pmnerds Workshops version 1.3 Product innovation for customer satisfaction Contents Overview...2 Market Sensing...3 Problem Definition...5 Feature Definition...8 Requirement Definition...11 Workshop Deliverables...14 Index...17 Workshop Description 1 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Overview Through this workshop, attendees will learn a systematic team approach to product innovation that is repeatable, defendable, and maintainable. Many times the organizations product innovation effectiveness is heavily dependent upon the capabilities of team members and their heroics. When team members change or a team is newly formed, the results are hard to predict and the ramp up time for members is very large. As buyers are demanding increasingly more product capabilities and interaction among products, product-lines are becoming harder to manage. The need to standardize process and centralize data to leverage enterprise, customer, and market information and assets has dramatically increased the need for better visibility and communication, not only between product innovation team members, but across other internal and external stakeholders as well. By leveraging leading practices in change adoption and our patented deployment process, our workshops help transform ad hoc communities into formalized communities of practice that support continuous innovation thru tightly integrated learning & innovating practices. The product innovation workshop educates attendees on practices, provides skills mentoring, and performance coaching around the following activities: market sensing, problem definition, feature definition, and requirement definition. The product innovation methods in this workshop are gated continuous processes that can support waterfall, agile, iterative, and spiral methodologies. These methods have hooks for more robust methods, which can be used to break process constraints of the product innovation team. Members of the product innovation team who will be directly responsible for or involved in creating or managing the specific product innovation assets of market evidence, ideas, problem statements, product features, and market requirements should attend this workshop. Workshop Description 2 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Market Sensing Intro to DANCE Market sensing is about establishing relationships that make everyone look good. We use the acronym DANCE to teach the concepts of market sensing. Differentiation: Evidence of Norms, Equivalent Comparisons, Perceived Value Anticipation: Co-Synthesis, Trends, Relationships Nudge: Contact, Covert Change, Planned Sequence Cost Position: Our Effort, Balance, Decreasing Trend Echo Chamber: Unfriendlies, External Perspective, Super Sonic By continually managing the relationship between the firm and the market through the principles of DANCE, product innovation teams will gain higher customer loyalty. Through this relationship the product innovation team can create market driven products that are responsive to market needs, and uncover extraordinary opportunities that lead to business breakthroughs. Market Sensing with DANCE uncovers needs or ideas that will allow the product innovation team to differentiate through its ability to provide value to the customer. This method helps the team to anticipate the needs of customers, and enables the customers to anticipate what the product innovation team will deliver next. With Market Sensing, the team has the ability to nudge the market towards future offerings while doing market research and interacting with them. Using the analysis of the competitive landscape, organizations can estimate future relative Workshop Description 3 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
cost-positions. This method prevents the Echo Chamber effect where the product innovation team only hears their message being repeated back as opposed to true market needs. Intro to Ideas An idea is a documented request to the product innovation team from end-users, buyers, and/or stakeholders for new features, products, services, capabilities, or improvements to existing or new offerings, expressed in the voice of a specified person. The idea template is used to capture and define ideas at the same level of detail so that they can be compared and refined efficiently. Using this template the product innovation team can really uncover the needs of customers that are driving the idea request. Idea Gathering Activities The first step in this market sensing method is capturing feedback or ideas. This workshop introduces many market sensing activities that generate ideas and categorizes them into three groups: those methods focused on Market Analysis, Competitive Analysis, and Customer Satisfaction. Depending on the business objectives driving market sensing different methods are appropriate. This workshop drills into the details of the method of capturing ideas and feedback through customers and sales force requests, which is a Customer Satisfaction method. Customer Interviews Interviewing is used to investigate the perceived value of an idea and determine what competing solutions exist that is similar to this idea. This is used to establish an initial concept of the ideas differentiation and cost-position. Pugh's Refinement The workshop teaches how to use Pugh s Method of Refinement to improve and refine ideas. This is one of the major opportunities for innovation in the market sensing process. Ideas are improved, and new ones are created by synthesizing multiple ideas into one. Portfolio Balancing The set of ideas are treated as a portfolio and market segment balancing techniques are used to eliminate bias and ensure that all target segments are represented. Through portfolio balancing the impact of loud customers is minimized, and the voice of quiet customers is solicited. Tangible Output A balanced idea portfolio is the end result of the market sensing process. The set of ideas that are captured, defined, partitioned, refined and ranked throughout market sensing are treated as a portfolio that is partitioned, optimized and balanced. Workshop Description 4 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Problem Definition Intro to FORCE The problem statement provides the force required to deliver customer satisfaction. We use the acronym FORCE to teach the concepts of problem definition. Familiar Form Location, Format, Style Original Perspective Technology, Stakeholder, Market Perspective Relevant Progression Performance Readiness, Change Risk Impact, Innate Roadmap Carat, Color, Clarity, Cut Categorize, Current, Comparison Enlightened Service Customers Value Chain, Leadership, Validation The problem statement provides the force required to deliver customer satisfaction. The problem statement highlights the conflict that exists between today and the customer s desired state. The resolution of this conflict is the driving force of product innovation and will require change. Just as change requires force, to identify and resolve this conflict, the product innovation team will need FORCE. Problem Definition with FORCE, focuses on being able to provide enlightened service. This method focuses on helping to define problems that can deliver what customers need, not just what customers want. With enlightened service, the product innovation team discovers customers goals, and anticipates their needs, in order to provide them with empowerment to overcome obstacles. Workshop Description 5 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Intro to Problem Statements A problem statement is the documented conflict between the existing or current situation and the desired situation. The problem statement uncovers the source of perplexity or conflict, both implicit and explicit; using the voice of the end-user in nontechnical terms. 5W s & H This workshop teaches the 5 Ws and H method from Ikujiro Nonaka to uncover and define problem statements. When speaking about getting an original perspective of a market problem, we want to step back and look at its origin. Before trying to define how to solve it, we want to understand where it s coming from and what is truly driving both the conflict and the desire to resolve it. The product innovation team must break away from their current biased opinions and narrow perspective and establish a new original perspective. Categorization The problem statement process first associates each selected idea into one of three sub-portfolios: Maintenance & Utilities, Enhancement & Improvements, and Transformational. When writing a problem statement you can write it so that it leads to different levels of innovative solutions. By categorizing and routing problems into these portfolios we can drive the innovation process to create solutions that are new to the world, new to the industry, new to company, or that leverage existing capabilities. Problems must be relevant to customers, and build up the customer readiness with each subsequent product launch. Relevant progression ensures that customers readiness is steadily increasing. This enables the customers to get engaged, anticipate, and make the products progression relevant. Standard Format This method not only teaches the use of a standard format, but also quickly illustrates the conflict driving the problem along with the customer s desired situation. The principle of familiar form is critical to be able to compare, analyze, and select problem statements. Problems need to contain the same type of information and written in a similar format. Using templates and process steps, this method establishes a format for problem statements and multiple review gates to ensure all the information is captured. 4Cs & GIA Diamond Grading System The four C s are used in problem definition to compare, evaluate, and rank problems. The carat or weight of the problem is based on its market demand. This helps determine the potential return or opportunity size of addressing this problem. The problem statement s color refers to the level of detail included in the description of the problem. When evaluating problems based on clarity we look for inclusions such as internal bias, obsolete and incomplete information, or external blemishes such as poor Workshop Description 6 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
communication, overpowering and aggressive clients, misrepresentation, and manipulation. The cut of a problem statement is a measure of its market attractiveness. The higher the population desiring a solution to a problem statement is the finer the cut. Tangible Output A balanced problem statement portfolio is the end result of the problem definition process. The set of problem statements that are defined, categorized, refined, and ranked throughout problem definition are treated as a portfolio that is partitioned, optimized, and balanced according to desired thresholds. Workshop Description 7 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Feature Definition The product feature articulates the promised value customers gain from a specific product capability. We use the acronym VALUE to teach the concepts of feature definition. Visualization End Results, Delivery, Use Accessibility Clarity, Single Truth Value, Compelling Purpose Lasting Impact Duration, Size, Applicability User Centered User Voice, User Capability, User Return Evolved Expectations Performance Readiness, Optimal Level of Complexity, Excitement Half-Life VALUE illustrates and teaches the concepts necessary to communicate your strategic intent to both internal and external stakeholders concisely. The product feature articulates the promised value customers gain from a specific product capability. The feature needs to have enough value to motivate customers to adopt the new capability and anticipate its launch with excitement. The features value could be based on its material and monetary worth, the support it provides towards a goal or objective, its strength in manipulating emotions, or even its ability to meet specific needs. Workshop Description 8 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Intro to Features A feature is a distinctive characteristic of an offering that has a compelling purpose, intended to impress and delight the consumer at a specific point in time. It is a functionally noteworthy point or capability. Standard Format This workshop leverages a template that captures the feature goal and high-level technical approach. Using this format the product innovation team can ensure that the features are written in a way that is accessible, focused on the user, and that customers can visualize themselves using to get a desired benefit or result. TRIZ Levels of Invention This method uses the TRIZ Levels of Invention to determine the appropriate solution types for features. Alignment between the problem sub-portfolio type and the solution level are maintained to ensure features are in line with the markets evolved expectations. Typically the level of invention of a feature also impacts the value impact and duration of that impact which is the focus of the Lasting Impact principle. The goal is to try and balance the feature portfolio with features that will have as long a lasting impact as possible and those that have a large impact over a shorter period of time. Brainstorming The problem solving technique of brainstorming is used to define features for the selected problem statements. The workshop teaches guidelines as well as potential derailers or issues of brainstorming activities. While brainstorming it is important to define the feature in a way that it produces a clear visual image so that all the people involved will interpret the feature in the same way. Function Point Categorization Functional Point Analysis blazed the trail for business process engineering based on functional demand. This method establishes a foundation for functional analysis using standard function points in the feature categorization process. Specific products targeting various industries can modify these function points to make them more reflective of market segment demands. This categorization makes estimation easier and increases process efficiency by bundling features to leverage product assets and development efforts; while reducing redundant initiatives. Efficient Frontier Features cost or development effort is scoped in this method and is compared against the feature s business value impact to create an Efficient Frontier for analysis. Attendees gain experience ranking and selecting features in the Zone of Efficiency and leveraging portfolio balancing techniques to help the product innovation team select Workshop Description 9 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
out of all the opportunities they could invest in, those features that will bring the greatest value to both the market and the stakeholders. Tangible Output A balanced feature portfolio is the end result of the feature definition process. The set of features that are defined, categorized, refined, scoped, and ranked throughout feature definition are treated as a portfolio that is partitioned into levels of invention, optimized, and balanced according to the product innovation strategy. Workshop Description 10 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Requirement Definition Intro to MODEL The market requirement provides the description & constraints of a feature, in order to form a mental model of what is needed to satisfy the customers. We use the acronym MODEL to teach the concepts of requirement definition. Milestones Accessible, Standard, Verifiable, Organized Make Tangible, Relationships, Multiple Partitioning Design Future Intent, Holistic View, Conflict Management Estimates Buy-in, Constraints, Probability & Magnitude Legitimize Socialize & Debate, Verification, Validation We use the acronym MODEL to illustrate and teach the concepts necessary to define good market requirements that will deliver satisfied customers. We use this acronym because models give features and their requirements a physical representation. Modeling is about making what seems intangible, tangible. When you have a feature you must design, build, and deliver, you need a way of modeling it within the context of the whole. The Requirements Definition with MODEL Method is concerned primarily with market requirements definition and analysis, leading to the translation of product features into a set of PERFORMANCE requirements, BASIC requirements, and EXCITEMENT Workshop Description 11 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
requirements that can later be translated into design requirements by the engineering and development teams. Intro to Market Requirement A market requirement is a clear articulation of what is called for by the circumstances or nature of the product feature. It states in an inward facing voice that which necessarily follows from, and is needed to delight the customer through achieving the feature s goal. Kano Analysis Categories Requirements can be categorized into three major types based on impact to customer satisfaction. These types are derived from Kano Analysis assessments. By using these types as sub-portfolios of the requirement portfolio, product innovation teams can manage the customer satisfaction levels of their products by adjusting the portfolio mix based on these three requirement categories. Quality Gate Review Criteria The objective of the quality gate review for requirements is to verify that the nine quality checkpoints of requirements have been met. It is also acts as a socialization step for gate reviewers, enabling the discussion, clarification, and debate on requirements to happen throughout the process. Estimation Features have different constraints that need to be met when defining the market requirements. It ranges from cost, time, risk, capability, and so on. Estimating requirements is critical to avoiding breaking these constraints. If requirements are not estimated, you increase the risk that a feature will not meet its constraints, and will not be delivered successfully if at all. In this method, the product innovation team estimates all the BASIC, PERFORMANCE, and EXCITEMENT requirements. Cohesiveness, Prerequisite, and Dependency Relationships This step strives to estimate the effect each requirement has on each other from the perspective of value and customer satisfaction. When requirement relationships are being analyzed, they become legitimized through tracing. The product innovation team knows not only where requirements come from, but also how they impact each other. Tangible Output A balanced requirement portfolio focused on delivering delighted customers is the end result of the requirement definition process. The set of requirements that are defined, categorized, refined, estimated, and bundled throughout requirement definition are Workshop Description 12 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
treated as a portfolio that is partitioned into requirement types, optimized for customer satisfaction, and balanced according to the product innovation strategy. The Product Innovation Team Who s on your PIT Crew? Workshop Description 13 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Workshop Deliverables Process EFBD Unlike other training courses that tend to focus on either strategy or tactics, and fail to address practices in context of strategy, pmnerds workshops address both the tactical 'WHAT' & 'HOW', along with the more strategic 'WHY' and 'WHEN', not just in generalized glossed over objectives, but in context of complete business process definition, primary business goals, and process objectives. Function blocks have been used by mankind even before there were napkins at restaurants. They have become second nature; few need an explanation of how they work. The FBD, Function Block Diagram is enhanced to define what information is required by each block, and what information is produced by each block. It is further enhanced by including the control logic of the process. Together these enhancements and the block diagram are referred to as an Enhanced Function Block Diagram. The EFBDs document the specific process being implemented. This documentation enables quick change impact analysis, and increases process maintainability while lowering overall cost of ownership. A visual diagram helps gain rapid consensus for process standardization and lowers new-process ramp-up times. By using the EFBDs, organizations can validate data-flow and process control logic prior to implementation and reduce rework costs. Reference Guide Unlike other training courses that leave the participants empty handed or with a binder full of power point notes after the course, pmnerds training workshops provide a fully indexed reference guide for each workshop that includes process background, bestpractice theory, asset descriptions and definitions, dramatized case studies, process diagrams, data flows, process control logic, logical data model, and process ownership. Dramatic Case Studies Our case studies are used to further illustrate concepts presented within our reference guides. These concepts are illustrated through fictitious dialog between members of a product innovation team. They anticipate common questions, and provide answers in an illustrative way that facilitates the learning experience. Reference Material pmnerds is not a research and development organization. The methods we teach are proven across multiple industries and have stood the test of time. As the product innovation professional organizations and members of the community at large publish new methods, we establish where these new methods can be inserted into the bigger innovation process when constraints demand it. When possible, we also provide a list of Workshop Description 14 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
these published works that further support the material taught in our reference guides. This additional reference material can provide a rich background that there isn't enough time to provide in a one day course. Glossary of Terms Like other professions, there are a lot of acronyms and jargon plaguing the product innovation discipline. Unlike many other professions, there is not common agreement on the meaning of many of these terms. Our workshops provide a glossary of terms in our reference guide that helps the onboarding process, but also helps in the rapid institutionalization of new processes, and product innovation concepts. Logical Data Model The logical data model documents the needed information, including pull-down menu values, relationships, reports, dashboards, statistic objects, and external file links for implementation in the tool or tools of your choice. This diagram is an enhanced Entity Relationship Diagram, mapping relationships between entity attributes instead of just entities. It contains industry standard values for pull-down menus as taught in the workshops, and relationship definitions including mathematical expressions for computed information. It defines data types; logical database entities including dashboards, scorecards, and reports along with statistical entities used to capture the persistent data used in the workshop processes. The logical data model is included with workshops to help integrate product innovation activities with other activities found within the innovation value chain, and break down process and informational silos. It allows the IT specialist to leverage existing IT investments from clearly specified data needs. The Logical Data Model is an enabler to quickly facilitate adoption within the larger enterprise architecture. The bottom line is that this helps IT further reduce total cost of ownership with increased maintainability of the product innovation implementation in an environment of change. Deployment Project Template Unlike other training courses that ignore change adoption and deployment of new processes, the pmnerds training workshops include access to deployment project plans, templates, self-assessments, and information that helps transfer ad-hoc communities into formalized product innovation communities of practice based on over 300 product innovation implementations and our patented Seven Pillar deployment architecture. Communication Plan Template Many training courses fail to enable the promotion and implementation of the new practices taught in the course, in pmnerds workshops, you'll construct a communication plan, specific for the topics of that workshop, which identify adoption Workshop Description 15 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
hurdles, messages, and activities for the targeted personas of your organization to ensure smooth adoption. Workshop Description 16 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Index Adoption, 2, 12 Adoption Plan, 12 Analyze, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11 Anticipation, 3, 6, 7, 11 Asset, 2, 8, 11 A B Deliverables, 1, 11 Deployment, 2, 12 Design, 9 Development, 9 Differentiation, 3, 4 Dramatized Case Studies, 11 Driving Force, 5 E Balance, 7 BASIC, 9, 10 Best-Practice Theory, 11 Bias, 4, 6 Business Objectives, 3 Capability, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 Carat, 5 Categorization, 3, 5, 9 Centralize, 2 Change, 2, 5, 11, 12 Clarity, 6 Color, 6 Communication, 2, 6, 12 C Community of Practice, 2, 12 Compelling, 7 Competitive Analysis, 3 Conflict Management, 5, 6, 9 Consensus, 11 Constraints, 2, 9, 10, 11 Continuous, 2 Control Logic, 11 CORE Method, 9 Cost Position, 3, 4 Customer, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 Interviews, 4 Loyalty, 3 Satisfaction, 1, 5, 9, 10 Cut, 6 Efficient Frontier, 8 Engage, 6 Enlightened Service, 5 Enterprise Architecture, 12 Entity Relationship Diagram, 12 Estimate, 3, 8, 10 Estimates, 10 Evolved Expectations, 7 EXCITEMENT, 9, 10 Feature, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 Feedback, 3 FORCE, 5 Foundation, 8 Function Blocks, 11 Glossary, 12 Goals, 5, 7, 9, 11 Ideas, 2, 3, 4, 5 Implementation, 11, 12 Initial, 4 F G Innovation, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12 Innovation Team, 11 Interaction, 2 Investment, 12 I DANCE, 3 Dashboards, 12 Data-Flow, 11 Defendable, 2 D Legitimize, 9 Level of Invention, 7, 8 L Workshop Description 17 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC
Maintainable, 2 M Market, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 Analysis, 3 Attractiveness, 6 Requirement, 2, 9, 10 Research, 3 Segment, 4, 8 Market Sensing, 1, 3 Method, 9 MODEL, 9 Nudge, 3 Objectives, 7, 9, 11 Opportunities, 3, 4, 8 Optimal, 4, 6, 8, 10 Organized, 9 Original Perspective, 5 Partition, 4, 6, 8, 10 Perceived Value, 4 Performance, 2, 9 PERFORMANCE, 9, 10 N O P Performance Coaching, 2 Personas, 13 Perspective, 5, 10 Portfolio, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Balance, 4, 8 Mix, 9 Practices, 2, 11, 12 Problem, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 Problem Solving, 8 Problem Statements, 2, 5, 6, 8 Process, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 Process Background, 11 Product, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Product Innovation, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Product Innovation Team, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Project Plans, 12 Quality, 9 Ranking, 4, 6, 8 Reference Guide, 11, 12 Reference Material, 12 Refinement, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 Relationship, 3, 10, 12 Relevant Progression, 6 Repeatable, 2 Requirement, 9 Requirements, 2, 9, 10 Review, 6, 9 Risk, 10 Scorecards, 12 Self-Assessments, 12 Skills Mentoring, 2 socialization, 9 Stakeholders, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 Standard, 6, 8, 12 Standardize, 2 Strategic Planning Objectives, 9 Strategies, 7 Strategy, 7, 8, 10, 11 Sub-Portfolios, 5, 7, 9 Synthesis, 4 Systematic, 2 Tangible, 9 Team, 2, 3, 5 Templates, 6, 12 Thresholds, 6 TRIZ, 7 VALUE, 7 Value Chain, 12 Voice, 3, 4, 5, 9 Q R S T V Workshop Description 18 2009-2013, All Rights Reserved, pmnerds LLC