Needs Analysis of Vehicles

Sunday, December 7th, 2008 | Uncategorized

Earlier I showed a quick needs analysis of the Prius and its competitors, like the Chevy Volt. Now I would like to broaden the analysis to include diverse forms of transport including taxis, and even the Segway.

This requires that we re-balance the needs space, to emphasize the stories we want the table to tell. Compared to the earlier needs analysis analysis, I:

added the needs to “minimize travel time,” to “protect from weather,” and the need for “exercise.”
consolidated the need for “low fuel cost” and “low maintenance cost” into simply, “low operating cost”
broadened refueling convenience to just overall “convenience”
generalized the need for “distinctive styling” to the need to “convey prestige”

Here’s the updated needs table for sixteen diverse modes of personal conveyance:

Needs satisfied by various means of conveyance

Take some time to study this chart and compare pairs of products.

A student taking the bus to campus every day might weigh the advantages of getting a bike, electric bike, motorcycle, or small car. The table concisely shows the tradeoffs of each option.

For a city apartment dweller with only an occasional need for transportation, you can compare car share service with taking a taxi.

The Segway was one of the most over-hyped products in recent technology history. This table puts it in perspective with alternatives like walking, cycling, or taking public transit. The Segway people, and the press, could have performed this analysis to get perspective on.

One thing you can see at a glance is that there is no such thing as a perfect product. Each class of product balances some needs off others. Products with solid 3′s in one area have 1′s and 2′s in another area. A key lesson of product vision is that the vision of a product is the set of problems that we choose to solve, not how we solve them. When we formulate product visions, the dimensions of needs are the dials we will turn. They establish the problems we are choosing to address, from which the designs and technologies we implement will follow.

You might not think of a scooter, a taxi and walking as being competitors, but people do make choices among diverse alternatives. This is a strength of needs analysis: it allows for logical comparisons between apples and oranges.

And besides, aren’t apples and oranges worthy of comparison? (Try doing a needs table comparing various fruit, plus other snack foods!)

Tags: needs analysis