Requirement Analysis for product design

The primary task of requirement analysis is to identify which needs are the core requirements of users. In our daily work, requirement collection is a very important task, however, in the face of multiple sources of demand (competing product analysis, user feedback, user research), how should we grasp the core needs of users? What principles can be followed?

Reverse Thinking

In the face of the many demands that do not have rules, we often come first, but we often have no bottom in our own minds. If you say this requirement is important, she said this requirement is necessary, when you encounter similar situations, you can use the "Reverse Thinking" method. The so-called reverse thinking method is to first ask questions when facing a function description, does adding this feature make sense for the product? If I leave him alone, is there any loss to the product? If you cannot figure it out for a long time, you can consider passing it out.

80/20 rule

In the current mobile device field,How to grasp users' core needsTwo famous design philosophical representatives, Hig and Zen of palm, didn't give a clear answer either. Zen of palm just gave a rule: 80/20, that is, users spend 80% of their time solving problems and constitute the core needs of the product. The remaining 20% will be abandoned directly.

Less is more

This idea came from the Bauhaus school. It was initially used in the construction field and later in the industrial design field, and Steve Jobs himself highly respected it. Especially in the use environment of mobile phones, it was subject to natural screen restrictions, the more features, the more complicated the product is. In the face of the vast number of features, users often choose to give up. In the face of the fierce battle for mobile desktop, there is just a little space to keep the product concise.
Follow the principle of "less" and "more". focusing only on the core needs of users and making them perfect and extreme is the basic principle for retaining users. Apple is a model in this regard. There are two riddles in Zen of palm.

1. How does a gorilla learn to fly?

How can a gorilla fly? Is it a flying gorilla or a gorilla? Of course not. So the orangutan should do what the orangutan should do, and the others should be handed over to the e.

2. How to put a mountain in a bowl?

How can a mountain be placed in a bowl? Do we really need so much dirt? Of course, no, so you just need to find the diamond and put it in the bowl, and then throw the stone! So much dirt!

Reasonable Organization

When we list a long list of features based on the gorilla principle, we tend to fall into the next tangle-how to organize these features? What are the core requirements of these core functions? Before that, let's take a look at a picture mentioned in Zen of palm:

This figure shows the interests of features and user experience on PCs and mobile devices. In the early stage of the product, adding features can improve the user experience, the product will appear redundant and complex. In this case, a single function may be very distinctive, but it will be harmful to the overall user experience, adding this core requirement does not cause harm to the overall user experience. Is there a solution? In simple law, I found the answer: a reasonable organization can simplify complex products. In addition, a certain organization makes it easier for users to focus on core functions.

There are too many buttons for traditional CD players. One possible solution is to remove the buttons such as fast forward, fast forward, last and next, with only the following options: Play/pause, but if this is not what I want, what should I do if I need to listen to the next one? Therefore, you cannot remove the previous or next one, but their status is not played or paused. After reasonable organization, the product feels completely different, such as iPod Shuffle 5, the last and next songs are hidden in the volume "+" "-", and the next one is the second one, and the last one is the second one. This not only makes reasonable use of space, make the product look smaller and lighter, and every time these hidden functions are discovered, it is a surprise.

Therefore, after reasonable organization, we can also summarize a demand analysis principle:Focus only on core functions, remove unnecessary functions, and hide necessary functions. Just like a multi-function knife, When you expand all the functions, it can't do anything, and when you expand only one function at a time and hide others, it becomes a multi-function knife, of course, according to the gorilla philosophy, it is best to have a simple knife without any other functions, but this is obviously unrealistic for most products with a certain number of users.

Balance

As mentioned above, functional and user experience interests. In zen of palm, the perfect balance between functionality and user experience is called "sweet spot", which is the best state, more is needed, and less is not enough. But a problem arises. When this "sweet spot" is reached, does it not need to be improved if all the tasks are completed? The answer is no. You must know that in the IT industry, competition is recorded in days, and this "sweet spot" will change with the changes in industry trends, "sweet spots" are different in different stages, that is, different stages have different priorities.

How can I grasp this variable "sweet spot? This is the most difficult point. It requires a lot of practice and a clear stage of the product. Only accurate industry analysis is required.

From: http://blog.jobbole.com/9958/