Towards a theory of product design specifications

The product design specification is an important element in a product development project because it defines the target to be met. One requirement on the product design specification is to articulate and communicate the aspects, which makes the product attractive seen from the users' viewpoint. In the design methodology literature we find guidelines and methods to compile a product design specification.

The contributions are based on the common underlying assumption that it is meaningful and the only feasible approach to interpret the result of a need analysis into a set of technical specifications, which express the customers¿ need and perception of value. In this paper we will scrutinize this assumption.

We outline the roles and tasks of the product design specification in order to identify the requirements on a theory of product design specifications and we identify existing theory elements to build such a theory of product design specifications upon.