新產品難產，是新冠疫情的鍋嗎？
Verne Kopytoff
2021-02-20
在正常時期打造一款熱門產品本就是一件難事。然而在新冠疫情期間，考慮到產品設計師無法在同一個房間內工作，而且消費者需求較疫情前發生了很大的變化，開展這項工作更是難上加難。
設計公司IDEO的首席運營官伊安?羅伯茨在《財富》雜志于上周舉行的在線討論會上說：“在疫情爆發的前兩個月，我們一直在焦急地思考應該如何開展我們需要做的事情。”
然而一段時間過后，很多公司對于新的現實有了較為清晰的認識。考慮到人們會花更多時間居家生活，產品團隊對自身的工作進行了改進。他們意識到客戶休閑時光和工作時光的界限變得越發模糊，而且他們還意識到了在線購物的加速發展。
連鎖藥店沃爾格林（Walgreens）的母公司沃博聯（Walgreens Boots Alliance）的全球首席技術官邁克?瑪瑞斯卡描述了公司遇到的困境。在新冠疫情初期，公司很快發現店里的客流量出現了下滑。他的團隊不得不立即創建了一個系統，從而讓客戶能夠在線下單并于30分鐘后在店面取貨，以減少客戶在店內的等待時間。關鍵在于了解公眾的需求。
他說：“這個時期充滿了挑戰。”
微軟（Microsoft）的視頻游戲主機Xbox背后的團隊亦成為了新冠疫情的鞭策對象，而且疫情也迫使員工居家遠程工作。在正常時期，打造新游戲要求團隊面對面地交流大量的細節，這個過程難以輕易地被視頻會議、郵件和短信息所取代。Xbox的總監張海燕（音譯）說，在2020年上半年，該團隊一直在嘗試解決這個問題。她覺得情況有所改善，但依然無法取代面對面的合作優勢。
張海燕說：“這個創意流程變得更加困難。”
她還指出，Xbox用戶也改變了其習慣。尤其在疫情初期，人們的休閑時光和工作時間開始融合。這意味著人們在以前正常的工作時間也會玩游戲。
張海燕說：“人們會花半個小時玩游戲，半個小時開Zoom會議。他們真的需要放松一下自己。”（財富中文網）
譯者：馮豐
審校：夏林
在正常時期打造一款熱門產品本就是一件難事。然而在新冠疫情期間，考慮到產品設計師無法在同一個房間內工作，而且消費者需求較疫情前發生了很大的變化，開展這項工作更是難上加難。
設計公司IDEO的首席運營官伊安?羅伯茨在《財富》雜志于上周舉行的在線討論會上說：“在疫情爆發的前兩個月，我們一直在焦急地思考應該如何開展我們需要做的事情。”
然而一段時間過后，很多公司對于新的現實有了較為清晰的認識。考慮到人們會花更多時間居家生活，產品團隊對自身的工作進行了改進。他們意識到客戶休閑時光和工作時光的界限變得越發模糊，而且他們還意識到了在線購物的加速發展。
連鎖藥店沃爾格林（Walgreens）的母公司沃博聯（Walgreens Boots Alliance）的全球首席技術官邁克?瑪瑞斯卡描述了公司遇到的困境。在新冠疫情初期，公司很快發現店里的客流量出現了下滑。他的團隊不得不立即創建了一個系統，從而讓客戶能夠在線下單并于30分鐘后在店面取貨，以減少客戶在店內的等待時間。關鍵在于了解公眾的需求。
他說：“這個時期充滿了挑戰。”
微軟（Microsoft）的視頻游戲主機Xbox背后的團隊亦成為了新冠疫情的鞭策對象，而且疫情也迫使員工居家遠程工作。在正常時期，打造新游戲要求團隊面對面地交流大量的細節，這個過程難以輕易地被視頻會議、郵件和短信息所取代。Xbox的總監張海燕（音譯）說，在2020年上半年，該團隊一直在嘗試解決這個問題。她覺得情況有所改善，但依然無法取代面對面的合作優勢。
張海燕說：“這個創意流程變得更加困難。”
她還指出，Xbox用戶也改變了其習慣。尤其在疫情初期，人們的休閑時光和工作時間開始融合。這意味著人們在以前正常的工作時間也會玩游戲。
張海燕說：“人們會花半個小時玩游戲，半個小時開Zoom會議。他們真的需要放松一下自己。”（財富中文網）
譯者：馮豐
審校：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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