Product Development Outsourcing & Sprint Methodology

Product Development Outsourcing

• Product development areas suitable for outsourcing include component design, materials specifications, machinery processing, ergonomic design, packaging design, assembly drawings and specifications, parts and material sourcing, and operator's and owner's manuals.
• Avoid outsourcing both design and development to the same firm unless they specialize in both.
• Spend sufficient time on product design before starting construction or coding.
• Break down the product into meaningful parts for early testing at low cost before incurring full development expenses.
• Avoid selecting an outsourced partner based solely on price.
• It's easier to manage product development locally than overseas and protect intellectual property.

Sprint Methodology

• Sprint methodology aims to solve big problems and test new ideas in five days.
• Emphasizes gathering data from actual customers to validate product ideas.
• Don't rely on predicting customer preferences; instead, gather data directly.

Customer Interviews

• Conduct hour-long interviews with five target customers.
• The first five users can identify up to 85% of product problems.
• Pay attention if two or three customers experience the same issue.

Interview Setup

• Set up interviews with one lead interviewer and at least one observer/note taker.
• Video record interviews in person using a computer or phone, or online using Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
• Interview style mirrors the Sprint methodology, directly interacting with product prototypes.

The Five-Act Interview

• The interview structure includes:
  • A friendly welcome.
  • General, open-ended questions about the customer.
  • Introduction to the prototype(s).
  • Detailed tasks to get the customer reacting to the prototype.
  • A quick debriefing to capture overarching thoughts and impressions.

Interview Tips

• Establish a warm greeting and small talk.
• Obtain consent to record the interview in advance.
• Be mindful of body language.
• Ask the customer questions about their life, interests, and activities.
• Assure the customer that the prototype wasn't designed to get favorable feedback.
• Remind the customer to think aloud.
• Encourage the customer to independently perform tasks during the interview, as they won't have your guidance when purchasing or using the product.
• The interviewer should ask questions while the customer is working on the tasks to encourage thinking aloud.

Interview Question Tips

• Prepare questions that are easy for customers to answer without being intimidating.
• Avoid leading questions.
• Don't ask multiple-choice or yes/no questions.
• Focus on asking: "who, what, when, where, why, and how".
• Create questions to help customers think aloud:
  • "What is this? What is it for?"
  • "What do you think of that?"
  • "What do you expect that will do?"
  • "So, what goes through your mind as you look at this?"
  • "What are you looking for?"
  • "What would you do next? Why?"

Debriefing Questions

• Use debriefing questions to help sift through the information gathered:
  • "How would you describe this product to a friend?"
  • "What did you like/dislike about this product?"
• Watching interviews collaboratively is highly beneficial.
• Group effort is crucial for drawing conclusions.
• Everyone contributes to informed decisions about the next steps by writing down their individual observations on patterns they see.
• Share these patterns aloud with the group.

Validating Ideas

• To validate an idea, determine what data is needed.

Developing the Solution and Strategy

• This involves defining the problem statement from empathy discoveries.
• It then involves brainstorming ideas and building a crude version of the solution.
• Finally, test the solution with users to gain feedback.

This quiz covers key concepts in product development outsourcing, including areas suitable for outsourcing and best practices. It also explores the sprint methodology, which focuses on rapid problem-solving and customer validation over a short time frame. Test your knowledge on these crucial aspects of product management.