Objective 2: Ascertain current understanding of UCD in Botswana

The researcher explained and emphasised the importance of separating the end-user and the customer. The end-end-user was defined as a person using a product, while the customer was described as a person purchasing a product. Furthermore, the researcher explained to the participants that the end-user can also be the customer.

The person purchasing a product is not always the user of the product. Are there efforts to go beyond the purchaser and get in-touch with the end-user? - Attempts to find out if participants can differentiate between the user and the customer/

purchaser. All participants answered this question, 56% participants answered YES to getting in touch with the user and the remaining 44% answered NO, to making efforts to go beyond the customer to get in-touch with the end-user. Upon giving a YES/NO answer, participants were then asked to give reasons for their answers.

However not all respondents gave reasons for their answers.

 YES, reasoning

Out of all respondents that answered YES to this question 85% gave reasons why they found it necessary to go beyond the purchaser and get in-touch with the end user. The reasons given were further clustered into two groups, obtaining user-needs (14/23) and educate the end-user (9/23).

 Obtaining user-needs: The user is important to understanding the design problem, is there a need for a product? And/or finding out what the user expects from a product etc. The majority of the participants thought getting in-touch with the end-user helped obtain user-needs and to obtain product feedback. Moreover, the end-user is able to provide reliable product feedback, giving valuable information regarding in-field product

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performance, which the company would have never obtained from within.

“This way the design team will get un-biased information on the product from the user. It is the end-user who interacts more with the product and therefore precise information would be gathered,” G/9/16. To confirm customer satisfaction and if there are any queries they can be addressed,”

TA/1/16. Product feedback and user-needs are essential for continuous product improvement and development.

 End-user education: the second group of respondents that made an effort to get in-touch with the end-user were looking to educate and build a relationship. Since education is a two way process it can be said that the company will not just be educating the user, they will also learn from the process. Again, this relationship is the basis an on-going research and development that is essential to continual product development. “Certain care and attention with regards to maintenance and handling needs to be relayed to the end user. Often this is overlooked and results in product failure,” G/6/16. “To protect the purchaser & build-up a business

relationship,” TA/3/16. User education is essential as it may improve product’s user experience and may lead to better product reviews and word of mouth.

 NO, reasoning

The majority of participants that reported not making effort towards getting in-touch with the end-user gave reasons for their answer. The reasons given by the respondents can be categorised into two groups, the customer is the user (12/18) and customer & industry standards give sufficient information (6/18).

 Customer is the user: The majority of the respondents did not bother to enquire more about the user and assumed the customer is the end-user. Therefore, is a high possibility of the purchaser not being the end-user.

“They are the same person,” FI/17/16. “The user and the customer are always the same person,” G/2/16. This question was rephrased on the next study in order to find out if participants enquired feel the need to go beyond the customer to get in-touch with the end user.

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 Customer & industry standards: the remaining respondents reported that the customer and the industry standards gave sufficient information to represent the user. Clearly, these companies do not consider the end-user important to the PDP. These companies fail to understand the

customer may not always relay true user-needs and that the industry standards target a much larger group thus cannot be used to target individual users. Correct user needs gives a company a competitive edge over the competition; it allows the product produced to be much more suited for a particular user than the next company. “These products are made to comply with industry standards and are therefore made

accordingly,” FI/10/16. “Due to costs we usually deal with the purchaser who generally would relay usability issues to us,” G/1/16.

Although, 56% of the respondents admitted to making efforts to go beyond the purchaser/customer to get in touch with the end-user; an overwhelming majority of the participants agree that incorporating the user into the PDP is desirable and that the user can effectively share ideas within a PDP. Figure 30 clearly show the participants in this study are aware of the importance of incorporating the user into the PDP; furthermore, Figure 31 shows the participants also overwhelmingly agreeing that the user can effectively share ideas with the NPD team. It is evident that participants believe incorporating the user in a PDP is important. Also, an overwhelming majority of the participants agree that the user can effectively share ideas with the NPD team. So they can see the value although they do not share a view on how this value is achieved.

Figure 30: Incorporation of the user onto PDP.

Figure 31: Users ability to effectively share ideas with the PDT.

Very important Important Slightly important Neutral Slightly un-important un-important Not important

Strongly agree Agree Slightly agree Neutral Slightly disagree Disagree Strongly disagree

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This is a good starting point towards investigating user-centred approaches to design practice in Botswana, (objective of the PhD). The results show recognition of the user’s importance to the PDP; furthermore, the results show the importance of the user at all stages of the PDP and that the participants think the user can effectively share ideas with the NPD team. These are important building blocks to practicing UCD. However, a small number of the participants hinted at some kind of user involvement during the PDP. User involvement was unstructured, haphazard and had little benefit to the companies PDP.

A large majority of the participants believe it is important to involve the user at all stages of the PDP, see Figure 32. The companies that answered Slightly-unimportant to Not-important were in just two industries Graphic design (G) and Furniture & Interior design; however, other than that they have nothing in common.

This further emphasises the presence of important basics to implementing UCD strategies in Botswana.

Figure 32: Importance of involving users at different stages of the PDP.

A total of 46 responses were obtained from asking, how does your NPD team know what the user wants in a product? These responses were further clustered into four groups, Consultation with the user (15/46), Consultation with the customer (7/46), Consultation approach (17/46) and Designer knows best (7/46).

 Consultation with the user: NPD team consults with the user in an effort to understand what the user expects in a new product; the NPD team also informs the user on what is possible or not. Despite having acknowledged the importance of involving the user at all stages of the PDP in question 15, the majority of these companies only conducted this consultation at the beginning

Very important Important Slightly important Neutral Slightly un-important un-important Not important Analysis

Synthesis Simulation Evaluation

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of the PDP. Some of the comments included; “Through intense evaluation of the end user,” FI/9/18. “Communication with the end-user,” TA/4/18.

 Consultation with the customer: Consultation with the customer is conducted to get to what the end user wants. A closer look shows that these respondents were more inclined to product commission (3/7 Product commission and 4/7 Both Product commission & Batch production) thus against the researcher’s expectations of batch production. Also, as expected five of the seven companies did not go beyond the purchaser to get in touch with the end user (Question 16). “Information is relayed to us through the buyer,” FI/10/18. “Understanding what the customer wants to sell to the user,”

G/7/18.

 Consultation approach: Respondents in this group mainly gave insight into how users/customers communicate their ideas with the NPD team. The product brief is the beginning of the consultation process explaining what the customer/user wants in a product; the brief consists of text, pictures, drawings and market research. This front loaded consultation leaves room for misunderstandings that may lead to product delay and cost increase.

However, a small number of companies continue the consultation throughout the PDP until product delivery. “Product brief” FI/17/18. “Customer demand patterns,” FI/11/18.

 Designer knows best: This group believed there was no need to consult with the user. Companies in this group are from the two industries [Graphic and (Furniture & Interior) design] that hired the most qualified designers. Some of the statements include, “User always want convenience and safety,” G/1/18,

“User needs something new and changing,” G/4/18. “Our products usually have similar qualities which makes it to be user friendly,” FI/6/18.

The overwhelming majority of the respondents reported involving the customer in the PDP. Despite not being familiar with the term UCD, most of the respondents followed the saying “the customer is always right” and were able to practice some form of UCD. Again, customers are mostly involved at the beginning and at the end of the PDP, to basically get the customer needs and for usability testing. With this approach the stakes are high if the customer is not happy with the product. The

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remaining participants (10%) did not involve the customer and were expected to be focussed in batch production, however (4/5) of these companies reported being product commission focused companies.

To investigate how the NPD team knows what the customer wants in a product, a total of 47 responses were recorded for this question. The responses were further clustered into two groups, consultation with the customer (41/47) and customer/market research (6/47).

 Consultation with the customer: 87% of all respondents reported that consultation with the customer was essential to understanding what the user wants in a product. Consultation involves communication between the NPD team and the customer and starts with the customer briefing the NPD team regarding the product they want made. Again, the majority of these consultations were only performed at the beginning and end of the PDP. The customer is only needed to clarify what they want at the beginning of the PDP and validate the final product. Thus, the customer is perceived to be less important in the middle stages of the PDP. However a small number (2) of respondents did involve customers throughout the design process. “Sit and discuss (brainstorm on how the product can be),” G/10/17. “We communicate with the customer. They normally write the specification of the product,”

TA/2/17. “We meet with them prior to orders and do a design of what the end product will look like and thereafter if it is quantity ordered we make one sample. When the customer is satisfied we do the rest,” FI/18/17.

 Customer/market research: The remaining respondents know what the customer wants through customer/ market research. Some of the methods used to collect this data include the use of questionnaires, benchmarking with the competition, monitoring latest trends and training customers on how to use a product. However, the research seems to be done in a casual manner and the information obtained cannot be expected to be reliable.

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By conducting market research it is assumed that a company will be willing to know more about the user; therefore more willing to adopt UCD approaches to PDP. The majority of the respondents reported doing some kind of market research, see Figure 33; however most of the research seemed to be ad-hoc and not organised.

Figure 33: Companies with a history of market research.

6.3.3 Objective 3: Explore training needs of companies in Botswana in