Understanding Your Customer

Not many people will argue that a better understanding of the needs and desires of your customers is important.

We live in a rapidly changing world and the needs of your customer base is constantly changing as well.

All too often the Stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts, responsible for delivering a product that their Customers will use, drives key product feature decisions that will affect the ability for their Customer to be successful.

These decisions are made in a vacuum, sometimes with stale or incomplete information, predicated on opinions that are based on conjecture.

Product Feature Decisions 

… Made with Flawed Data Drives this Statistic

— Over 35% of all Features in a Business Solution are Rarely, if Ever, Used

The knowledge of what your customer needs NOW
is the most important information
for the success of your deployed product

Digital Customer Engagement

The New World Order of Business is Driving

… A New World Order of Marketing

An innovative marketing concept has made its way to the Chief Marketing Officers of the world’s largest businesses desks:

Introducing Digital Customer Engagement

The traditional views of marketing have been turned
upside down with the maturity of the Internet
and the demands of the Modern Customer

DCE and Value Based Development

The key component in the Semantic Design Value Based Development model (VBD) is the complete understanding of product feature value for your customer.

This knowledge requires a direct line of communications with the customer base during the design and development of all product developed features.

The VBD process creates four  “Preview Releases” during each of the three quarterly “Go Live” releases.

The DCE component within Value Based Development process implements Digital Customer Engagement Mobile Technology.

By linking real-time interactions with your Customer enables Rapid User Responses for managing and archiving performance issues, bug reports. new ideas and user experience changes that the newly released product features have introduced to the Preview Release Customer Base.  

The “Closed-loop Iterative Customer Acceptance Process” is driven by the DCE Mobile Applications on all three platforms, IOS, Android and Windows Phone.

These “DCE Channels“creates a direct line of communication with the Customer for targeted interactive support of the new functionality deployed.

VBD uses Mobile DCE Customer Channels

… Channels create Real-time Connections

Connections provide Value Driven Data

… Data drives Feature Story Prioritization

The Time Line | Preview & Go Live Releases

The timeline shows four teams and five Sprints that delivers as a Digital Customer Engagement Preview Release less than 30 days after the beginning if the engagement.

Every two weeks, after the initial Preview Release, a new iterative Preview Release, with feedback from the Customer Focus Teams, is released for Minimum Value Assessment.

After the fourth Preview Release, the Quarterly “Go Live” release is finalized and deployed.

The preview releases channel Customer Satisfaction Data to the development teams through the DCE Mobile Application provided to participating customer groups.

Information can be Exchanged

… Between the Teams and the

…… Customers in Real-time

Information categories listed below can provide valuable information that is critical to the planning of subsequent Quarterly Sprints.

Here are some Data Categories:

1. Bugs Identified

2. Performance Issues

3. User Experience Improvements

4. Useless Features

5. New Feature  Requests 

6. Weird Behavior and Anomalies

The information obtained through this direct line of communication with the Customers creates the “Feature Backlog“.

This  collection of Customer Requested Features becomes the source for the Product Owner to create the Product Backlog.

The Product Owner grooms the Feature Backlog for a complete understanding of the Minimum Viable Product and assigns Feature Value Points to the User Story Points.

These User Stories define the Minimum Viable Product Features and are added to the Product Backlog based on the Priorities set by the Value Points.

The Product Backlog is now ready to be used during the Sprint Planning Meeting.

The recommended User Stories for developing the Minimum Viable Sprint Product are presented to the Development Team.

The Scrum Master and the Development Team decide from the Value Points and the “User Story Level of Effort” points what will be developed and in the next “Preview Release“.

The process begins again after the next “Preview Release“.

In Conclusion 

The integration of the concept of Digital Customer Engagement completes the “Closed Loop” process critical for the success of the Semantic Design Development model: Value Based Development.

A Rapid Time to Market Release Model is useless if the product delivered does not meet the expectations of the Customer base.

By creating a component within the delivery model that supports real-time exchange of ideas and information, the Value Based Development Process delivers a viable product to the Customer at a pace that supports the “Internet Speed” mindset of most Businesses in today’s Technological world.

Just like in the Movies …

… Customers want the Sequel to a Great Movie

…… Yesterday or Sooner if Possible

Wisdom Pearl # 122 – Open Your Mind to Possibilities

There are Generally a Hundred Ways to Accomplish some Task

… But Only a Handful of Good Ways

…… Have an Open Mind to the Other Possibilities