Understanding Customer Needs (Digital Short Cut): Software QFD and the Voice of the Customer

Leading companies around the world, including Toyota and General Electric, have practiced Quality Function Deployment (QFD) for decades. Developed in Japan by Dr. Yoji Akao and Dr. Shigeru Mizuno, QFD has two aims: to ensure that true customer needs are properly deployed throughout all phases of the development process, and to improve the development process itself. The application of QFD to software (Software QFD) began in Japan in 1982, in North America in 1988, and in Europe in 1990.