I’m deeply convinced that it’s essential for R&D engineers and medical device customers like surgeons, nurses, and other HCPs to interact closely.
If you’d like to know how I arrived at this conclusion, you’ll only need to continue reading; perhaps you too will see reasons with me.
I realized that today it is almost impossible to find someone who insists that close contact between medical device users and R&D staff is unnecessary.
However, I’ve often wondered, “why then are R&D engineers not spending time with their future customers?”
Although I still don’t know the answer to this question, I will try to explain why R&D staff should visit customers in today’s post. And what they should know beforehand.
A MedTech Anecdote
When I joined Medtronic, a colleague told me a story regarding the former CEO.
In his narrative, he mentioned that when Bill George became the company’s CEO in the mid-90s, he attended an angioplasty where the surgeon had a lot of problems performing it due to a poorly designed catheter.
After this “epiphany,” Bill George required all engineers and designers to attend at least one surgery a year to collect direct customer feedback while using Medtronic products.
His instructions turned out to be valuable and helped the company to bridge the gap between the engineers, designers, and their customers.
Why Is It Important For Medtech R&D Engineers To Spend Time With Customers?
Today the practice of having Medtech product designers directly in contact with users is much more developed compared to the mid-90s.
And the method called “Gemba” (go and see) developed by Toyota’s engineers is still popular, recognized to be very effective, and applied in many different industries Medtech included.
“Your Most Unhappy Customers are Your Greatest Source of Learning”
Bill Gates
This quote should be an eye-opener about the obligation to collect feedback from customers. And this obligation is not only for the marketing and sales but also for R&D staff since understanding and satisfying customer needs is a key factor in developing a medical device.
It Elicits The Customer’s Needs.
When a company thinks of upgrading product features or adding new products to the portfolio, it should determine them based on customer needs and customer perspective.
And to get the customer’s perspective, needs, and wants, there is only ONE approach, which is collecting the VOC (voice of the customer).
Among the different methods to gather the VOC, customer observation or ethnographic research is definitively one of the most useful. And I have already examined it in this post.
It Promotes Contextual inquiry.
Contextual inquiry, another name for Gemba, is a type of ethnographic research that involves observation and interviews of users in their natural environment to gain a profound understanding of working practices and behaviors.
It is a useful technique for R&D engineers to meet and interact with customers during the early stages of a new feature or product. This research data is critical in shaping design choices such as requirements, features, architecture, and development strategy.
More so, interviewing and observing the customer in conjunction with the marketing colleagues could be very powerful in developing alignment and common understanding of key requirements and product features.
Suggestions on how R&D Engineers can connect with customers
To get the most of the visit to the customers, the R&D staff members should be able to do the following:
- They must be good at asking questions and listening to responses.
- They should be briefed by marketing and/or sales about the relevant details of the end-user and the marketplace.
- They should understand the medical condition and treatment they will see.
- They should have a clear objective and be aware of the fact that customers tend to refer to problems and features in relation to a product.
- They should remember to show respect for the entire environment and not only for the customer.
Conclusion
Although it is natural for R&D staff to focus on their own tasks in product development, designers must overcome this tendency and develop an active interest in their markets and sympathy for the device’s end-user.
The impact of customer exposure is significant, especially when a development team is still trying to map out the product and its features. Later in development, product testing will be a good opportunity to continue learning from the users.
Overall, the enhanced relationship between R&D staff and end users can make the company’s products more successful (by better responding to the needs of its customers).
So I ask, how much time does your R&D staff spend with customers?
Let me know in the comments below. To learn more about sales and marketing for the medical device sector, please subscribe.