Customer-Centric Product Definition

Drawing on techniques developed by experts from MIT, the University of Chicago, and the Center for Management of Quality, as well as product development experiences from inside hundreds of top companies, including Abbott, Compaq, and Cisco, the book reveals MDPD techniques managers can use to:

* Determine customer needs and value-based requirements
* Choose which requirements to satisfy in order to distinguish their products from the competition
* Determine which trade-offs can-and must-be made in product development
* Decrease time to market by up to 40 percent and minimize time to profit.

About the Author: Sheila Mello (Boston, MA) is the managing partner of Product Development Consulting, Inc. Mello has years of hands-on experience in product development, hardware engineering, software development, manufacturing, and marketing.

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments

Introducing Market-Driven Definition-the Key to Defuzzing the Fuzzy Front End

1. The Case for Market-Driven Product Definition-The Universal Problem
2. Applying the Timeless Seven P's-Beginning at the Beginning
3. The Customer Visit-Who Is the Customer?
4. Understanding the Voice of the Customer-Hearing What Customers Are Really Saying
5. Seeing Life Through the Customer's Eyes-Creating an Image Diagram
6. Translating the Voice of the Customer-Identifying Product Requirements
7. Establishing Metrics-If You Can't Measure It, You Don't Understand It
8. Putting Requirements to the Test-Surveying to Validate and Prioritize Customer Needs
9. Beginning Product Commercialization-Using Survey Results to Evaluate Existing Solutions
10. From Opportunity to Solution-Generating Creative Ideas
11. Hitting the Market's Sweet Spot-Selecting Solutions That Customers Value
12. Co-Wired(TM) MDPD-Global Product Definition Using the Web

Appendix
References
Index