Designing the right things (+ PRIZE!)

So, you read the last post about tips for using Design to deliver value and growth to your business. I hear you say, “Easier said than done! It’s so difficult to know where to start…”

Efficiency vs Effectiveness

The old adage of “Efficiency is doing things right; Effectiveness is doing the right things” is particularly relevant here. My “design” version is:

“Designing the right things is more important than Designing things right… To be effective and successful in product development, you have to design the right things”

As product developers, we need to continually ask ourselves if we are designing the right things. Do we know what our customers really need? Are we sure that this concept or idea has the legs to make it in the market?

There are a million of these kinds of questions you can ask to evaluate your projects and decide which to pursue. At some point, you’ll need to take a leap of faith… but with a combination of luck and some objective and quantitative decision-making processes, it will be a calculated risk rather than a speculative “punt”.

Help me to help you

Over the next few months, I will be publishing a series of new product development (NPD) tips which aim to help you implement Design simply and easily into your daily product development and strategic planning processes – to help you design the right things.

However, I can’t do this all by myself…. so I have a humble request:

How do you know you’re designing the right things?

Even though your specific products and projects may be unique to your business and industry, I’m sure there is a range of lessons and insights you have about product development which are universal and could be applied successfully to any problem or new product idea.

So, I’d love to hear your thoughts… and I’ve set up a short survey here which should only take about 5~10 minutes to complete.

Whilst your identity and details will be kept confidential, your answers and insights will be relayed to your fellow readers in the form of future tips and articles. Of course, you will also receive this information through your preferred email and/or RSS feeds.

Complete the survey here and WIN!

Cheesy and cliched I know, but I wanted to reward the most exciting, detailed and insightful survey response with a complementary copy of “Made to Stick“, by Chip and Dan Heath. This is a great book about crafting and executing new ideas for the best impact. It’s equally useful in design, marketing, sales and any industry that relies on fresh ideas, innovation and effective communication.

Survey responses received by 4th December 2009 will be eligible to win a copy of “Made to Stick” – so complete the survey now!

(By the way, I’m not getting any commissions or royalties out of this… I just like the book so much I wanted to give one away!)

I can’t wait to read your survey responses.

Best of luck – and thanks in advance for your time.