Design Process - Define the Problem
Design Process - Define the Problem
Step 1 – Defining the Problem
Every product, invention or idea solves a problem in one fashion or another. This “problem” is commonly why people seek out these products and also why inventors like you continue to drive innovation. However, have you taken the time to really look at what the problem is rather than the solution? Many inventors gloss over defining the actual problem and going forward with their first design because it meets their immediate needs. By exploring and detailing the various components of what you are solving, you create the criteria to effectively judge, validate and market your product. In addition, you may discover alternative solutions that solve different aspects of the problem better than your original design.
What Should I do?
Just as a journalists asks the who, what, where, when and why for their articles you should do the same for your problem. Take for example this situation:
An individual has a cup of noodle soup in front of them and only has access to one utensil in order to eat it.
Now your immediate response to this problem maybe to use a spork. It has prongs to grab the noodles and a concaved surface to drink the soup; problem solved. But before we go on our way to sell this idea, let’s go back a step and look at what we are trying to solve. In its most basic sense our problem is: We want to eat soup containing noodles with only one utensil. From that statement we can develop this list of criteria:
1) Be able to consume liquid
2) Be able to consume noodles
3) Be able to consume other items (chicken, vegetables…)
4) Must be a self contained utensil
5) Bowl must remain on the table
Now let’s start asking ourselves the basic questions as it relates to our problem:
1) Who is typically experiencing our problem?
2) What causes the situation?
3) Where is this problem experienced?
4) When do people have this problem?
5) Why is there a need?
These questions will help to further define the various aspects of the problem and prove to be extremely valuable throughout your entire design process. Next week we will continue on to brainstorming using our well-defined problem as a basis for generating solutions. Over the next several weeks you will see how very important a well-defined problem is to your design.
Design Process Define the Problem - To learn more about this author, visit Brian Gates's Website.
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A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to present at the International Invention Expo on the subject of design as it relates to your invention. This was a great opportunity that led to some excellent questions on how you can better the process of inventing.
Step 1 – Defining the Problem
Every product, invention or idea solves a problem in one fashion or another. This “problem” is commonly why people seek out these products and also why inventors like you continue to drive innovation. However, have you taken the time to really look at what the problem is rather than the solution? Many inventors gloss over defining the actual problem and going forward with their first design because it meets their immediate needs. By exploring and detailing the various components of what you are solving, you create the criteria to effectively judge, validate and market your product. In addition, you may discover alternative solutions that solve different aspects of the problem better than your original design.
What Should I do?
Just as a journalists asks the who, what, where, when and why for their articles you should do the same for your problem. Take for example this situation:
An individual has a cup of noodle soup in front of them and only has access to one utensil in order to eat it.
Now your immediate response to this problem maybe to use a spork. It has prongs to grab the noodles and a concaved surface to drink the soup; problem solved. But before we go on our way to sell this idea, let’s go back a step and look at what we are trying to solve. In its most basic sense our problem is: We want to eat soup containing noodles with only one utensil. From that statement we can develop this list of criteria:
1) Be able to consume liquid
2) Be able to consume noodles
3) Be able to consume other items (chicken, vegetables…)
4) Must be a self contained utensil
5) Bowl must remain on the table
Now let’s start asking ourselves the basic questions as it relates to our problem:
1) Who is typically experiencing our problem?
2) What causes the situation?
3) Where is this problem experienced?
4) When do people have this problem?
5) Why is there a need?
These questions will help to further define the various aspects of the problem and prove to be extremely valuable throughout your entire design process. Next week we will continue on to brainstorming using our well-defined problem as a basis for generating solutions. Over the next several weeks you will see how very important a well-defined problem is to your design.
Design Process Define the Problem - To learn more about this author, visit Brian Gates's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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