Dealing with heterogenic needs, requirements, and desires: Providing public transportation in terms of development infrastructures

Kurzfassung

Capturing and addressing the complexity of and conflicts of interests among all needs, requirements, and desires in general and in all specific use situations in a development process of a product or service is at least in some fields challenging. In different markets, such as mobility and communication, different stakeholder groups as well as stakeholders within a single stakeholder group, even within one culture, are characterized by a wide variety of needs, requirements, and desires. This effect is even stronger in multicultural settings, such as urban areas, or when the success of products or service depends on global success. The particular field of public transportation faces this challenge as well and has furthermore the potential for a change towards novel concepts, leading to a shift towards more sustainability. The research project aims for designing a transdisciplinary development method, enhancing possibilities to solve described challenges, leading to products and services satisfying heterogenic needs, requirements, and desires. In the project the method is applied to public transportation, due to the described potential of this field. Designing the method is inspired by the development of the smartphone. The development process of a smartphone is based on cooperation of developers and stakeholders. A smartphone is a development infrastructure, adaptable by stakeholders according to their individual needs and use situations. As part of an abductive research process, it is assumed, that the solution for the field of communication can be transferred to other heterogenic markets – here investigated for public transportation. Based on this, the research project contains: (1) designing a transdisciplinary method for developing and implementing products and services in terms of development infrastructure instead of finished products or services, (2) applying the designed method, and (3) evaluating the method. In order to determine the success of the developed method, the method will be compared to currently used methods. For comparison, required time and money as well as need, requirement and desire satisfaction by developed products and services will be analyzed. The designed method is subdivided into four iterating steps: (1) disruption, (2) integration, (3) adaptation and evolution, and (4) evaluation. Step one has been included for two reasons. On the one hand, it leads to ideas how products or services as development infrastructure could look like. On the other hand, in accordance with the S-curve model and evolution theory, it adds disruption to the evolution in step 3. Step two develops the outcome of step one – ideas – further into concepts, being integrated into the existing system and realizable in the reality. Step three represents the essential concept of stakeholders adapting and further developing products and services in terms of a development infrastructure. Finally step four shows how and to what extent arisen products or services successfully satisfy needs, requirements, and desires of stakeholders. In the contribution for the ITD Conference 2017, the concept of developing products and services as development infrastructures instead of finished products or services is illustrated, by means of the designed method, as a potential solution for methodically unsolved challenges of product and service development. The method and its four steps are described in detail, containing specific methods, tools, and approaches used in the process. Methodological considerations leading to the design of the method are shown. First results and analysis of the execution of the method, at least of step one, are presented.