新产品难产，是新冠疫情的锅吗？
Verne Kopytoff
2021-02-20
在正常时期打造一款热门产品本就是一件难事。然而在新冠疫情期间，考虑到产品设计师无法在同一个房间内工作，而且消费者需求较疫情前发生了很大的变化，开展这项工作更是难上加难。
设计公司IDEO的首席运营官伊安•罗伯茨在《财富》杂志于上周举行的在线讨论会上说：“在疫情爆发的前两个月，我们一直在焦急地思考应该如何开展我们需要做的事情。”
然而一段时间过后，很多公司对于新的现实有了较为清晰的认识。考虑到人们会花更多时间居家生活，产品团队对自身的工作进行了改进。他们意识到客户休闲时光和工作时光的界限变得越发模糊，而且他们还意识到了在线购物的加速发展。
连锁药店沃尔格林（Walgreens）的母公司沃博联（Walgreens Boots Alliance）的全球首席技术官迈克•玛瑞斯卡描述了公司遇到的困境。在新冠疫情初期，公司很快发现店里的客流量出现了下滑。他的团队不得不立即创建了一个系统，从而让客户能够在线下单并于30分钟后在店面取货，以减少客户在店内的等待时间。关键在于了解公众的需求。
他说：“这个时期充满了挑战。”
微软（Microsoft）的视频游戏主机Xbox背后的团队亦成为了新冠疫情的鞭策对象，而且疫情也迫使员工居家远程工作。在正常时期，打造新游戏要求团队面对面地交流大量的细节，这个过程难以轻易地被视频会议、邮件和短信息所取代。Xbox的总监张海燕（音译）说，在2020年上半年，该团队一直在尝试解决这个问题。她觉得情况有所改善，但依然无法取代面对面的合作优势。
张海燕说：“这个创意流程变得更加困难。”
她还指出，Xbox用户也改变了其习惯。尤其在疫情初期，人们的休闲时光和工作时间开始融合。这意味着人们在以前正常的工作时间也会玩游戏。
张海燕说：“人们会花半个小时玩游戏，半个小时开Zoom会议。他们真的需要放松一下自己。”（财富中文网）
译者：冯丰
审校：夏林
在正常时期打造一款热门产品本就是一件难事。然而在新冠疫情期间，考虑到产品设计师无法在同一个房间内工作，而且消费者需求较疫情前发生了很大的变化，开展这项工作更是难上加难。
设计公司IDEO的首席运营官伊安•罗伯茨在《财富》杂志于上周举行的在线讨论会上说：“在疫情爆发的前两个月，我们一直在焦急地思考应该如何开展我们需要做的事情。”
然而一段时间过后，很多公司对于新的现实有了较为清晰的认识。考虑到人们会花更多时间居家生活，产品团队对自身的工作进行了改进。他们意识到客户休闲时光和工作时光的界限变得越发模糊，而且他们还意识到了在线购物的加速发展。
连锁药店沃尔格林（Walgreens）的母公司沃博联（Walgreens Boots Alliance）的全球首席技术官迈克•玛瑞斯卡描述了公司遇到的困境。在新冠疫情初期，公司很快发现店里的客流量出现了下滑。他的团队不得不立即创建了一个系统，从而让客户能够在线下单并于30分钟后在店面取货，以减少客户在店内的等待时间。关键在于了解公众的需求。
他说：“这个时期充满了挑战。”
微软（Microsoft）的视频游戏主机Xbox背后的团队亦成为了新冠疫情的鞭策对象，而且疫情也迫使员工居家远程工作。在正常时期，打造新游戏要求团队面对面地交流大量的细节，这个过程难以轻易地被视频会议、邮件和短信息所取代。Xbox的总监张海燕（音译）说，在2020年上半年，该团队一直在尝试解决这个问题。她觉得情况有所改善，但依然无法取代面对面的合作优势。
张海燕说：“这个创意流程变得更加困难。”
她还指出，Xbox用户也改变了其习惯。尤其在疫情初期，人们的休闲时光和工作时间开始融合。这意味着人们在以前正常的工作时间也会玩游戏。
张海燕说：“人们会花半个小时玩游戏，半个小时开Zoom会议。他们真的需要放松一下自己。”（财富中文网）
译者：冯丰
审校：夏林
Creating hit products during normal times is difficult enough. Doing it amid a pandemic, when product designers are unable to work in the same room and consumer needs are vastly different from the pre-COVID era, makes the job exponentially harder.
"For the first two months of the pandemic we were scratching our heads about how we were going to do what we needed to do," Iain Roberts, chief operating officer of design firm IDEO, said last week during an online panel hosted by Fortune.
But with time, many companies are getting some clarity about the new reality. Product teams have revamped how they work to account for people spending more time at home. They've learned that customer leisure time and work time are blurring together, and they've taken into account the acceleration of online shopping.
Mike Maresca, global chief technology officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance, the parent of drugstore chain Walgreens, described the scrambling involved. Early in the pandemic, his company quickly noticed the decline in foot traffic in stores because of COVID. His team immediately had to create a system that allowed customers to place online orders and then pick them up in stores 30 minutes later, reducing the amount of time customers had to spend indoors. The key was understanding what the public wanted.
"It's been a challenging time," he said.
The team behind Microsoft's video game console, Xbox, has also been pushed by COVID and how it forced employees to work remotely. In normal times, creating new games required teams to hash out a lot of the details in person, a process that isn't easily replicated by video conference, email, and instant messaging. During the first half of last year, the team focused on trying to fix the problem, said Haiyan Zhang, chief of staff of Xbox. She feels that it has improved, though advantages remain to working together in person.
"That creative process is more difficult," Zhang said.
Xbox users have also changed their habits, she added. Early in the pandemic, in particular, people's leisure time and work time started to blend. That meant more game playing during what were normally work hours.
"People would spend half an hour playing and half an hour on a Zoom call," Zhang said. "People really need these breaks."
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