R. Greene -
You're right: it is nearly impossibly to quantify the cost savings of qualitative market research such as Innovation Games or prove that any one game is a better technique for understanding customers than another technique. Indeed, I devote some of the book to helping explain when Innovation Games are *NOT* the right approach, in an effort to combat a "one size fits all" mentality (hint: one size does not fit all).
I'm not sure of a success story that would motivate the members of the JavaRanch, but everyone is welcome to visit the stories that are posted at
http://forum.innovationgames.com/ Some of my favorites include:
- QUALCOMM Wireless Business Solutions credits the playing of several different games with helping to uncover new product opportunities, resulting in the creation of their business intelligence offerings. They also used Product Box in an internal sales training exercise to identify critical customer success factors and relate these to product benefits.
- Aladdin Knowledge Systems have used the games to address customer
- Wyse Technologies, Inc. used Spider Web to gain a better understanding of how their customers perceived the business and technical relationships between the products and services provided by Wyse and those provided by other technology providers.
- Rally Software Development used Prune The Product tree to capture customer feedback on their development plans.
- Ticketmaster and VeriSign have used Buy a Feature to prioritize features in internal teams.
- Emerson Climate Technologies Spider Web, Speed Boat, and 20/20 Vision at their 2006 Technology Advisory Council meeting to better understand market needs relative to all aspects of the Intelligent Store offering.
Is this what you were looking for?
Luke
PS. Great, tough questions. Thanks for asking them!
[Fixed the link - Dave]
[ November 03, 2006: Message edited by: David O'Meara ]
