TapSwitch: Transitioning to Global Product Development
Team update, Global Product Development | By team JARAD: James Napoli, Aldo Suseno, Roger Isied, Arnav Chaturvedi, and Dominic Chiavacci
During the first few weeks of UC Berkeley’s Introduction to Product Development class, held in Jacobs Hall in summer 2017, five students set out to ease a seemingly simple challenge — flipping a switch. As we explored options for remote light switch control, we at team JARAD (an acronym of our names) soon realized just how important our roles as product designers actually were. The potential audience for our idea proved to be larger than we expected, and it soon became clear what our ultimate goal for this project was: to provide users, across a broad spectrum of mobility and abilities, the confidence to feel comfortable and in control of their living spaces. Thus was born TapSwitch.
Through rapid prototyping and continuous user research over a ten-week period, we created and designed an accessible product with a simple installation process that allows the user to control a wall switch remotely. With simple installation catered to those living in temporary living spaces, TapSwitch is a portable and affordable wall-switching device unrivaled on the market. With our passion for this product burning bright, we knew its development couldn’t simply end with the semester. When we were given the opportunity to continue this project at Jacobs Hall in the spring 2018 Global Product Development course, our path to developing this product became clear.
Transitioning into Global Product Development as the semester began, we shifted our attention to recent developments in smart home technologies. These advancements have led to solutions that place the control of in-home electronics directly into users’ hands. While these products provide convenience, there is a steep barrier to entry for people looking to outfit their living spaces. The current products on the market are expensive, require invasive installation methods, and can often be unreliable. Our focus as Team JARAD is to shift the perception of these products from a large investment of time and money to a casual everyday purchase.
We entered the course with knowledge of user insights obtained from interviews, observations, and surveys from four iterations of the user-centered design process. We understood what technical challenges faced our prototype, and how we could improve on its design. However, we knew there were still significant steps that needed to be taken in order to bring our idea to market.
From the first lecture of Global Product Development, we gained insights into just what those steps were, and the sheer concentration needed to really bring an impactful product to market. We would need to go back to the user-centered design process and completely diverge from our current solution. We could then couple these new user insights with our own and translate them into user needs. From there, we would utilize Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to specifically determine what aspects of our solutions would most impact the customer. Through all of this, we would need to ensure that our design had reliability, robustness, serviceability, environmental impact, or manufacturability in mind. These steps call for attention to detail, careful planning, and dedication to our project.
One of the most challenging — yet rewarding — parts of Global Product Development up to this point has been stepping back from the work we already completed to iterate through another round of the user-centered design process. Having to again diverge based on the underlying problem that we are solving allows us to fill in the holes in our previous user-centered design to develop an even better product. It was initially challenging to set aside our prototype after four iterations, but the insights that we got from doing that will really help us move forward with an even stronger foundation and understanding of user needs.
Follow along with Team JARAD and their Global Product Development classmates as they continue to develop their projects, drawing from expert insights, a field trip to Hong Kong and China, and more along the way. Over the course of the semester, we’ll be sharing blog posts from each student team here on Medium. In the meantime, learn more about the course here.
