"What to Do before Project Starts?" or Problem Definition for Innovation

bytics engineering ag. All Rights Reserved. / 09.01.2013 A.Schukin 1
Andrey Schukin
Esslingen, 09. January 2013
bytics engineering ag
Bachweg 5
CH-8133 Esslingen
T +41 44 905 64 64
Standort
Problem Definition
for Product
Innovation
or
What to Do before
Project Starts?

bytics engineering ag
• Swiss-based engineering and management consulting firm, founded 1988
• 35 employees
• Two offices: Zürich city centre and Zürich suburbs, EMC test lab
• Three departments: Mechanical Engineering, Electronics & Software,
Simulation & Calculations
• Over 350 customers: industry and universities (ABB, Alstom, Bombardier,
Carl Zeiss, Honeywell, Leica, Lindt & Sprüngli, MAN, Siemens, Sulzer,
Wärtsilä, etc.)

Contents
2 Innovation Process
3 What is Innovation?
4 Project Requirements: Different Levels
5 Capturing Customer Needs
6 Multiple Stakeholders
7 Technical System Description
8 Successful Product
1 Our Challenges

Challenges that we face
• New products/solutions, start from scratch
• Often no detailed requirement specification from the customer
• “Hidden” implicit requirements (ease of use, aesthetics, etc.)
• Whether the solution is “good” or “innovative” is defined by customer, not us
• Competition: other consulting firms AND sometimes customer’s own engineers
with a lot of experience in their area

Why Projects Fail
• Reasons for project failures (Fraunhofer Institute, Germany) :
• 50% is due to insufficient problem definition
• 20% due to the lack of ideas
• 30% due to poor execution quality and technical faults
• That means: 70% of all failing projects could be saved if more attention was
paid to Problem Definition and Problem Solving.
Problem
Definition
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5
Idea
Generation
Concept
Definition
Development
& Tests
Production
Service

Customer
Focus
Innovation Process

Innovation Process
E5 Innovation ProcessTM
Define
 Research the
problem
 Define the
requirements
1
Discover
 Discover the
range of
possible (and
impossible)
solutions
2
Select
 Evaluate, select
and refine the
most promising
idea
3
ProduceDevelop
 Develop solution
in more detail
4 5
 Prototype
 Manufacturing
 Generation of
Customer Value
Tiefenanalyse und
Requirements Engineering
Ideefindung und
Grobkonzept
Konzeptentwurf und
Fertigungsunterlagen
Prototyp, Nullserie
und Herstellung

What is Innovation?
Invention vs. Innovation: what’s the difference?
 A product, service, or process that
creates new value for customers
 Driven primarily by a desire to add
customer value
 Merit defined by profitable
deployment
 Based on a broad set of strategic,
marketing, operational and
technical skills
InnovationInvention
 A new-to-the-world
discovery/creation
 Driven primarily by inventor
curiosity or research interest
 Merit defined by uniqueness
 Based primarily on scientific skills
R. Martin & J. Milway «User-Driven Innovation: Putting an
End to Inventing in the Dark», Rotman Magazine, Fall 2012

Project Requirements Pyramid
Impact on business operation and profitability.
Project Scope, Objectives and Constraints.
Business
Requirements
Product qualities and functions that,
combined, satisfy needs of the end user.
User Requirements
Technical parameters to be achieved
that would satisfy user requirements.
Technical Requirements
Summarising technical parameters that would guarantee user
satisfaction is not easy – direct user input is often required.

Problem Definition: System Description
• For any problem, we aim to get the desired outcome with the minimum
possible input (costs) and minimum possible undesired outcome (harms).
• Our ultimate (and mostly unachievable) goal is Ideal System, which does
not have any costs or harmful effects, just benefits.
• Problems are just gaps between existing system and system we want.
undesired outcome
input
desired outcome
costs
harms
benefits
System
𝑰𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
↑ 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒕𝒔
↓ 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔 + ↓ 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔

• Step 1: Definition of Ideal Outcome: what we want, without any costs or harms
• Step 2: Function Split: we split our future system into sub-functions
• Step 3: Undesired Outcome: acceptable harms and possible risks
• Step 4: Input
• Interactions: People. Who will use the product? How are the inputs from people
are delivered to the System? Ergonomics.
• Interactions: Environment. How are the inputs from environment are delivered to
the System?
• Available Resources and “Disturbances” – variation in parameters: uneven floors,
unexpected events, etc.
• Step 5: History: existing system, previous tries to achieve result. Why failed?
undesired outcome
input
desired outcome
costs
harms
benefits
System
Problem Definition: System Description

User
Requirements
Business
Requirements
Successful
Product
Technical
Requirements
SCENEWhat is “well designed” product?
Every commercially successful products is a result of finding a “golden middle” of the
business requirements, user needs, and technology available.

Understanding Business Requirements
 Project delivered on specification, budget and in time
 Instead of immediately accepting customer’s solution,
ask: what benefits is he looking for? Then search for
other solutions that bring same benefits.
 The common end goal is to provide competitive
advantage for the customer. Keep it in mind at all
times.
SCENEDevelopment projects – not just engineering

Understanding User Requirements
 Focus on Usability: the product should be useful,
usable and desirable.
 Involve users or user representative at the beginning of
every project, in concept and evaluation stages
 Take a closer look at additional customer needs:
aesthetics, ergonomics, serviceability, reliability, etc.
 Aim to transform most vague wishes into actionable,
specific and easy to understand technical requirements

Understanding Technical Requirements
 Step by Step: 1.Describe the problem before coming
up with solutions, then 2.Generate several ideas
before choosing one to develop further.
 Borrow solutions from other industries or nature
 Generate ideas in a systematic way, and set yourself a
goal on a number of ideas to be generated
 Think User Value, Novelty and Cost-Effective
Implementation

User
Requirements
Business
Requirements
Successful
Product
Technical
Requirements
SCENEWhat is “well designed” product?
Every commercially successful products is a result of finding a “golden middle” of the
business requirements, user needs, and technology available.

"What to Do before Project Starts?" or Problem Definition for Innovation

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