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Innovation comes from knowing what your customer needs, before they do.
By Simon Raik-Allen ABC Technology and Games, Opinion
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Early on in my IT career, I was given a piece of advice that has always held me in good stead, 'if you want to build great products, know your customer'. I would take it one step further and say that great products anticipate the needs of your customers, and make life much easier for them. The genius of Steve Jobs was not that he revolutionised the PC or even the music industry, but that he accurately predicted how his customers wanted to listen to music, access the internet and even make phone calls, before they did. The mistake often made in software development is focussing on new features or 'something new you think will be useful for others', which fails the 'understand your customer' and 'anticipate their needs' tests. Just because it's new and simplifies a task doesn't mean your customers will find it useful. Even if you go and ask customers what they want, they will often request a particular feature that doesn't get used when the software goes live. When you go back and ask them why, the answer is typically that they thought that it would have been useful but now that it's there they realise it's not. Sounds frustrating, doesn't it? Here's what I have learnt about customers from all this. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Put simply, show them the software, revise and show them again and after more revisions, show them one more time. Customers lack the technical knowledge to come up with practical out-of-the box ways to improve the software they use. Henry Ford, the inventor of the car, summed it up perfectly when he said: "If I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said, a faster horse." Without showing them working models, IT professionals are merely guessing how consumers will interact with a given product. But for success to be repeat-able, there needs to be a straightforward process in-between showing the customer. The answer comes in three parts: knowledge, analysis and evolution. To start with, 'know' your customer. You need to understand their challenges, how they cope with them and how you can make life easier. This can only be earned through constant interaction with your customer base and sound research.

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Next analyse what you have learned. Map out how they currently use the software, chart out processes, identify and distil patterns, commonalities, inefficiencies, waste, and what features they value. Next, draw on your own experience and knowledge to establish what you actually think they 'need'. Then take it a step further and anticipate what they will need next. Finally, show them, get feedback, and refine. Create more mock ups and take these back to your customers, and get their feedback. Use this feedback and your knowledge, and build a new set of mock ups to show them a third time. It helps to employ an agile methodology to remain flexible and be able to do this in stages. Does this sound time consuming and expensive? Well, that is the price of providing true value to your customers.

Innovation comes from knowing what your customer needs, before they do.
Warm-up Exercises 1) Writing in your Reading Journal and Discussion Write your answers to the following questions and then discuss your answers with a partner or in a small group. a) What software programs do you frequently use on your laptop or PC? b) What software or apps do you frequently use on your phone or tablet? c) Do you think you could identify ways to improve the software or apps you use? Why? d) How do you think companies identify ways to improve their software and apps? Word Power Add these words to your vocabulary list in your reading journal or vocabulary notebook/file. Find each word in the text where it appears and study that sentence. The number in brackets refers to the line where it appears in the reading. anticipate (6) revolutionised (revolutionized) (10) interact (32) distil (39) refine (43) agile (46) Pre-reading exercises 1) Identifying Vocabulary in Context. Below are five excerpts from the reading. Use context clues to write the best definition possible for the word or phrase in bold type. Underline any key words that helped you to form your definition. After youve finished, look the word up to see how close you were to the real definition. After that, add it to your vocabulary list in your reading journal or vocabulary notebook/file. a) Here's what I have learnt about customers from all this. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Put simply, show them the software, revise and show them again and after more revisions, show them one more time. My definition:

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b) Customers lack the technical knowledge to come up with practical out-ofthe box ways to improve the software they use. My definition:

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c) This can only be earned through constant interaction with your customer base and sound research. My definition:

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d) Create more mock ups and take these back to your customers, and get their feedback. Use this feedback and your knowledge, and build a new set of mock ups to show them a third time. My definition:

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2) Preparing to Read and Making Predictions a) Based on the title Innovation comes from knowing what your customer needs, before they do, what do you think this articles main topic will be?

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Post-reading exercises 1) Comprehension Checks. Write brief answers to the following questions. a) Why does the author believe that customers cant successfully identify ways to improve software? b) Why does the author think that IT professionals cant successfully improve software without feedback from customers? c) What process does the author advise IT professionals follow in order to develop software that is useful and relevant for their customers?

2) Discussion. Discuss the following questions in groups. a) Do you agree with the idea that customers cannot successfully identify ways to improve software? Why or why not? b) Imagine you have been asked to improve the KAIST Moodle. a. How would you interact with the customer base (students and staff at KAIST) and research how they use the Moodle? b. How would you identify useful improvements? c) Choose a software program or app that you frequently use. a. What are its strong points? b. What are its weak points? c. Try to think of one innovation or improvement for this program. Writing exercises 1) Summarizing. In your own words, summarize lines 31-46. Be sure to focus only on the key points. 2) Writing. Choose one of the options below. Use your notes from the group discussion. a) Write a paragraph that explains how you would conduct research to identify useful improvements for the KAIST Moodle. b) Write a logical division of ideas paragraph that describes the strong and weak points of an app or program that you use. c) Write a paragraph that explains how you would improve an existing program or app. Extension Exercises 1) Group Presentations. Identify a weak point about an app or program and design a potential solution, or identify one way in which an existing app or program could be improved. In your presentations, briefly introduce the app or program, outline its strengths and weaknesses, and then present your proposed innovation.

While listening to other groups presentations, take notes and provide feedback at the end of each presentation. After receiving feedback, discuss in your group if or how you should modify your proposed innovation.