Exploring the Problem Space: A Key Principle for Robust Product Design and Project Success

Ever wonder why many product designs fail or why projects don’t always come out as planned? The answer might lie in how we approach the ‘problem space’ versus the ‘solution space’.

We’re celebrating two and a half years of Quality During Design podcast by revisiting the fundamental principles that guide our product design processes, and exploring how we can apply these principles to avoid common pitfalls.

We talk about the importance of staying longer in the problem space, using quality tools for teamwork, and understanding the power of pre-work in meetings.  Listen-in to challenge our thinking and push us to rethink how we engage with new projects. Plus, gain insights on how questioning, investigating, and experimental approaches during project planning will empower you to refine your design processes.

We’re inviting you to consider how the Quality During Design methodology can streamline your design process, reduce product failures, and create more meaningful customer experiences. This isn’t just about designing products; it’s about redefining how we perceive and approach the entire design process.

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Exploring Product Development and AI Through Literature:

Insights from ‘Loonshots’, ‘AI 2041’, ‘Quit’, and “How Big Things Get Done’ (QDD Book Cast)

Ever wondered how the world of product development can be viewed through the lens of a physicist? How the future of AI will impact our existence? What a champion poker player has to say about quitting, and what we can learn about product development from an architect?

This week, we dive headfirst into those questions with four fascinating reads: ‘Loonshots’ by Safi Bahcall,  ‘AI 2041’ by Kai Fu Lee and Chen Quifan, ‘Quit’ by Annie Duke, and ‘How Big Things Get Done’ by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner.

These books have reshaped my perspective and I believe they hold interesting insights for you too. We’ll explore how these books apply to new product development projects and how they can help us do it better. I also share why I thought some were better together, read in pairs.

For those of you who love a good discussion, I’m inviting you to join my virtual book club where we can further unravel these intriguing books. Let me know if you’re interested!

So, tune in for a conversation that promises to be as enlightening as it is engaging!

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Design for User Tasks using an Urgent/Important Matrix

We’ve collected all sorts of preliminary information about our users that we’re using for a new product design. We may be faced with so much data we’re not sure where to turn first, or what design feature is a priority. There’s a simple, 2-way matrix we can use to help us sort it all out: an urgent/important matrix. We may have used it to prioritize tasks for ourselves or as a management strategy for our team. But, we can also use it to evaluate the tasks our users take when using our product.

We talk more about this matrix in the podcast, and we talk through an example of how to use it to evaluate user tasks.

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Information Development in Design, with Scott Abel – Part 2 (A Chat with Cross-Functional Experts)

Dianna Deeney interviews Scott Abel about why members of the technical documentation team should be brought into product design process earlier rather than later. And to encourage product design teams to incorporate the insights available from technical documentation professionals into their design decisions.

This episode is Part 2 of our interview. Part 1 (published earlier) was a discussion involving information development management. This Part 2 focuses on technical communication in design.

This interview is part of our series, “A Chat with Cross Functional Experts”. Our focus is speaking with people that are typically part of a cross-functional team within engineering projects. We discuss their viewpoints and perspectives regarding new products, the values they bring to new product development, and how they’re involved and work with product design engineering teammates.

About Scott

Scott Abel serves as Content Strategy Evangelist at Heretto. He also runs a consultancy called The Content Wrangler, which helps companies improve how they author, maintain, manage, and deliver technical product information to those who need it, when, where, and how they prefer it. He writes regularly for content industry publications, produces a series of content strategy-focused books for XML Press, and is a dynamic presenter often featured at content industry events worldwide.

Scott and Dianna talk about:

• Today’s approaches of information developers and how they work in project teams.
• Today’s challenges with content and why it’s not just an instruction manual. We talk about limits to the ability to scale, deliverability, personalization, and relationships with customer service call centers.
• Regulations, standards, and awards within the information developer’s world.
• How to approach, engage, and incorporate technical communication people and information developers into an engineering project.

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