Dr. Don Rickert, IDSA is Managing Partner and CEO of ALL lines of business (LOBs) of Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC, which does business primarily under the name Don Rickert Research & Design.
We are a Research and Design firm that provides New Product Development (NPD) services to companies that want to create a successful new product (or fix a flawed or outmoded existing product). Much of our work is in the basic areas of interactive media (e.g. websites) and online transactional systems, such as those used in the financial services and supply chain industries. We do, however, often assist in the development of physical products (i.e. THINGS). There are separate portfolios that focus on physical product development for clients as well as self-funded products (www.AdventureRowing.com, Musical Instruments and Electronic/Techno Musical Gear).
Our most effective consulting engagements usually begin with Ethnography (observing and interviewing people on their own turf). This is necessary so that we can see for ourselves what is missing in your customers' lives—opportunities for you to fill critical gaps between what is and what could be.
Next—we work with our clients' teams to transform those previously hidden opportunities into breakthrough products. See a summary of our process on this site.
Some of the methods we employ, which are all described in detail on our main website, are:
- Usability evaluation
- Card-sorting studies and analysis to determine optimal terminology (e.g. names for buttons and controls, etc.)
- Observing real people doing real things with current versions of OUR ClLIENTS' products and competitors' products (ethnography, depth interviewing, etc.)
- Prototyping and/or model building
- Interviewing (structured as well as Depth Interviewing)
- Questionnaire design, implementation and analysis
- a host of other special techniques, all described on our website
