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The design briefing process matters: a case study on telehealthcare device providers in the UK

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journal contribution
posted on 2024-07-11, 09:27 authored by Fan Yang, Gianni RendaGianni Renda
Purpose: The telehealthcare sector has been expanding steadily in the UK. However, confusing, complex and unwieldy designs of telehealthcare devices are at best, less effective than they could be, at worst, they are potentially dangerous to the users. Method: This study investigated the factors within the new product development process that hindered satisfactory product design outcomes, through working collaboratively with a leading provider based in the UK. Results: This study identified that there are too many costly late-stage design changes; a critical and persistent problem area ripe for improvement. The findings from analyzing 30 recent devices, interviewing key stakeholders and observing on-going projects further revealed that one major cause of the issue was poor practice in defining and communicating the product design criteria and requirements. Conclusions: Addressing the characteristics of the telehealthcare industry, such as multiple design commissioners and frequent deployment of design subcontracts, this paper argues that undertaking a robust process of creating the product design brief is the key to improving the outcomes of telehealthcare device design, particularly for the small and medium-sized enterprises dominating the sector. • Implications for rehabilitation • Product design criteria and requirements are frequently ill-defined and ineffectively communicated to the designers within the processes of developing new telehealthcare devices. • The absence of a (robust) process of creating the design brief is the root cause of the identified issues in defining and communicating the design task. • Deploying a formal process of creating the product design brief is particularly important for the telehealthcare sector.

Funding

ARC | IC140100023

Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Biodevices and Diagnostics : Australian Research Council (ARC) | IC140100023

History

Available versions

PDF (Accepted manuscript)

ISSN

1748-3107

Journal title

Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology

Volume

14

Issue

1

Pagination

91-98

Publisher

Taylor and Francis Inc.

Copyright statement

Copyright © 2019. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, on 23 Jan 2018, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2018.1428372. This version is distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Language

eng

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