Idea generating techniques:

In class we made some physical representations of our idea, Timetraxx. I made a disorganized desk covered in sticky-notes as I felt that such an app could displace the need for note-taking of this type, while others built representations of computers, clocks, and other related ideas. I also started designing a possible logo for the company as we were getting low on time and I wanted to play around with what such a thing would look like. My sketch looked something like this:

(note, this is a bad MS paint rendition, and I am not an artist)

Then we began making an idea generating matrix. Mine is shown below.

	Experience 1	Experience 2
Employer	Dynamic Shift Scheduling  -allow quick changes and  notifications to employees (one-click functionality) -automatically reformat other  shifts based on pre-entered  constraints when one work  schedule changes (Dynamic data-updates)	Allow quick communications -features to allow employers to send  company-wide communications  as well as individual correspondances (TimeTraxx MassMail(tm*)) -Real-time update of schedules and the ability to change schedules at any time (TimeTraxx ScheduleSwap)
Employee	Ease of use -allow the application to run  on many different devices (Android/iOS/Windows versions) -have automatic notifications  for the employee to remind/  update employee (TimeTraxx ReliableReminder) -Simple to use and uncluttered  graphical user interface (TimeTraxx mobile App)	Allow employees to swap schedules -It is relatively common for employees to  take someones shift for them, and this  could be easily reflected in such a program  that would allow the employees to make the  update themselves when allowed (TimeTraxx ScheduleSwap)
Personal user	Reminders -allow user to be reminded of  events that they have entered  into the program (TimeTraxx Notification Assistant)	Everything in one place -Personal users can keep track of their  schedules, due dates, and other important, time-sensitive information on the app (TimeTraxx CentralCommand easily navigable start page)

* not really a trademark.

TimeTraxx MindMap

Creating a mind map made it easy to visualize all of the ways that the ideas our group has come up with can be added onto and changed. The complexity of such a map (which truly only brushes the surface) is astounding considering all of the other possible paths that could have been explored.

Project Title:
Timetraxx

Project Description:

Timetraxx is an online application for use by managers and other event and operational planners to help with the task of managing schedules such as work shifts that would alleviate the daunting task of complex input and dynamic administration.

Project Target:

Managers of large companies with many workers and dynamic shifts

ex.

Fast Food restaurants

Retailers such as Walmart

Movie Theatres

Differentiation:

The online application would allow easy input of scheduling requirements from many terminals and by many individuals, and would allow for real-time notifications of changes to all concerned, as well as the ability to check schedules from many mobile devices. We could differentiate ourselves by not charging a per-employee rate, and having easier-to-use user interfaces. Once a company is in our databases, it should not require much cost to add an employee to the system, and would alleviate the need to have pricing increase with number of employees.

Competition:

ShiftPlanning

MindBodyOnline

ShiftPlanning targets managers of firms with dynamic scheduling, as we would. They make money by charging a rate based on the number of employees that the system is set up to handle, and market themselves as an easy online solution to scheduling.

MindBody is a tailor-made business management and scheduling application which targets similar markets as Timetraxx and ShiftPlanning. They provide four separate packages based on number of employees, and differentiate themselves by the custom-made business managing tools for each subscriber.

GROUP MEMBERS:

Aaron Knutson: aknutson@hawk.iit.edu

Likes computers.

Rytis (Ray) Bizauskas: rbizausk@hawk.iit.edu

Interested in CS, IT, and Business.

Sam (Shane) Pung: spung@hawk.iit.edu

On the IIT baseball team

BUS103 Interviews

Zachy:

    Zachy found the idea of being a CEO interesting, and so she decided to get into business, and since has found that she enjoys marketing and advertisement. We talked for awhile about the college and the internet as we had been talking about it in relation to business in our other business class, and I got on the topic of what parts of business I enjoyed, specifically, finance. I used to play a good number of online games, and I found that almost all of them had some form of online economy, and instead of playing the games traditionally, I ended up playing the financial investor in online game markets, investing in items and services that I thought would increase in value given the news about future updates that continually flowed from the game development team. She too had played many of these games, and we talked about some of the newer ones for awhile while getting a little off track. 

    Without too many specifics, I found that her interests lie in the selling and promotion of products rather than their creation, which fits well with my idea later down the page. Hopefully a more specific idea is able to be fleshed out in future, but with our time together we did not get to specific business ideas.

Qin:

    Qin and I started out by talking about some of the things that we liked to do, and he mentioned sports, one of the pastimes that I have never really understood, and could not share the experience. However, I mentioned that I did a good amount of programming, scripting and website creation and he, as an electrical engineer, shared some of these hobbies. He preferred the more pure art of C programming while I am a fan of information technologies and Java, but we found that we had much in common related to computers.

    We talked briefly about software development and the possible companies that could come of them, as software is a huge industry already, and it grows by leaps and bounds every year.

Sam (Shane):

    Sam and I knew each other a little bit because of our meeting earlier in the year. We talked about the classes so far and how each of our professors had unique teaching styles, some being incredibly strict, while others were much more laid-back. Sam is a baseball player here at IIT, and he is a fan of many professional teams. That day there was a game in the stadium that stood in my vision over Sam's left shoulder, and with the end of the class coming sooner than we thought and Sam having to leave for the game, we didn't end up talking about business ideas.

My idea:

    With the growth of the internet and my personal interest with computers and business, I think that a great service to set up would be one in which our company creates custom websites for businesses who need a professional, online outlet. Competition in all sectors of the economy is fierce, and it is assumed that businesses must have a website at this point in the internet's lifetime. Many smaller companies cannot afford to hire full-time website development and maintenance staff, so the ability to hire a group to create and upkeep such a service would be invaluable to many small businesses.

Value proposition: [Name TBD] crafts and maintains customs websites to offer small businesses the professional online presence that they deserve.

Pitching resources:

http://www.slideshare.net/arey_abhishek/guide-to-a-good-venture-pitch

http://www.stengelsolutions.com/tips_10.htm

http://www.scribendi.com/advice/how_to_write_a_business_pitch.en.html

Edward L. Erickson

Mr. Erickson's experience is extensive, having served on many boards as chairman and director. He is experienced as an executive, and current holds seven board memberships, four director positions as well as being the Interim President and CEO of Stagemark Inc., among other positions. He acquired his MBA from Harvard Business School, and is an alumnus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, having earned his MS and BS from our very own school.

1. With so many positions, how do you manage your time to be able to serve each company as well as possible?

2. How did you get your first executive position, and what advice do you have to students going into business?

3. What does an average day look like for you?

Mostafa Analoui

Dr. Analoui is a well-written executive and academic, having authored over 130 publications, as well as holding the position of Adjunct Professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Dentistry. Professionally, he holds two directorships for VirtualScopics, Inc. and Calando Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and graduated with an MS from IIT and a Ph.D from Purdue University. Amongst all of his other duties, Analoui also lectures in the Europe, Asia and around the United States.

1. One point that I kept finding when I read about you was your publication history. What impact do you think your publications have had on your professional work history?

2. With many positions in both, do you prefer the business or academic life?

3. What are the major differences between working at a huge company, such as Pfizer, compared to smaller, or less well-known, corporations? Do you have to change the way you act, work, or present yourself?

Idea Generating Techniques Feedback

Random Ideation

This was my group's idea for an idea creating technique. We wanted to see how well completely random combinations of ideas would work out, as opposed to having some intelligence behind the process of creating the ideas. What worked was that we were able to show that while the process sometimes worked, it was important to have people working out the ideas. What did not work was the randomization process itself: we took too long inputting and collecting the data to randomize, and it made most of the class lose interest. To improve this, I think we should instead have our own items already input, so that we can just focus on picking out workable ideas from the random generator, rather than having to wait on the process.

Inheritance

The inheritance method was used to have each of us put into a situation where we had to think about what kind of a business would be possible to create, and all of the individual aspects of a business. What worked was that it created an in-depth look at what each kind of business would have to deal with, who their competition was and other aspects that we might not think about ourselves. What didn't work was that it made some of the ideas for business kind of vague, and most people focused more on thing like 'who their competition would be' than more obvious things like 'why is this needed, and what is our competitive advantage'. To improve it, I might give each group a product and have them brainstorm the details about a business that would sell it, to save time and keep people moving.

New Purpose

The new purpose for an object exercise allowed us to look at an every day object and think about what uses it had outside of the normal intended function. This worked well, because each group member could easily contribute and no two people would have identical ideas for such an abstract project: a water bottle would become both a hammer, and a flower pot. What didn't work was some of the objects were two bizarre to find a 'useful use' for lack of a better term. To improve this, I would use more common objects, and make people think about what kinds of new things they could do with objects that they see every day.

Wordmap

The wordmap exercise had all of us working towards one goal: starting with the idea of 'textbooks' we brainstormed some of the influences on and characteristics thereof. This worked well as the entire class was able to add ideas to one project, which made us more active in the beginning as we quickly came up with thinks to go in the web/map. What didn't work was that at one point the class got complacent, and we all felt like 'someone else will answer them' and we ended up sitting in silence for awhile. To fix this, I would suggest that they call on people if an answer is not forthcoming.

Value Proposition Examples

1. Keep track of your thoughts and classes. Notebooks help students organize their notes and keep themselves on track and have been valuable since before you were born.

2. Stay hydrated wherever you go with bottled water. Portable and practical, it is easy to take with you and will keep you running throughout your busy day.

3. Fans control air flow and keep your rooms lively and cool. Use them in windows to invite the outdoors into your home, or simply cool yourself down on a hot summer day.

                           

The Little Things

    While walking between classes today I remembered the assignment from class: instead of walking between classes in a kind of daze and ending up where I needed to be having thought about nothing for a time, I took my time to notice the little things around me. I am a fan of numbers, and so I decided to count things and over my multiple walks between classes I found some interesting information.

1. There are approximately (I might have miscounted) 300 of the sidewalk tiles (slabs?) between IIT's Tech Park North building and the Engineering 1 building on the other side of campus. It never occured to me before to think about how much work went into making the street that I walked on the way it was; how many pounds of concrete; how many people working on them. According to a cursory internet search, sidewalks should be no thinner than 4 inches, and with a rough estimate of each tile being a 3 foot square (I did not measure them) that would come to 36*36*4 or 5184 cubic inches. This comes to 129600 cubic feet for all 300, a huge number for such a small part of the city. Once again, a cursory internet search revealed that a contractor normally charges $5 per square foot, or $13500 just to lay the concrete, let alone buy the supplies.

2. On this same walk I noticed another thing about the sidewalks. Since it seemed to me that they had been there awhile (obviously I had not thought about the logistics of the sidewalk being created) I started to notice the wear on the sidewalk itself. Right away I noticed that the first 4 tiles with cracks in them were all on the left side, away from the road as you walk north. I was confused by this, and made up a hypothesis quickly that the reason was there were more places for water to drain to nearer to the road, and so the ice that normally would cause a crack in the sidewalk had a harder time forming near the road. As I walked on, however, I realized that my original sample size was much to small to make a prediction off of, and that I had fallen into a trap by trying to make an explanation fit the data. By the end, I had found that there were 18 tiles cracked, and there were 10 on the right (near the road) while only 8 on the left, and 4 of those 8 were right away. As it turns out, I don't know what caused the change from all left to mostly right cracks, but my original thought was proven incorrect.

3. I don't do much walking around the campus without some kind of distraction (like other people) except for my excursions between classes. So once again, I found myself walking from the Tech Park to the Engineering 1 building, and it occurred to me to count the trees near the sidewalk. IIT is one of the greener parts of the city, and is obviously not the kind of atmosphere that most people think of when they hear 'Chicago' so I wanted to quantify just how green our campus was. It turns out that there are around 80 trees within roughly 10 feet of the sidewalk between these two buildings. I realized part-way through my walk that there were also many different kinds of trees on our campus, but I did not look further into the types, merely the numbers.

4. One more things caught my eye as I walked between these classes, and it was the only concept that did not have to do with my counting of them in some way. I spotted numerous manhole covers along my path, and I decided to do some research on the subject of these entrances to the city sewers. Manhole covers are normally around 50kg in weight, and date back to at least the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. What I did not expect when I began researching them, however, is that the round shape of a manhole cover has much debate over its reason, sparked by an interview question Microsoft used to use: Why are manhole covers round? Originally it was meant to simply not have a single correct answer and to see how people responded to it, but now there are many solutions and they can be found, among other places, on the wikipedia page on the subject. They include:

• A round manhole cover cannot fall through its circular opening, whereas a square manhole cover may fall in if it were inserted diagonally in the hole. (A Reuleaux triangle or other curve of constant width would also serve this purpose, but round covers are much easier to manufacture. The existence of a "lip" holding up the lid means that the underlying hole is smaller than the cover, so that other shapes might suffice.)
• Round tubes are the strongest and most material-efficient shape against the compression of the earth around them, and so it is natural that the cover of a round tube assume a circular shape.
• The bearing surfaces of manhole frames and covers are machined to assure flatness and prevent them from becoming dislodged by traffic. Round castings are much easier to machine using a lathe.
• Circular covers do not need to be rotated to align with the manhole.
• A round manhole cover can be more easily moved by being rolled.
• A round manhole cover requires the least amount of metal to cover an opening wide enough for a person to get through.

    It is kind amazing the kind of thing people think about that we walk by everyday without a backwards glance or a fleeting though, but there is a world around us, from the sheer immensity of the city to the intricacies of manhole cover design, that lives outside of us, running tangentially to our routines, unseen, unappreciated, but entirely necessary.