Product Development Insights by Sito

Meta Cunder Balzanti shares the basics of the Sustainability Officer position within the company. What is the value of hiring someone for the job and what strategies can ensure their effectiveness in delivering positive outcomes?

Meta Cunder Balzanti shares her list of tools and resources to measure environmental impact and stay up to date with sustainability regulations.

A selection of reads that unravels the secret of effective leadership and user-centric design, and explores the psychological underpinnings that influence human behaviour. Presented books offer a blend of psychological perspectives, exploration of design, leadership and habit formation.

We put together a short selection of impactful reads that promise both knowledge and enjoyment. This one is not just for the design die-hards; it offers something for everyone involved in researching, conceptualizing, developing, marketing, or selling products and services.

You’ve probably heard it before; “People don’t want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole” or even better - they want to hang their family picture on a wall. It’s the basic lesson of consumer behaviour; people are looking for outcomes, not products. Today servitization is one of the best tools manufacturers can use to deliver better outcomes to clients on one hand and reap the rewards for their business on the other.

Design thinking has become a popular approach to problem-solving in recent years, encouraging teams to think outside the box and generate creative ideas. However, this process has a potential pitfall - the tendency to get teams caught up in the brainstorming phase and neglect the actual work that needs to be done. While ideation is certainly important, it's crucial to dedicate sufficient time and resources to verifying and executing ideas. This approach will lead to better outcomes and more impactful solutions.

Understanding user needs and motivations reduces the risk in decision-making during the development of products, services, buildings, systems, etc. However, navigating user engagement during participatory processes is often challenging; you may quickly end up with a wish list that not even Santa can deliver on.

Recycling is commonly viewed as the best solution for reducing waste or making products greener. However, there are several problems associated with it that we usually overlook. While good for reducing waste, our goal should be not to produce that waste in the first place. We will also explore alternative approaches that can be considered.

Product design has long ago shifted its focus from simply styling objects to delving into complex user, business and environmental scenarios. Still, aesthetics play a key role in how people perceive their surroundings and styling remains an integral part of the product development process. But what is a good form, and is this topic entirely subjective?

Caravanning and yachting are often viewed primarily through the lens of the automotive industry, where the focus is on the technological advancements of the vehicles. While these vehicles are indeed marvels of modern engineering, their true value becomes evident when they are stationary — nestled in a remote, natural setting or parked at a campsite.