1. New Products Management
Chapter 5
Problem-Based Ideation

2. Approaches to Problem-Based Ideation
Routine Market Contacts
Sales call reports
Service department records
Complaint files, etc.
Problem Analysis
Scenario Analysis

3. Problem Analysis: General Procedure
1. Determine product or activity category for study.
2. Identify heavy users.
3. Gather set of problems associated with product category.
Avoid “omniscient proximity” -- rate importance of benefits and levels of satisfaction.
4. Sort and rank the problems according to severity or importance. Chart 5.3

4. Problem Analysis Applied to the Telephone
Figure 5-2
Move across rooms or buildings.
Phone peddlers.
My arm and ear get tired.
Loudness of bell.
Disruptive instrument.
Can’t see body language.
Making emergency calls.
Wrong numbers.
Fear of what ringing is for.
Those “menus.”
Keeping the unit clean.
Keeps falling to the floor.
Get entangled with cord.
Finding it in dark.
Getting privacy in house.
Who “out there” hears me?
Get past message phones.
Looking up numbers.
Busy signals.
Hard to hold.

5. Problem Analysis: Sources and Methodologies
Experts
Published Sources
Contacts with Your Business Customers or Consumers
Interviewing
Focus groups
Observation of product in use
Role playing

6. Scenario Analysis “Extending” vs. “leaping”
Using seed trends for an “extend“ scenario
Techniques:
Follow “trend people”/”trend areas”
“Hot products”
Prediction of technological changeover
Cross-impact analysis

7. Solving the Problem Group Creativity Methods/Brainstorming
Principles of Brainstorming:
Deferral of Judgment
Quantity Breeds Quality
Rules for a Brainstorming Session:
No criticism allowed.
Freewheeling -- the wilder the better.
Nothing should slow the session down.
Combination and improvement of ideas.

8. Brainstorming Techniques
Brainstorming circle
Reverse brainstorming
Tear-down
Phillips 66 groups (buzz groups)
Delphi method