implementing Rapid Prototyping

• Target lead users
• Involve potential users early in the development
  cycle
• Make product easy for users to try out
• Start with peripheral or minor applications

Pre- Launch
Post- Launch

• Design product for user to modify.
• Encourage users to share their results with you.

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Instrumenting the Site

• Variables to be measured during the trial
• Usage parameters
• Who, how, how much
• Results
• Problems (surprises)
• Business Impact
• Fit within the operations
• Impact on the business (ROI)
• Ancillary Needs
• Related unmet needs
• Opportunities for new products, extensions

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Example of User-guided DesignThe HP Network
Advisor
Users need more data, reports
Help my users recover from crashes
Result HP Network Advisor
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Exercise Taking Palm to the Factory Floor

• Product Objective
• Real-time tracking of work-in-process, raw
  materials, components, inventory
• Business Objective
• Catch defects, flag component shortages, keep
  supply chain taught
• Assignment
• What would you want to learn from prospective
  users?
• How would you find it out?

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Benefits of User Involvement

• Helps establish design objectives
• The who-what-when of the target market
• Guides design tradeoffs
• e.g., price vs. features vs. performance
• Stimulates discovery of new directions and
  opportunities
• e.g., features, new applications, unsolved
  problems
• Lets you home-in faster on what market will buy.

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A Spring 04 course to considerMT242 Technology
Marketinghttp//mot.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/marketing
/

• If youre interested in working for a company
  that is working in the field of your design
  project
• If you intend to take the project to market
• If you want to develop and refine your skill sets
  in analyzing technology markets and developing
  market strategies
• You may use the marketing course project to
  develop a market analysis and plan for your
  senior design project.
• Only one team member need enroll.