Thoughts on the Process of Feedback Seeking input is necessary to producing products customers will value. Unfortunately, everyone has opinions, which are individual views on any topic. Without qualification, these can be very disruptive to process. Qualification and effective opinion processing Qualify the individual's vantage point All feedback is good, when properly logged and qualified. What works for one customer may not work for others. Lumenique can assist in evaluating customer input and establishing a perspective on what it means and where the greatest opportunities might be. Seek feedback using controlled inquiry Surveys and feedback gather ad-hoc lacks consistency and makes evaluation very difficult. The best input will come from a disciplined process, using minimal controls. This starts with establishing what is being asked for, and of whom. Ignore outliers No matter how perfect the process, there will be opinions and feedback contrary to the mainstream, often disrupting process, and raising doubts. Unfortunately an inspiration looks like an outlier, as it too will often fall outside the mainstream. Avoid over analysis Reading feedback is difficult, and often leads to over-analysis of an idea or product. This is particularly true of new ideas not already apparent in the market. Don't let inspired new ideas die from analysis paralysis. Never sell a concept in the feedback process Feedback is only valuable when it comes from a first appraisal, cold to the purpose of the product. Selling a concept during the feedback process pollutes the input, making any response suspect. Was the response to the concept, or the sales pitch? If a concept is truly good, and well targeted, it will should also be self evident. Throw out concepts with soft responses If the feedback process returns mediocre or poor responses, toss it and try another. Ideas that require a lot of push to move in the lighting market rarely succeed. Better to cut the losses at this point and move on to other, hopefully more actively reactive ideas. Deadline induced errors Introducing a product on deadline is important. However, when the deadline takes precedence over proper development, errors are made that can be very costly to resolve. Best to set realistic deadlines to start with, then invest the time and discipline in completing the processes on time.