Last week I posted a piece on using a form, fit and function analysis in reverse engineering. This type of analysis can also be used in product or service design. The starting point is different, but the analysis works the same way. In reverse engineering, the form, fit and function analysis starts with a product or service and works backward to determine how something works. In the design of products and services the process starts with a customer need and works toward a solution.

The questions that need to be answered in design work are similar to the reverse engineering questions. The need to repeat the steps of the analysis is also similar.  The main difference is that in reverse engineering, the product or service is the focus, but in design, the customer is the focus.

There are areas of overlap in a form, fit and function analysis. This is the natural result of moving through the form, fit and function steps in the analysis process. Additionally, the steps are cyclic in that the analysis is repeated with increasing levels of detail. This “drilling down” to more granular knowledge of how something works, or should work, allows for a more robust design of a new, or refined, product or service.

As in the previous post, the questions in each category are framed around the interrogative, “What”. To repeat the analysis cycle to gain better detail, the “why” must also be discovered.  Also, a mind map tool is useful in documenting progress.

Form:

• What customer need is the product or service addressing?
• What does a solution look like to the customer?
• What is the assumed skill level of the user of the product or service?
• What tools and knowledge are typically, easily, at hand for the customer to use with the product or service?
• What is the history of the customer need?
• What other solutions are already available to meet the customer’s need?

Fit:

• In what specific situation(s) is the product or service intended to be used?
• What are the specific features of the product or service that the customer will consider critical to quality?
• Who will use this product or service? (Who is the customer?)

Function:

• Looking at the product or service’s internal processes, what will it do?
• Looking that product or service’s internal processes, how does it do it?

The above questions are a starting point and will get more specific as more knowledge is gained. It is simply a matter repeating the analysis cycle until it makes sense to move forward on a prescribed course of action.

There is a lot more detail to the form, fit and function method of designing products and services than this post can cover. To learn more, check out my Lean Six Sigma book titled, “Lean and Mean Process Improvement”.