Harvard Business Review

APRIL 27, 2018

In prior research , we at the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) found that women leave STEM fields in droves: 52% of highly qualified women working for science, technology, or engineering companies leave their jobs. We hear, in interviews and focus groups, that women are consistently spoken over and even robbed of their ideas.

Succession 14

Succession Reputation Focus Group Leadership Styles 14

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 28, 2016

Engaging with your users on a regular basis — through reporting tools built into your product, online surveys, or focus groups, for example — is a necessary step for understanding, rather than assuming you know, their challenges and needs. Collaborative, cross-functional teams.

Tools 8

Tools Engineering Rate of Return Focus Group 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 6, 2012

Why shouldn't design engineers have muses? Anyone can hire a focus group. Similarly, Caltech's Carver Mead has been a "silicon muse" for design engineers fabricating the densest and most complicated chips around. Crafting a compelling user interface for the cloud is, in its own way, a work of art.

Innovation 15

Innovation Fashion Christensen Creativity 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 24, 2012

Rolls Royce runs the engines you see on the wings of your plane. Periodic market research surveys or focus groups should be replaced by continual data collection, from all interactions between the supplier and its customers. Traditional research techniques (surveys, focus groups etc.) Observe the customer directly.

B2B 14

B2B Business Objectives Focus Group Marketing 14

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Airbnb (where Jeff used to work as a data scientist) recently ran an experiment to test the impact of a new landing-page design on search-engine ranking and traffic. This meant that they could randomize the different URLs to include the new design or not, thereby isolating the design’s effect on search-engine traffic.

Productivity 8

Productivity Products Metrics Franchising 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 16, 2017

Behind a two-way mirror, a software engineer pounds furiously on a keyboard, entering blood pressure, pulse rate, and the other vital signs that are displayed on the EMT’s wrist cuff. The driverless van is a mockup, with a foam-core dashboard. The view through the windshield is a projection. The crash victim is a dummy.

Learning-by-Doing 11

Learning-by-Doing Engineering Film Transportation 11

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Enormously more, actually, than the best survey research, focus group, or doctor's interview — the highly subjective and incomplete tools we rely on today to understand behavior. Not what they tell the world their behavior is, but rather what it really is, unedited. Scientists can tell an enormous amount about you with this data.

System 15

System Analysis Retail Focus Group 15

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

After 12 years, 50% of technical women, predominately in engineering and computer science, had switched to other fields; 20% of other women professionals had done the same. We also conducted six focus groups with midlevel and senior leaders to understand how they perceive opportunities for advancement at their companies.

Focus Group 8

Focus Group Skills Technology Review 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 21, 2011

However, managers and focus groups liked a separate scented additive compound that came out of this research stream. Working in coordination with the knowledge management group, the corporation was able to re-purpose the scent for use in another business unit. Unfortunately, the project wasn't able to hit the former target.

Supply Chain 13

Supply Chain Sample Hedge Engineering 13

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

Our research on women in the science, engineering, and technology industries shows that, regardless of gender, acting “like a man” can provide an advantage in becoming a leader in these fields. Within that framework our research has uncovered four levers that drive inclusion.

Diversity 8

Diversity Career Focus Group Energy 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2012

At Apple, for instance, employee focus groups identify key themes and issues from the surveys; employee teams then help develop solutions, which they present to store management. Perhaps more important, they feel full ownership of the results and for making progress.

Survey 18

Survey Customer Loyalty Metrics Loyalty 18

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 29, 2015

Brian Fitzpatrick joined Google as a senior software engineer in 2005, shortly after the company’s IPO. We started with focus groups drawn from both our graduate class at Northwestern University and a global high-potential program we run at Aon. One such project addressed a user’s control of his personal data.

Strategy 8

Strategy Power Idea Generation Project 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Network members readily participated in focus groups and collaborated with Gilbert’s group to develop new programs and store designs. Second, they couple the inspirational message with a real-world focus on performance. The initiative helped Best Buy increase sales and reduce return rates among female customers.

Gilbert 9

Gilbert Participative Cooper Network Economy 9

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Traditional market research generally involves unnatural acts, such as surveys, mall-intercept interviews, and focus groups. They can also glean intelligence from the exploding social media sphere, whether it consists of blogs, chat forums, Twitter trends, or Facebook commentary.

Real Estate 8

Real Estate Merchandising Retail Chemicals 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

I really do," she said to Eugen, the Oryx's chief engineer. It's not concocted, like the analysis of a survey or a focus group. I want to believe the Google data. But it's — it's — Google.". Editor's note: This fictional Management Puzzle dramatizes a dilemma faced by leaders in real companies.

Cost 8

Cost Marketing Management Sample 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 23, 2017

For computing, he relied on Amazon Web Services and Google Compute Engine. While the AI work goes on, Buscher spent over a year bringing in focus groups to see what worked, and then watched how buyers and sellers interacted (frequently, they did their sales away from Blinker, something else the company had to fix).

Company 12

Company Training Technology Wireless 12

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 26, 2014

When the industry was purporting that mobile was best served as a content engine and mobile shopping would take years to take off, we dove-in head first. My kids are my best focus group. We were one of the first to develop a mobile site, and mobile sales have grown +100% each year in the past three years.

Brand 11

Brand CTO Marketing Retail 11

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 17, 2015

Several of the great success stories of corporate ethnography have 3M engineer Richard Drew as their protagonist. “You just can’t get this depth of insight in a one-off focus group or survey,” Hadnot notes.

Document 8

Document Marketing Learning-by-Doing Travel 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 13, 2016

A team of engineers, designers, operations specialists, and clinicians was assembled and led by an experienced, well-respected physician “chief engineer” whose vision for the future of care was disruptive. prior focus groups, surveys, and Press Ganey data). Create a dedicated multidisciplinary team.

Health Care 8

Health Care Innovation Insurance P&L 8