Critical design issues for the development of Smart Home technologies
Sam Solaimani, Harry Bouwman, Fernando Del Caro Secomandi · J of Design Research · 2013
Critical design issues (CDIs) are a prominent topic in the literature on Smart Home service design and engineering. Smart Home technologies (i.e., products and services) have to meet one or more of these CDIs in order to become or be perceived as being valuable for customers and providers. However, the CDIs mentioned in Smart Home literature are extremely heterogeneous in nature. Moreover, it is not evident why some CDIs are included and others are not. Based on multiple theoretical concepts from various disciplines including system engineering, human-computer interaction, strategic management, and innovation management, three perspectives are proposed, focusing on the customer, provider, and interface of a system or artefact. By using these perspectives, a large number of CDIs are identified and clustered. The CDIs in question help Smart Home designers, engineers and providers: 1) consider a vast range of CDIs that may be critical to the intended technology; and 2) encourage them to apply a multi-perspective approach to meet the needs of customers and providers as well as the technological requirements.