Researchers are getting used to hearing about the opportunities afforded by agile research and customer co-creation.  Often the terms are used almost interchangeably but, to me, they are distinct, with the latter being a subset of the former.Agile Research is a derivative of the agile development process.  For definition, I’ll use Jeffrey Henning’s recent “beg, borrowed and shoplifted” version from the GreenBook blog:

 

Co-Creation is one potential application of the agile research process. Consistent with the sharing economy and expected social reciprocity between customers and their favorite brands, customer co- creation allows customers to feel they have skin in the game.  For the lack of a universal definition, I will offer my own:

Co-Creation requires the agile research process, as the infusion of customer creativity needs to be parceled on an iterative basis.  It is a sub-set of the agile research universe. On the other hand, agile research does not necessarily imply a co-creation scenario.  It can be done via traditional surveys or online qual techniques.  It applies to any research objective that is best served via iterative reevaluation.

Agile research and customer co-creation share the idea that customer inspiration is best portioned asynchronously so that the proposed offering/solution (e.g. concept design, product prototype, etc.) can systematically evolve.

The following diagram shows the relative position of agile research and customer co-creation in the product development universe.  Co-Creation, as a subset of Agile Research belongs to both the Agile Development & Market Research circles, but is governed by the rules of Agile Development that require multiple waves of collaborative interaction.