How Smart are Your Design Inputs?

Design inputs, and design controls in general can be challenging to get right, according to Jessica Lyons, a customer success expert at Greenlight Guru. "There's almost an art to it.  I find that most of the people I talk to struggle the most with how to define user needs and design inputs," Lyons told MD+DI. "They tend to fall into two camps - those who over specify their inputs and those whose inputs feel more like user needs. It's a very important distinction." Lyons spoke at MD&M Minneapolis about the importance of design inputs and shared some tips for attendees on how to get them right up front in order to save time and headaches down the road. At the end of the day, design inputs are more than just a regulatory requirement or a box to check, she said. "Your design inputs shape your design outputs, design verification, and can even affect your design validation. Insufficient or over specified design inputs can have a really big impact on being able to successfully bring your device to market on time and on budget," Lyons said. Using prototypes is an important part of this process. Lyons said prototypes provide an opportunity to test out ideas, and in turn, design inputs. "You can figure out if you're going to be able to make something easy to use with informal human factors/usability testing. Even just giving the prototype to another employee can provide a lot of great insight.Â...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: MD & M Minneapolis R Design Source Type: news