Reinventing the TV Remote Control for a Chosen Group of Viewers

You are a product manager asked how you would redesign the TV remote control. Set a goal for the redesign, choose which viewers you are designing for, find where today's remote lets them down, and propose a prioritized design along with a way to measure whether it worked. ```hint Watch one evening Follow one evening of viewing for the people you chose, from switching the TV on to settling on something to watch to turning it off, and note every moment the remote gets in the way. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does the remote ship in the box with a TV or streaming device we make, or is it a standalone accessory sold separately? - What should the redesign achieve for the business: selling more TVs, accessory revenue, or more viewing on our platform? - Must the result still be a handheld device, or could control move partly to a phone, a voice assistant or something else? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A goal for the redesign and how it connects to the business that ships the remote - Viewer segments compared, with one chosen and the reason for the choice - Pain points drawn from real viewing moments, ranked by how often and how badly they hurt - Concepts compared on impact, unit cost and effect on the rest of the household, with a first version chosen - A primary success metric with guardrails, plus the risks of changing a device people use without looking ### Follow-up Questions - How would you test the concept before committing to a hardware production run? - How would your design serve a viewer who has used the same button layout for decades and does not want to learn a new one? - If the redesigned remote shipped and remote-related support calls went up, how would you find out why?