Turning Technologies into Products

Vish Krishnan

Agenda

• Recapping the Discussion from the last Class

– Discussion of Product Architecture

• Managing the Costs and Benefits of Variety

• Competing on Usability

• Braun Case Discussion

• User-Centered Design

• Software Product Development

3

Takeaways from the Last Class

• Building an enduring company requires careful design of the business operating system.

• Understanding the economics, and putting together processes, policies, and people that Fit well.

• Focusing on the core business without getting distracted.• Remaining Flexible to changes in the environment

• TiVo – Challenges in commercializing a technology– Deciding on the business model: product, service or

hybrid?– If it is a product, is it a stand-alone/system product or

embedded product?– For both a product or service, width of the line of

offering – how many versions.• Benefits of the Versioning approach – Helps achieve

the sometimes conflicting goals of expanding the market and capturing value.

Designing and Delivering a Product Line; The Economics of Product Variety

5

Cost of a Product Line

• While a product line helps increase revenues, it also involves costs:1.

2.

3.

– How can a firm balance these costs and benefits of a product line?

6

ROI on R&D Dollars

• Achieving greater “scalability” in R&D? Platforms…

Components adapted from earlier variant

Components unique to variant

Components shared between variants

Variant (1)

Variant (2)

Variant (n)

Performance

1 2 Market

Platform

Base product (0)

7

Example from National Instruments

• A leading producer of data-acquisition (DAQ) equipment• Offers “DAQ” boards over a range of performance levels

Signal Conditioning

Analog Signals from the physical world

1

234

567

DATA Acquisition Board("DAQ" Board)

Digital Analysis Software

8

Effect of Platforms on PD Cycle Time

0 8 26 40 45 50

0 32 36 48

Average rate of product introduction = 10 months

Average rate of product introduction = 6.9 months

Platform development with one developer

9

Issues and Challenges in Using Platforms

• Platforms force you to think long-term, but cost time/ money.– Platforms may lead to over-design of low-end products.

Example: National Instruments

– Platforms may reduce product differentiation. Volkswagen Example

• Create and leverage industry platforms that other firms can use and underwrite.– Becoming an industry platform, however, is highly

challenging, and requires the right balance in architecture to grow the industry. Why?

10

Types of Architecture

• Open architecture: Rules to interface with system openly published.

– Closed architecture: Rules to interface with the system are a secret.

• Examples:

• Proprietary architecture: Intellectual property for the architecture owned by a firm.

– Non-proprietary architecture: Intellectual property is public property.

• Examples:

• Can a proprietary architecture be open?

11

Open, proprietary architectures

• Why open proprietary architectures are desirable?– Openness contributes to market share – why?

– Proprietary control imposes order and raises the stakes.

– Why is proprietariness confused with closed?

– Example: Palm Pilots

12

Linux Challenge (From Information Week)

• As vendors scramble to port business applications to Linux, the lack of a standard set of features for the open-source operating system is causing headaches and user uncertainty. – There are at least 15 English-language distributions of the

operating system for the Intel platform--and none of them are exactly alike.

– Though they are similar, since they each start with some version of the same freely available source-code base, the differences are such that there is no guarantee that your commercial Linux application will run on all of them.

– Vendors porting commercial applications to Linux are finding that the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) differences in Linux distributions can cause problems for customers and developers.

Source: Information Week (Jan 24, 2000)

Winning Architecture Strategy: Balance in Openness

• Opening the architecture just the right amount is the key to competitive success. IBM Vs. Apple in the Personal Computer Industry– IBM opened the PC architecture too much without maintaining

any proprietary control. Intel and Microsoft gained.– Apple tied its OS to hardware too closely, preventing the mass

adoption that the IBM PC enjoyed.• Opening the right amount combined with an effort to keep

the system moving forward (like what Sun does) can be a powerful approach.

• Architecture has implications for organization design• The silicon valley model

Competing on Ease of Use: The Case of Austin Usability

Design Management Design Management InstituteInstitute

CASE STUDYCASE STUDYCASE STUDYCASE STUDY

Braun AG:Braun AG:The KF 40The KF 40

Coffee MachineCoffee Machine

Braun Background

• What kind of company is Braun?

• What are Braun’s strengths and weaknesses?

• Why is it looking at the mass market?

Braun Background Contd...

• What is Braun’s Design Philosophy?

• What role does “design” play within Braun?

Product Development (PD) Issues

• Challenges in turning technologies and capabilities into products, managing development at a company like Braun?

The KF-40 Project Audit

• KF-40 Developments– Single heating element

– Stopping the drip

– Manufacturing challenge

– Braun has detailed PD guidelines (see product development handbook). How do you justify such guidelines? How do they assure creativity?

Material Choice Issue

• Why is the choice of material so important? Is it merely a design issue?

• The Dilemma: A Question of “Braunness”

Recommendations to Braun

• KF-40 recommendations

• Systemic changes recommended

BRAUN - KEY TAKEAWAYS• The Braun case illustrates how attention to product design can help

turn a commodity product into one earning price premiums. Design results in visual equity (Braunness) which builds and reinforces brand image.– Contrary to popular perception, Braun views good design as unobtrusive,

enduring, and timeless. Braun designers are world-renowned.– Industrial Design, the branch of design that specializes in making

products usable and appealing, is a valuable weapon in mass markets.• The case also graphically displays the development process within a

highly successful firm: how development is driven by a sharp definition (Exhibit 9), the roles of team leaders and members, and the hard trade-offs a team must make.– The polypropylene-corrugated surface deliberation is a classic example

of a hard decision managers must make at milestones.• The difficulty in balancing market needs with technical abilities.

Making Product Design User-Centered

• The product design phase commences once the system and product architecture are established.

• In many technology-driven companies, product design is very technology driven.

• User-centered design is a new movement to make products more appealing and friendly to users.

Clock RadioClock Radio

Coffee PotCoffee Pot

Not Very User-Centered Products

What is User-Centered Design?• Competing on Ease of Use and Object Appeal.• Application of knowledge of human

behaviors/capacities to optimize ease of use, safety, appeal & productivity.

• Increasingly important as products are targeted at mass-markets– e.g.. design of cell phones

• Disciplinary Origins– Ergonomics (emphasizes ease of use),

Anthropometrics, Applied Psychology– Industrial Design (emphasizes aesthetics), Art

• Books: Human Factors Design Handbook, Design of Everyday Things (Norman)

“Usability is Absent in the Information Age”

1. Assumes more technology/functionality is always better.

2. Digitization is very unintuitive - does not provide feedback– e.g.. digital watches, personal digital assistants

3. Designers think what can be done should be done.

4. Additional features can muddle the essential functions– Need to avoid creeping featurism/creeping elegance

5. Waterfall method of Product Development– Product tumbles out of a firm, never

encountering a typical user until it is bought.

UserUser

Principles of User-Centered Design

1. Keep Product Simple and Operations Visible

2. Provide Feedback

3. Make Product Easy to Learn

4. Design for Error. Use Forcing Functions

5. Standardize Whenever Possible

Reference: Design of Everyday Things (Norman)

Keeping Products Simple - Creating a Fit With User’s Mental Models

Seat Adjustment in Seat Adjustment in Mercedes-BenzMercedes-BenzGood example of a Good example of a straightforward mapping!straightforward mapping!

Front/Rear Speaker Front/Rear Speaker SelectorSelectorPoor example: Which is Poor example: Which is front, which is rear?!front, which is rear?!

Stove Control Design Options

Provide Feedback

• Feedback provides added utility to the customer.– Snaps in 3M Medical Device Example

– Push buttons and Tone Feedback in a telephone.

– Rectangular floppy disks - square would be confusing.

• Sound can be a very effective means of feedback.– Snapping sound

– zzz of a zipper that shows it slided properly.

– Tinny sound to show the door didn’t shut right

– The click of a toaster

– The whistle of a tea kettle

– Increase in pitch of a vacuum cleaner when it is clogged!

Make Product Easy to Learn

• Good example: Apple Macintosh– Extensive use of visual displays– No commands to memorize– Choices spelled out on the screen– Mouse provides feedback

• Product must be learnably exploring!– Should invite experimentation– User must be able to see and be able to do the

allowable actions– Effect of actions must be visible and easy to

interpret– Actions should be cost-free, explorable,

discoverable.

Simplicity and Visibility

• Simplify the Structure of Tasks– Don’t require too much human memory usage.

– Don’t assume that manuals will be read beforehand. Provide mental aids.

– Use automation to simplify tasks. Don’t take away user control.

• Make what is relevant visible.

• Make the interface fit with the people’s mental/conceptual models.

Design for Error• To Err is Human

– example: B17 Toggle Switches– Understand causes of error and design to minimize them– Make it possible to reverse actions, to undo.– Make what cannot be reversed harder to do.– Make it easy to discover errors and correct them.– Change attitude towards errors. Think of user as attempting to do

a task through imperfect approximations.• Dealing with Errors

– Warning Signals: Easy to implement but annoying/likely to be ignored– Forcing Functions: Constrain actions so that failure at one stage

prevents the next step from happening.• Example: Can’t change gear from Park to Drive without foot on the brake!

Standardize...

• How would you like to read a non-standard clock?!

Challenges

• Product Semantics not Universal

• Some actions need to be memorized to establish “genres”

• User-centered design can sometimes reduce the control of experienced designers

What Did We Learn Today?

• How architectural strategy can help increase barriers to entry.– How proprietary and open architecture helps balance

market share and profits.• Platforms can increase the leverage of a firm’s NPD

efforts. They do involve certain costs.• Challenges of coordinating multi-functional product

development teams.• User-centered design can help command customer

loyalty and price premiums (e. g. Braun). Learned some tips to make designs user-centered.