The House of Quality

The House of Quality (HOQ) is a popular brainstorming framework used by product development teams to link customer needs to product features. This tool allows team members to visually and systematically analyze customer requirements and desired features for a product or service, identify relationships between the two, and prioritize development efforts based on those relationships. The HOQ structure consists of four main components: the customer requirements matrix, quality characteristic matrix, correlation matrix, and prioritization matrix.

The customer requirements matrix outlines the most important needs that must be met in order for customers to be satisfied with a product or service. It typically contains two columns - one listing customer-defined criteria such as cost, design, performance, etc., and another listing all possible responses ranging from “not at all important” to “extremely important”. Once these criteria are established and agreed upon by stakeholders in the project, they can be used as benchmarks against which new products can be measured.

The quality characteristics matrix are then created based on the customer requirements identified in the first step. This part of the HOQ links each requirement with specific aspects or features of a product that will satisfy it - including materials used, design elements like shape or color scheme, etc. This portion helps team members think more concretely about how their designs can meet customers' needs when combined with different components of an end product.

The correlation matrix connects each quality characteristic listed in the second step with other characteristics that may impact its success - either positively or negatively. For example if one feature increases cost but also improves performance significantly then it could be seen as a positive correlation while if another feature decreases reliability but reduces complexity then it could be seen as a negative correlation . By considering potential interactions between different features early on in the design process teams can avoid costly mistakes down the line by making sure their decisions align with overall objectives for each product.

Finally, the prioritization matrix helps teams determine which features should take priority during development based on their importance level according to customers and other factors like cost or time constraints. By creating this chart teams have an easy reference point for what needs should be focused on first when building out an end product or service so they don't waste resources unnecessarily on low priority tasks instead of high value ones.

For example if a team was designing a new smartphone they would use The House of Quality framework to identify what attributes were most important to users (e.g., battery life), how those attributes could best be achieved through design choices (e.g., using larger capacity batteries), how certain choices might impact other areas (e.g., increased battery size leading to increased device weight) ,and finally where priorities should lie given all these considerations (e..g focusing on increasing battery life over reducing device size). In addition to being helpful for assessing user preferences The House of Quality also offers insights into competitor offerings which can help inform decisions around pricing points or unique selling points within an industry context .  

In addition to its practical applications The House of Quality is also great for encouraging collaboration among stakeholders during brainstorming sessions . Its visual format makes it easier for everyone involved in a project understand connections between ideas quickly allowing them to make informed decisions faster than traditional methods .

A brainstorming framework that links customer needs to product features, and includes the weightings of customer needs. This allows the innovators to translate the opportunity offered by the customer’s problem into a product to fix their problem. The best way to build a house of quality is to use a template.

Related Keywords: Customer Requirements Matrix, Quality Characteristic Matrix, Correlation Matrix, Prioritization Matrix