Calendar · Lecture Notes
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How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services
Art: Gaston, John, (John Gaston merchant ledger) - DPLA -…, 1773 · Public domain
- Instructor
- Prof. Eric von Hippel
- Term
- Spring 2004
- Level
- Graduate
- What's inside
- 1 lecture note · 1 reading · 6 other files · 4 web pages
- Materials open
- MIT OCW
Other versions of this course
- 15.356 · Spring 2012 · Study here
- 15.356 · Spring 2004 · Study here (this version)
About this course
Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 15.356 How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services, Spring 2004, Prof. Eric von Hippel — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 22, 2026. How RedLectern is built.
Materials are grouped the way MIT organized them. A verified, course-wide order has not been established here.
Before you start
Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.
How this course was organized
What's here, and what isn't
- A lecture sequence of 11 items is confirmed. Assignment and exam materials exist too, but MIT's own order for them could not be verified, so they're shown as materials below rather than a sequence.
Not included here
5 items from the source could not be safely included:
- MIT's page format for this item wasn't recognized clearly enough to place it safely. (4 items)
- Referenced in a table, but without MIT's own verified order, so it isn't used to claim a sequence.
Materials by section
Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.
Lecture Notes
- Creating "breakthrough" products and services Download
- The Lead User idea generation method Download
- Finding out what users need: "trial and error trial and error" and "sticky information" Download
- Quantitative Market Research for Incremental Improvement Innovations Download
- Trading and revealing Trading and revealing information Download
- Shifting Innovation to Your Customers via Toolkits for User Innovation Download
Course outline
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 2: Systematic Generation of Ideas for “Breakthrough” New Products and Services - the “Lead User Method”
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 3: Finding out What Users Really Need: The “Sticky Information” and “Learning by Doing” Problems
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 4: Systematic Generation of Incremental Improvements to Existing Products and Services Traditional Marketing Research Concept Generation Techniques
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 5: “Brainstorming” and Creativity Training Techniques Lecturer: Jeff Mauzy, Principal, Synectics, Inc. Cambridge, MA
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 6: The MIT Media Lab Approach: “Build It and They Will Come.” Lecturer: Joe Paradiso, MIT Media Lab
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 7: Determining Average Users’ Needs Ethnographically and Then Developing Solutions Lecturer: Dr. Harry West, VP, Design Continuum
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 8: Why Users Share Innovations with Each Other and with Manufacturers: Informal Know-How Trading, Collective Invention and Voluntary Revealing
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 9: Toolkits for User Innovation Lecturer: John Wright, International Flavors and Fragrances
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 10: User Innovation Communities - No Manufacturer Required
Calendar · Lecture Notes
Lecture 11: Resistance to Adopting Radically New Innovations - Even in Firms that “Want To”
MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Eric von Hippel, 15.356 How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services, Spring 2004.
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Spring 2004 · Open the original course on OCW ↗
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