donderdag 14 oktober 2010

Kano model

The KANO model is, according to the english language wikipedia, a theory of product development and customer satisfaction developed by Professor Noriaki Kano in the 1980's.

According to www.kanomodel.com, it is a process for systematic innovation.

To start with the latter, the process has 8 steps:

  1. identify customer needs


    1. explore VoC

    2. beyond VoC


  2. translate key problems into standard problems

  3. select appropriate si tool for each problem (function modeling, root cause analysis, common sense, etc)

  4. generate ideas and concepts with appropriate si tools (si tool selection matrix)

  5. evaluate, synthesize, and select final concept

  6. detailed product / process / service design

  7. Communicate value to the customer

  8. Deliver product to customer


The name process is a better name than model: A model takes aspects of the real world and depicts them in a simplified setting, and describes the mutual relations between these aspects.
The kanomdel website does depict the steps graphically, but imho this is not enough to call it a model.

Another criticism on the kano model is that in step 4 the user has to use one of a series of tools. Now that sounds OK, but the strange thing is that one of these tools is TRIZ, which is in itself a process or method.

The description on wikipedia highlights the following categroies of product (or service) satisfaction:

  • Attractive Quality These attributes provide satisfaction when achieved fully, but do not cause dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. These are attributes that are not normally expected, For example, a thermometer on a package of milk showing the temperature of the milk. Since these types of attributes of quality unexpectedly delight customers, they are often unspoken.

  • One-dimensional Quality These attributes result in satisfaction when fulfilled and dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. These are attributes that are spoken of and ones which companies compete for. An example of this would be a milk package that is said to have ten percent more milk for the same price will result in customer satisfaction, but if it only contains six percent then the customer will feel misled and it will lead to dissatisfaction.


  • Must-be Quality These attributes are taken for granted when fulfilled but result in dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. An example of this would be package of milk that leaks. Customers are dissatisfied when the package leaks, but when it does not leak the result is not increased customer satisfaction. Since customers expect these attributes and view them as basic, then it is unlikely that they are going to tell the company about them when asked about quality attributes.


  • Indifferent Quality These attributes refer to aspects that are neither good nor bad, and they do not result in either customer satisfaction or customer dissatisfaction.


  • Reverse Quality These attributes refer to a high degree of achievement resulting in dissatisfaction and to the fact that not all customers are alike. For example, some customers prefer high-tech products, while others prefer the basic model of a product and will be dissatisfied if a product has too many extra features



Graphically their effect is:
Kano model by Berndh from Japan

These aspects also play an import role in the afore mentioned TRIZ. More on this later.

woensdag 6 oktober 2010

Nesma newsletter

This morning the nesma newsletter artived.

Exin has planned 1 more FPA examination, on nov. 23. When i looked earlier this week, they had not yet updated their calender, but nesma seems to know the exin dates better than exin itself.

There are also a couple of new downloads,
* Begroten (Estimate)
* Exploitatielasten (exploitation costs)
* Softwaremetrieken (software metrics)
* FPA in het Voortraject (FPA in the early stages of a project)
* Measure! Knowledge! Action!
* FPA in Early Phases
* Productiviteitsattributen (productivity attributes)
* Functional Sizing Reference Model
Where the pdfs are in dutch, i have added the english translation between brackets. Interesting reading stuff.