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Mind mapping on industrial design

Challenge

How to understand the real customer needs.    I work in the industrial sector. The company I work for, manufactures key engineering  components for all sorts of machinery. I’m myself a mechanical engineer. Our customers  can be either OEM’s that use our products in their designs or industrial companies that  need to do maintenance on their machinery. In both cases, understanding the real  customer needs is a huge challenge since we’re talking about complex entities whose  decisions are the consensus of many stakeholders where the voice of some of them could  be louder than others.    For the purpose of this exercise, let’s focus on industrial customers. Those are a complex  entanglement of different stakeholders: On one hand, you have the real end user, i.e., the  technicians that have to work with our products in the field. Their point of view is foremost  practical and focused on functionality and simplicity. On the other hand, you have  engineering management, which has a broader overview, and whose main concern is  uptime and productivity. A third stakeholder comes from quality, whose profile is highly  influenced by risk prevention, pretty much in the line of EHS (environmental, health and  safety) although the latter focuses more on the individual and environment, while the  former on the process itself. Last, but certainly not least, the fifth actor is purchasing,  whose vision is cost (not necessarily value) oriented.

Selection  Projective techniques.    During my career I’ve had the chance to play many different roles, which has provided me  a considerably broad repertoire, which is something that Uddin made me realize to  its full extent during W2 when describing what a “ prepared mind” is. Some of those roles  have allowed me to get in direct contact with many of those users and, being a people’s  person, I’ve developed some ability to generate empathy. Customer insight  has been so  far captured mostly by deep interviews though, and in all fairness, people in the field  gathering insight are not really trained or necessarily prepared to do it in an effective way.    In the pursue of getting to design the right offer, all the previously described stakeholders  must be taking into account. The challenge comes in finding a good balance among them  all, and even further in developing enough flexibility to be able to fine tune the offer  according to each and every single customer’s particular needs.    During week 3, during the meyouhealth story part I, Uddin explains how projective  techniques are key to get useful insight. Therefore, I believe now that the use of mind  mapping could help us to unfold a whole new facet of the design exploration phase that  certainly has not been fully exploited.

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Application

We might be missing the real insight of customers.    The use of mind mapping, while challenging in its implementation, especially in Covid-19  times, would certainly help us to understand the real motives, drivers and inner thoughts  of each of the customer’s stakeholders, and most important to spot correlations among  them. To get started, sessions where e,g. pin-wheel diagrams or graphical  representations could be organized on a large scale. The key learning points could be  then gathered intro matrixes that would help us to create a central mind map from which  key design factors would be concluded.

Insight  Wow zone shows we’re satisficing and not optimizing.    Currently there’s discussion, at the company I work for, about a potential new offer that  although disruptive, I’ve realized throughout the course, falls more into the realm of  “satisficing” rather than into the one of “optimizing”, as described during week 4. Reason  is that it does not pass the “test  of the wow zone diagram” as I intend to call it from now  on. I refer to the intersection zone of “what customers want” , “what we can do” and “the  economics can sustain it”. Truth is, that the potential new offer falls short on being  economically sustainable and I suspect our real motives are nested in the fear to be  second to competition, and that is leading us to a self-cannibalization mindset.    Therefore, only by fully understanding the fine network of thought and influences among  the customers’ stakeholders we will be able to solve the riddle and create an offer that  really wows!

Approach

Using projective techniques with all different stakeholders in order to find the right insight.    I’m convinced that deep customer insight is lacking overall in the process of offer  conception. Not because the people in charge does not know that it is important, but  because the sources of information might not really be prepared to grasp the complexity  of customer’s needs. Even if we have the best team in the field, it is difficult to get insight  from people very much used to work merely with numbers and machines. Proper  experiment set-up must be in place next time, in order to guide our team to be able to fully  comprehend market opportunities.

Jose Hurtado  Saturday, April 24, 2021


Page 1 of 2 Mind mapping on industrial design Challenge How to understand the real customer needs . I work in the industrial sector . The company I work for , manufactures key engineering components for all sorts of machinery . I ’m myself a mechanical engineer . Our customers can be either OEM ’s that use our products in their designs or industrial companies that need to do maintenance on their machinery . In both cases , understanding the real customer needs is a huge challenge since we ’re talking about complex entities whose decisions are the consensus of many stakeholders where the voice of some of them could be louder than others . For the purpose of this exercise , let ’s focus on industrial customers . Those are a complex entanglement of different stakeholders : On one hand , you have the real end user , i.e. , the technicians that have to work with our products in the field . Their point of view is foremost practical and focused on functionality and simplicity . On the other hand , you have engineering management , which has a broader overview , and whose main concern is uptime and productivity . A third stakeholder comes from quality , whose profile is highly influenced by risk prevention , pretty much in the line of EHS ( environmental , health and safety ) although the latter focuses more on the individual and environment , while the former on the process itself . Last , but certainly not least , the fifth actor is purchasing , whose vision is cost ( not necessarily value ) oriented . Selection Projective techniques . During my career I ’ve had the chance to play many different roles , which has provided me a considerably broad repertoire , which is something that Uddin made me realize to its full extent during W2 when describing what a “ prepared mind ” is . Some of those roles have allowed me to get in direct contact with many of those users and , being a people ’s person , I ’ve developed some ability to generate empathy . Customer insight has been so far captured mostly by deep interviews though , and in all fairness , people in the field gathering insight are not really trained or necessarily prepared to do it in an effective way . In the pursue of getting to design the right offer , all the previously described stakeholders must be taking into account . The challenge comes in finding a good balance among them all , and even further in developing enough flexibility to be able to fine tune the offer according to each and every single customer ’s particular needs . During week 3 , during the meyouhealth story part I , Uddin explains how projective techniques are key to get useful insight . Therefore , I believe now that the use of mind mapping could help us to unfold a whole new facet of the design exploration phase that certainly has not been fully exploited . Page 2 of 2 Application We might be missing the real insight of customers . The use of mind mapping , while challenging in its implementation , especially in Covid-19 times , would certainly help us to understand the real motives , drivers and inner thoughts of each of the customer ’s stakeholders , and most important to spot correlations among them . To get started , sessions where e , g. pin - wheel diagrams or graphical representations could be organized on a large scale . The key learning points could be then gathered intro matrixes that would help us to create a central mind map from which key design factors would be concluded . Insight Wow zone shows we ’re satisficing and not optimizing . Currently there ’s discussion , at the company I work for , about a potential new offer that although disruptive , I ’ve realized throughout the course , falls more into the realm of “ satisficing ” rather than into the one of “ optimizing ” , as described during week 4 . Reason is that it does not pass the “ test of the wow zone diagram ” as I intend to call it from now on . I refer to the intersection zone of “ what customers want ” , “ what we can do ” and “ the economics can sustain it ” . Truth is , that the potential new offer falls short on being economically sustainable and I suspect our real motives are nested in the fear to be second to competition , and that is leading us to a self - cannibalization mindset . Therefore , only by fully understanding the fine network of thought and influences among the customers ’ stakeholders we will be able to solve the riddle and create an offer that really wows ! Approach Using projective techniques with all different stakeholders in order to find the right insight . I ’m convinced that deep customer insight is lacking overall in the process of offer conception . Not because the people in charge does not know that it is important , but because the sources of information might not really be prepared to grasp the complexity of customer ’s needs . Even if we have the best team in the field , it is difficult to get insight from people very much used to work merely with numbers and machines . Proper experiment set - up must be in place next time , in order to guide our team to be able to fully comprehend market opportunities . Jose Hurtado Saturday , April 24 , 2021