CONFERENCES
Convergence 99
Developing Breakthrough Innovations
Through Lead User Research
Mary Zettel, 3M
Lead User Research - Breakthrough Concept Generation
with Customers -- that Actually Works!
Not all customers are worth listening to. Some may find it an offensive thought, but it is still true. If this is the case, and we must also include the voice of the customer in new product development, then with whom are we supposed to talk?
The answer is, of course, talk with Lead Users. This distinct group is currently experiencing new product or service needs that lie in the future for most others in a targeted market. Often they have already developed commercially attractive new product prototypes in an effort to satisfy their own leading edge needs. M.I.T. and 3M have formed a cooperative effort to develop a duplicable process for accelerating market understanding, finding lead users and top experts, and co-developing product solutions with them.
The Lead User Research (LUR) process is designed to:
STAGE ONE - DEFINE THE CHALLENGE
This is the point where team leaders identify and recruit qualified teammates, outline project objectives, set goals, obtain management support, etc. Including team-forming activities is also important at this point. The project objective includes framing what will and won't be considered in the team's scope, which provides guidance for the next stage.
STAGE TWO - UNDERSTAND MARKET'S KEY NEEDS
Put on your running shoes because you will be doing a lot of legwork in stage two. To build in-depth market understanding and begin networking to find lead users, the team completes work such as
The purpose of all this work is to build the team's expert knowledge and to network in the industry to identify potential lead users. Several creativity tools are used in this stage to synthesize the information as it is gathered and to process it in unique ways. These exercises help with uncovering compromises by the customer, highlighting emerging needs based on over-lapping trends, or even clarifying stakeholder influence that could create a new product opportunity in spite of the customers' desires.
STAGE THREE - DEVELOP PRODUCT CONCEPTS
At the end of stage two the team must choose a particular set of needs which their product concepts will address. From this point interviews focus not only on discovering problems that exist today but also on soliciting potential solutions and identifying contacts who have attempted to solve the problems on their own. Interviewers test concepts by suggesting "what if" scenarios to experts. While many concepts are generated during this stage, the team must select one to carry forward to the next stage of the process.
STAGE FOUR - DEVELOP DESIGN TO LAUNCH INTO NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Making the team's initial product concept more robust with the help of lead users is the focus of the final stage. Once again the objective of information gathering changes. Now the team is focused on networking to find lead users and experts who can contribute their knowledge in a design workshop. Workshop participants are chosen for the expertise they can share to improve certain attributes of the product concept. This often brings the team into unrelated industries to find solutions that can be adapted to a new challenge.
The results of Lead User Research projects at 3M have been well worth the effort. Teams have developed breakthrough concepts for new products and services, identified new strategic directions for their divisions, and found leading edge markets for new technologies created in the lab. As an extra bonus, the process builds a powerful network of thought leaders who are involved in the development of your new product and who can support and promote its adoption by the industry. The odds of commercial success go way up with their help. To learn more about the powerful results 3M has achieved attend the panel discussion during Convergence 99 or contact Mary Zettel at mfzettel@mmm.com.
The LUR process IS NOT designed to:
The Lead User Research process has been developed into four stages. As with everything on the fuzzy front end of development, these stages do not have distinct breaks between one to the next. They do, however, have very distinct and changing objectives as you progress through each stage.