It’s essential to be able to convey this information in away that creates alignment amongst stakeholders, stimulates productive discussions, provide useful information that’s easy to read and follow and present information that acts as a catalyst for progress.
Today’s discussion will focus on non-traditional models that could boost your career if used properly.
What is a Business Model?
A business model/process outlines the sequence of steps a business takes in order to complete a task. Modelling/mapping is an effective way to become more efficient, make better decisions or highlight key areas that require attention. I’ve discussed how process mapping can help your design career here, have a read.
Being able to model processes allows the necessary information gathered to be communicated diagrammatically. When we see how something works it can help us understand the process quicker as opposed to writing the process down.
Here is a list of the typical models used in business analysis, product management and design:
· Activity diagrams
· Feature mind maps
· Product roadmaps
· Organizational charts
· SWOT analysis
· User interfacewireframe
· Process flow diagram
· PESTLE analysis
· Use Case Diagrams
There is a plethora of problem-solving analytical tools out there and expanding one’s toolkit could provide a slight edge and help satisfy your end-client and stakeholders; it pays to think outside of the box!
The alternative models for today’s conversation are:
1. Kano Analysis
2. Bullseye Diagram
3. Value OpportunityAnalysis
Kano Analysis
The Kano Model is used to analyze consumer preferences for different features and group them into several categories. This allows businesses and or product/design teams to identify which features they should focus on when developing new product/features.
Products contain an array of attributes and features, but not all of them are as important as each other. Yes, they all form a part of a whole, but they should be ranked on utility and end-user satisfaction.[1]
In this model, the “more is better” approach is heavily scrutinized. When conducting interviews or surveys teams have a useful framework to determine and prioritize which product attributes are more beneficial to the user. By assigning each product attribute (benefits, features, offerings, incentives etc.) to one of five distinct yet relatable categories, customer values regarding utility and satisfaction can be revealed.
The five categories are:
1. Required
2. Desired
3. Exciter/Delighter/Attractive
4. Neutral/Indifferent
5. Anti-Feature/Reverse
At the end of the detailed analysis, you might end up with data that looks like this:
The Kano analysis will help provoke meaningful debate with you and your stakeholders because you’ll likely reassess your product offerings over time. For the most effective use, deploy when there are cultural, technological and economic shifts within your market, as these shifts affect customer attitudes.
Bullseye Diagram
A bullseye diagram is a method that helps prioritize data sets, customer desires and work items. A constant challenge to any professional in the product and design creation arena is priority. This technique allows us to arrange items such as product features, user needs, pain points and so on. The outcome is a clear and targeted, easy to digest diagram that helps us prioritize. A bullseye diagram automatically draws our attention to what is essential.
Due to the typically limited space, the scarce nature of the diagram provokes precise and accurate prioritization of work items. This stimulates meaningful and trim discussions, removing as much ambiguity as possible.
In order to create effective and viable solutions a professional working in product and or design must understand what’s important and deprioritize the rest. If this critical step is not understood the solution will be subpar, doing a little of everything and nothing particularly well.
Teamwork
Bullseye diagrams encourage collaboration in a no-fuss, quick and easy way. Conceptually it’s very straight forward for your stakeholders to understand as the diagram is literally a bullseye, so there’s no real explanation needed; you can gather the work items and start.
How to start:
· Gather your data set, workitems, stories etc.
· Transcribe onto stickynotes
· Create bullseye diagram by drawing three concentric circles
· Make sure your centercircle is limited to a small number of items only
· Start plotting the itemswhere necessary
Ensure everybody has been given a voice within this exercise for best results.
Value Opportunity Analysis
Value Opportunity Analysis (VOA) maps the extent to which a product’s aspirational attributes correlate to people’s idealized lifestyle or versions of themselves. Conducting this analysis helps product/design teams focus on the key items to connect to their target audience. When a product’s features and functionality are in close or sometimes identical alignment with a customer’s personal values, customers are often more than happy to pay a higher price for the perceived improvement the product makes to their life. Many of today’s products are designed with aspirational qualities in mind so that users within the niche can relate to them more; the hope is that the app becomes assimilated into the end-users lifestyle.
A VOA provides you with a list of value-based criteria or value opportunities that are intended to help product/design teams consider the degree which their product connects with their audience.
The seven value opportunities are:
1. Emotion: adventure,independence, confidence, and power
2. Aesthetics: visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and taste
3. Identity: point in time, sense of place, and personality
4. Impact: social and environmental
5. Ergonomics: comfort, safety, and ease of use
6. Core Technology: reliable and enabling
7. Quality: craftsmanship and durability
The VOA can be adopted across different areas:
Market Analysis
Use VOA to assess successful and failed products and their features alike. What can be learned? What are the key takeaways? Make recommendations back to your team based upon the VOA analysis.
Competitive Review
Using VOA can help ascertain how your product stacks up in a competitive landscape. You can take your and your competitor’s product and perform a rigours VOA.
Multiple Personas
VOAs can be applied to a product from the perspective of several personas. This approach adds variety to your analysis and could help empathize at much greater levels than before.
Conclusion
There are plenty of methods, process models and techniques out there and I’ll be sharing many more over the coming weeks and months. For now, try these tools, add them to your repertoire and start adding more value towork.
[1]Kano analysis was devised by Dr Noriaki Kano, an expert in Quality Management
