TABLE OF CONTENTS As we discuss in Chapter 5, companies should derive customer value using a best practices voice-of-the-customer process such as PDC's MDPD approach. Sheila Mello's previous book, Customer-Centric Product Definition: The Key to Great Product Development (PDC Professional Publishing, 2003) provides an in-depth look at MDPD; this appendix offers a brief overview of the process. MDPD is about defining products based on what customers value. It takes you from concept to idea generation and product specification. Like other product definition processes, MDPD generally occurs at the front end of a typical product development or phase-gate process (see Figure A.1). Its output also feeds into the VIP management process.
Companies use MDPD to develop an in-depth understanding of the issues customers face. The methodology allows cross-functional product development teams to capture the unmet needs and requirements of representative customers in target markets. It provides a context for making trade-off decisions and improves time to market because using it means fewer changes during the course of the project, less feature creep, and fewer late additions of features. Also, because the team has a common basis for understanding what needs to be done, it can better react to problems and adjust concepts to address any technical challenges that may arise. The data captured through this process often is far more valuable than that captured through other traditional customer research methods. As Figure A.2 shows, the really valuable data about customer needs,...
