It’s easy to forget that behind the products you use every day are people. Sure, there are also spec sheets, CAD designs, testing labs, and budgets. But, critical to the process of bringing a product to life are people doing a very human job: they’re listening.
Sean Ahr, Porticos Director of Engineering, notes that the skill of listening carefully to customer input is part of what sets Porticos apart, from the initial idea all the way to the final production run.
Listening to Spark Creative Ideas
Sean explains that unfortunately, it’s common for engineers to approach a project from the perspective of the spec document, not the end-user. But he has found that satisfied customers are those whose needs have been noted, written down, and met in creative ways.
He describes the scene: “When you can listen to a customer’s stories, think through their potential needs, and bring them ideas they hadn’t thought of yet, you can see their faces light up.”
And that level of insight doesn’t come without a willingness to listen and empathize: it’s a constant exercise of stepping into the customer’s shoes, helping them imagine their in-the-field needs, and designing their product with that end-user in mind.
Listening from Start to Finish
In every step of the design and production process, Porticos makes a point to listen:
Product Specification Document:
The time when the largest amount of listening happens is when a team of Porticos engineers and the customer sit down and write in plain English the goals for a product. The engineers ask lots of questions and then open the floor for the customer to speak into those questions: What must the product do? What would it be nice if it did? What abuse will it take? What performance standards must it meet? Sean says, ‘Working through those questions as a team, instead of us talking at the customer, makes sure we’re focusing on what’s important to them before we start designing.”
Budget and Timeline:
It’s tedious, but teamwork and input from the customer at this phase makes sure unique needs are heard and met. A customer might have a budget limit or a date on the calendar for a trade show, and those details can shape the design in significant ways.
Conceptualizing:
Bringing CAD screens or hand sketches, Porticos huddles with the customers for an exciting first look at how this product might come together. At this stage, listening to customer feedback is critical. “We’ll give them options A, B, and C,” says Sean, “and we usually end up with a hybrid–maybe ‘mostly A, with a little bit of C.’” But that customer input–whether it moves Porticos forward or back to the drawing board–is critical to a useful final product and satisfied customers.
Prototype / ALPHA phase:
When the customer can offer feedback on tactile things like ergonomics, fitness for use, size, and aesthetics, listening closely to what they say–and asking questions about what they don’t say–directly shapes the final product. Says Sean, “This hands-on meeting with the customer gives them confidence that the product can work in volume manufacturing.”
Testing:
While customers typically know best what their products will live through, they don’t always know how to convert those situations to verification or reliability tests. Porticos helps the customer in determining which tests are best suited and developing the verification and reliability test plans.
Production Planning:
All the listening pays off when Porticos visits the factory with the customer and passes the torch. Sean says, “At this point, we’re no longer the listeners, question askers, and idea generators: instead, we’re the technical support.”
Pilot Run:
After spending so long imagining the customer using the product, Porticos is always excited to see it actually land in their hands.
Listening as Connecting
Porticos prides itself on going the extra mile to listen to customer’s needs, uncover needs they might not have even known, and meet those needs in unexpected ways. When a customer finds that their product exceeds their expectations in the field, that hard work of listening pays off.
