The Keys to User-Driven Innovation

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

The best companies in the world connect with users to help drive their innovation pipelines. Are you?

Want to know how to improve it? Ask those who use it!

The realization that innovation can’t be driven by internal R&D alone is paramount to successful product development.

The case for user-driven innovation is clear.

• Increase the pipeline of product ideas.
• Improve existing design, and speed up the development of new products.
• Decrease time to market.
• Increase adoption and market penetration.
• Streamline development costs by focusing on the most valuable product improvements.

Innovation must be driven by the interaction with customers, partners, and suppliers – by gaining an understanding of end-user requirements and desires in the context of their environment.

Where it begins

1. Understand a user’s needs, in the context of their environment.
2. Understand their pain points.
3. Identify trends that are being driven by users.

If a company, B&D wants to improve on a cordless drill, they can start with one of four external inputs for developing a product feature roadmap:

Personas: the creation of fictional characters, or profiles of their typical users. The limitation here is that personas are already set, and there is no interaction with the user profile. Com

Fan Bases: a group of “lead users” that are engaged with the company through online dialogue, peer-user groups, and reviewers. Think about the folks in a car club consulting for BMW. The limitation may be that these are the innovators in the industry, and may not cast a wide-enough net of mainstream adopters or users of competitive products.

Ethnography: the core of most insight-driven research, where anthropological-type field observation is done to capture the behaviours of users to identify key needs. The limitation is that, in its purest form, it is observation-only, and there is no interaction between the user and the researcher or designer – in an effort to retain the “purity” of the user experience in their own context.

Participatory Design: Evolving from ethnography and interaction with fan bases, the participatory design seeks to involve the user with the development team – bringing together designers, engineers, marketers, and others involved in the process of product development and improvement.

In the case of the drill, B&D can design a new feature for one of their personas, but would never get any feedback. They make assumptions about how it would be received in the market.

Fan bases of “advanced users” may not provide insights as to how the average household user may utilize the product, and their focus may be on more advanced features – without first defining the problem to be solved.

Ethnography or observation may reveal issues but won’t involve the relevant stakeholder groups in designing the solution. Time is lost in developing ideas and prototyping and going back to the user for more feedback and observation.
In participatory design, where a user is not only seen using the product, the designers could see first-hand the issues with the current product, and suggest changes in real-time.

Research is key to understanding user’s issues, and developing solutions that “wow” them. To be effective, research must be:

1. Holistic – cutting across all elements of the system
2. Interactive – engaging users and front-line people who are the first to discover trends
3. User-centric – focusing on capabilities, and user-friendliness, done in the context of the user’s environment, and the experiences they have

Imagine a scenario where, perhaps, a homeowner trying to hold a drill and a screw, and a flashlight to mount a fixture in a dark area (e.g. under a sink) – can’t do all three. A designer may suggest a head-mounted light or a stand hold a light – but through the interaction of the group – user, designer, engineer – we come to find a beneficial feature is to put a light at the end of the drill that turns on whenever the drill is powered-up. EUREKA! An innovation!!!

An adaptive design approach, evolving from the use of all of the above methods, is critical to developing insights and solutions. The three keys:

1. Make customers a part of design process, and involve designers, UX/UI, engineers and consumers in the creative problem-solving process.
2. Create an active, interconnected user base, where fan bases can engage in meaningful dialogue, and exchange ideas
3. Enable products to suit individual needs and preferences, creating a personalized experience

Collaborative, empathetic research and interaction with users where they are involved in the design process can uncover unexpected opportunities and yield powerful new ideas that delight and wow customers.

Companies like IDEO and LEGO have adopted this approach, and have seen successful product innovation, faster times to market, and a focus on end-user benefits and experiences that drive adoption – and ultimately revenues.

Ray Beharry is a Marketing & Sales Leader based out of the Greater New York City area. He can be reached via LinkedIn, email – ray.beharry@gmail.com, and is also on Twitter @RayBeharry. www.raybeharry.com