What is Knowledge Based Product Development?
You are given a homework assignment to write a paper on the Wright Brothers. The requirements are a one page report with an introduction, three supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. Would you just start writing without any knowledge on the subject? Of course not! You would instead do some research, go to the library, search the web, gather information, and organize your thoughts.
Knowledge Based Product Development is no different. You start out with a new idea; we call it the Customer Interest. You investigate that idea to see if it makes sense from a sales and marketing perspective. If it does, you write down what you don’t know about that subject and start collecting knowledge. As with the Wright Brothers paper, you wouldn’t start writing it until you have completed your research. Same here! We need to first perform our research and gain knowledge on the subject. In many cases the knowledge will come from testing to learn what we don’t know and eliminate gaps. Once we have sufficient knowledge to be successful, we start the design. Success is assured.