What is Endineering?

‘Endineering’ is a shorthand term which refers to the practice, philosophy, tools and methods of creating consumer off-boarding experiences of a product, service or digital product. This is as opposed to on-boarding, which relates to the beginning of the product experience and involves a wealth of established industries who supply meaning, instruction and encouragement to transport the consumer from passive observer to engaged customer. The off-boarding experience takes an engaged and active customer through the final stages of ownership or usage to a meaningful ending of the product relationship – an engineered ending.

‘Endineering’ aims to increase understanding of the off-boarding experience in the consumer lifecycle, inspiring specific elements which can be incorporated into product experiences. These elements combine to mitigate problems which may occur in the last phase of consumerism. They aim to guide the consumer through the final stages of their engagement to achieve a better and less damaging ending. These improvements can be broad-reaching across environmental, humanitarian, technological, social or emotional areas.

‘Endineering’ can be applied across many factors. At a high level it draws comparisons across sectors to reveal common societal problems in consumerism. From these insights I propose principles, processes and tools thoughout the Endineering book, training and the Andend website. These can then be applied more specifically across industry sectors and inspire product development, creating tangible touchpoints throughout the customer journey. The type of transaction model a business uses at on-boarding influences their ability to engage meaningfully at off-boarding. An example is a packaging solution that empowers a consumer to return items once concluded. A further example could be a method of sharing a photo that helps the un-sharing of it later.

’Endineering’ aims to improve consumerism. Although it is not anti–business, it recognises clearly that our current pace, approach and philosophy around consumerism cannot continue. It also sees failures in our current approach to sustainability, which so often seems to be created without the consumer experience being a considered aspect.

‘Endineering’ aims to change many of the outdated and damaging practices in consumerism by inspiring a new way to look for solutions to some of consumerism’s most challenging problems.