Abstract
An innovation consultancy applies human-centered methods to explore user needs in the early phase of concept development. This paper compares methods applied by the consultancy with theory from the body of knowledge within Design Thinking and Systems Engineering. The basis for this research is observations and interviews for three specific cases for three different customers. This paper presents criteria and impacting factors on how effective the innovation consultancy performs early validation of user needs. A properly planned co-creation session with the customer is the core. Using a key driver graph we found the main impacting factors to be research on user needs, technology and market trends, techniques used for analyzing the problem and solution domain, selection of participants, and the competence of the facilitator. We conclude that in these three cases the methods are effective in communicating innovative ideas and concepts with the purpose of early validation of user needs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Yin, R.K.: Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Sage, Los Angeles (2014)
Kossiakoff, A., Sweet, W.N., Seymour, S.J., Biemer, S.M.: Systems Engineering: Principles and Practice. Wiley, Hoboken (2011)
Wheatcraft, L.: ConOps vs OpsCon – What’s the Difference? https://reqexperts.com/2013/06/25/conops-vs-opscon-whats-the-difference/
Solli, H., Muller, G.: Evaluation of illustrative ConOps and decision matrix as tools in concept selection. In: INCOSE International Symposium, pp. 2361–2375 (2016)
INCOSE: Systems Engineering Handbook. Wiley, Hoboken (2015)
Cockburn, A.: Writing Effective Use Cases. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2005)
Muller, G.: Challenges in teaching conceptual modeling for systems architecting. In: Jeusfeld, M., Karlapalem, K. (eds.) Advances in Conceptual Modeling, ER 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pp. 317–326. Springer, Cham (2015)
Plattner, H.: An Introduction to Design Thinking PROCESS GUIDE (2010)
Brown, T., Wyatt, J.: Design thinking for social innovation (2010)
Kelley, T., Kelley, D.: Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within us All. William Collins, London (2015)
Beckers, J.M.J., Muller, G.J., Heemels, W.P.M.H., Bukkems, B.H.M.: Effective industrial modeling for high-tech systems: the example of happy flow. In: INCOSE International Symposium, pp. 1758–1769 (2007)
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y.: Business Model Generation. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken (2010)
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., Smith, A., Papadakos, T.: Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want. Wiley, Hoboken (2014)
Maurya, A.: Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works. O’Reilly, Sebastopol (2012)
Acknowledgments
This research is part of a larger research project on Human Systems Engineering Innovation Framework (H-SEIF), funded by the Norwegian government through Oslofjordfondet.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kjørstad, M., Falk, K., Muller, G., Pinto, J. (2019). Early Validation of User Needs in Concept Development: A Case Study in an Innovation-Oriented Consultancy. In: Ahram, T., Karwowski, W., Taiar, R. (eds) Human Systems Engineering and Design. IHSED 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 876. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02053-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02053-8_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02052-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02053-8
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)