The first idea that comes to mind when I think about what I learned from the group project is the fact that customers do not know what they want. Even when customers specifically and explicitly ask for something- they may not actually want whatever they are asking for. I saw this in a couple lessons throughout the semester, but the idea really sank in during my project. For example, in the airline industry customers constantly ask for more leg room. The benefit of more leg room is often ranked as high as price in customer surveys and customers will comment that offering more room on a plane will affect their purchase decision. However, when American Airlines overhauled their planes to offer more leg room for every seat they saw that very few customers made the switch or even noticed the difference. Even though customers’ responses insisted that legroom was very important, customer actions proved that price is much more important that legroom during the purchase decision. In my class notes, I have the concept written down as “**Stop asking customers what they want: Do NOT ask about features; ask about results, benefits, or needs.” The importance of this concept became clear during my project. When our customers (High School Males age 15-17) were surveyed, every single responder insisted that they would want a Television in their bathroom. However, they also noted that they did not care what the bathroom looked like, they had little involvement in the bathrooms use and design, they used the bathroom in a purely functional style, and they usually did not spend more thirty minutes in the bathroom at a time (not even enough for the average television show). Lastly they had no desire to increase their time, use, or involvement with the bathroom- they wished to continue the in and out use, and because of this attitude it was clear to our team that a television would not fit our customers’ needs even though they are all asking for a television. A television would provide the attractive features, but not the right results, benefits, or needs for our customer.
Next, the group project was a great benefit to me when it came to learning and understanding innovation, specifically the six ways to innovate. Creating our own product was a challenge for our group that we met and achieved. Our group would not have been as successful without the semester’s learning about innovation. My notes define innovation as, “Innovation= Applied creativity to business or customer,” and lists the six ways to innovate as, “Substitution, Combination, Inversion, Elimination, Exaggeration, and Reordering.” Our group had a good idea for the product we would create, but the lesson on innovation helped me to really cement our idea into a solid product. Our product, TheSponge, used a combination of several different existing technologies: internet, radio, wireless capabilities, waterproof speakers, and customizable web-accounts as well as the elimination of connector chords and the need to personally manage and update content in order to create a brand new and unique product. The six ways to innovate provide an interesting and structured approach to innovation.
Along the way, the project was a very positive experience. Overall, my group worked very well together. We were able to communicate effectively and accomplish every task easily. Out of the group of four, three of the members made significant contributions towards the completion of the project, and the project could not have been done without input from those three. However, the fourth member showed a distinct lack of interest, initiative, and dedication to the team that became obvious through their quality of work and absence at team meetings. Regardless, our group of three was still able to work efficiently and effectively, and we managed to create a quality final product as well as quality products throughout the semester. The feedback we received from Professor Walls helped us to advance our ideas as well as provide our team with support when we were already moving in the right direction. The process of the project was a valuable learning experience that I will be able to transfer to other classes, and the experience with my team was positive and enjoyable overall.
