Developed in 1984 by Japanese Professor Noriaki Kano, The Kano Model is one of the more obscure tools I tend to use. Some of the strategists I’ve worked with know about it, but few have found a practical use for it. Personally, I love it and think it’s one of the most important things you need to have in your head if you ever find yourself looking down a list of variables ranked by importance.
The Kano Model builds on the work of American occupational psychologist Frederick Herzberg, who in 1959 studied how 200 accountants and engineers felt about their...