Turning Technology Into Customer Demand

Technology and technological advancements are at the root of innovation.

But customers don't buy a technological advancement - they buy a product that incorprates technology to deliver value. "Commercializing a technology" is the process of understanding the customer, understanding the need, defining the value, and delivering.

• It's not enough to assume "customers just see the value"
• It's not enough to hope your technologists can spin and communicate a compelling story
• It's not enough to think your compelling story will be automagically carried through the design and development of the product
• It's not enough to plan for perfect execution

Product strategy, project management, and systems engineering are essential to finding your way from a technology that works on the bench to a manufactured item in someone's hand, on their lab bench, or anywhere in their life.

Product Behavior Consulting (PBC) principals have decades of market research, user experience design, product concept development, market and product requirements development, and program management, in markets as diverse as medical diagnostics, EV charging systems, drug delivery, and astronomical instrumentation. Whatever the context, our tools and techniques bring a team from "that's a neat piece of tech" to "that's a successful product."

The Road From Technology to Product

• Turning Market Situations into Market Needs
  • Question: Here’s what’s happening in the market today. What can this technology provide that would make it better?
  • Activities: Market evaluation; customer identification; contextual & ethnographic research; competitive landscaping; price analysis
• Turning Market Needs into Market Requirements
  • Questions: Who is the market? What would meet the market? What would change the market?
  • Activities: Market requirement documentation; competitive benchmarking; pricing strategy
• Turning Technology Capabilities into Product Story
  • Questions: You know what the tech can do, but what’s the product? What does it offer the customer? What’s the benefit beyond the function? How does the customer think about the product and its benefits (and its drawbacks)? How do we frame the conversation with funders, customers? How do we excite our team?
  • Activities: Technology evaluation; benefit ranking; storytelling tools
• Turning Market Requirements and Product Story into Technical Product Definition
  • Questions: What must the product do in order to meet the market need? What’s the minimum viable product? What are the nice-to-haves? What do we want to avoid? How do we talk about negatives? What are the regulatory requirements and hurdles?
  • Activities: Development of feature traceability matrix; risk analysis (technical, schedule, cost)
• Turning Product Definition into Product Requirements
  • Question: How do we ensure the product definition and spirit are carried through the design process?
  • Activities: Formal definition of the product requirements; Formal identification of risk and risk management strategies
• Turning Product Requirements into Development Plan
  • Questions: What are the right tools for design, development, and manufacturing? How are we going to actually build it?
  • Activities: Team design for design; engineering; manufacturing; Partner identification and engagement; Schedule and budget development; Regulatory strategy; Development roadmap
• Develop the product
  • Question: How are we controlling development? How are we controlling budget? How do we stay lean?
  • Activities: Schedule and budget monitor and control; Risk management; Design documentation; Design verification & test planning
• Followup
  • Questions: How did we do? Did the product deliver on the market need?
  • Activities: Design validation

What is Product Behavior?

Product Behavior encapsulates our approach to product strategy, design, and development:

• A common-sense view of a product as an active partner in getting a job done, not just a “thing”
• A process for understanding the point of a product. What’s the story that connects with the customer? What’s the story that motivates the team?
• A set of tools for capturing requirements that maintains the explicit personality of the product, its key features, and the value proposition
• A balance of design thinking (for broad consideration of market need and product possibility) and systems engineering (for formal definition and process execution)
• Processes for leading a team through design and development, moving from idea and technology-on-a-bench to market success

Fractional & Consulting Services

PBC provides fractional Product Strategist, Technical Product Manager, and Systems Engineering services, spanning the entire design and development lifecycle:

• Pitch deck development
• Product concept development
• User & market research
• Market requirements documentation development
• Competitive analysis and benchmarking
• Product and product roadmap definition
• Product requirements documentation development & maintenance
• Risk analysis and documentation
• Test plan development
• Market follow-through and design validation

Whether you're a startup needing some guidance on the development process or a large corporation looking to extend your resources, contact us and let's discuss: contact@productbehavior.com

About Us

Aaron Oppenheimer has been a product designer and developer for over 35 years. He has worked with a wide variety of companies in markets including healthcare and medical devices, scientific instrumentation, and consumer products. He has provided actionable insights to some of the largest - and smallest - companies on the planet.

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