(Project Lead / User Research / Market Research / Product Ecosystem)
A research project (user, market, and product) to address the the issues of differing product categories within a product portfolio that is specific to future IoT and Smart Home products. The goal was to tie in three different categories of products (Smart TV, Smartphone, and Gaming/Accessories) into one inter-related ecosystem of products. This in turn would create a more well rounded ecosystem of products that deliver meaningful product experiences for the user.
The process taken in order to achieve that goal involved a series of steps.
1. Identification and Research (User and Market)
2. Development of Experiences
3. Strategy and Path
2. Development of Experiences
3. Strategy and Path
Identification and Research
As the most important part of the process, market research, identification of user routines, pain points, and delighters, would set the stage for experience development. This would then lead to a clear path for product strategy and road mapping. Market research, as it relates to consumer products within IoT, provided a targeted approach to investigating user behaviors. Then through observation and surveys, user routines, pain points within those routines, and delighted moments were identified.
Development of Experiences
Once the user routines, pain points, and delighters were identified, insights were drawn from the data. The insights provided product ideas or experiences that would lead to the creation of unique product experiences for the user. This then led to the creation of various personas (based on market research). These personas provided a means of testing the sensibilities of the product experiences. Personas ranged from single to family types, male and female types, and those with varying career status, all within a specific age group of their own.
Strategy and Path
The resulting research provided insights to a plethora of products in multiple categories that connected Smart TV, Smartphone, and Gaming/Accessories. In turn it put into mind a clearer picture of what the ecosystem would look like and set a path for a high level product road map.
