Word Association and Weird Ideas

From waffles to sports shoes and other crazy ideas, the chance connection method for ideation has proven itself before. In class we tried to use this method, and to start with a random noun we went to a random-noun-generator online. At first we got Daffodil and we decided that probably wasn't a good starting word. In hindsight, we may have been wrong.

What we decided to go with instead was the noun 'attitude' which is much less concrete than a noun like waffle or daffodil. We ended up having many variations on the theme of expectation, mindset and many more. Essentially, there was little variance in our associations and we had issues coming up with ideas based around words like mindset.

Off the top of my head I came up with one jokingly related to daffodil and I think it is this that illustrates best why we should have started out with something less abstract than attitude. Essentially I whipped up off the top of my head something along the lines of:

"use the fibonnaci sequence spiral for ordering things like the leaves on a plant or the seeds in a sunflower to organize objects in the application in a way that everything is visible and compact to save space"

Of course I was kidding at the time but that is the kind of thing that we should have been coming up with. With what we actually did, we got almost nowhere and even though we had more time than others because our "How Might We's" did not need to be revised, we didn't get very far into the 'crazy ideas' part of class.

On a separate note, at some point someone said 'crazy isn't really my thing'. I thought this was interesting because the way I looked at it, if crazy was anyone's thing, would it be crazy?

During class we pored over our various interviews looking for similarities and patterns that might illustrate what future users of TimeTraxx may want. We came up with a few very common themes, which propelled us into thinking about possible solutions.

These themes were:
· Ability to easily quickly access/add/manage tasks no matter
  location/device
· Synchronization with Google Calendar/Tasks
· Relevant reminders/alerts
· Deal with a long list using priority

The first one is the problem that I personally have had the most issues with throughout my attempts at managing my time more efficiently. From notebooks to excel sheets and calendars, I always find that the tools take more time to use than they save, and when you cannot access the tool that you rely on, it can be stressful and destructive. This is the issue that I personally think the most time should be spent on, as users will not find the tool useful if they cannot save time using it.

Many users specifically mention Google Calendars. This points out a few things about the future of TimeTraxx. First, much of what Google Calendars does seems to work quite successfully and we may benefit from adapting some of their ideas. Secondly, they may be a stark competitor to such a start-up.

While less common that the first two, reminders and issues with priorities in long lists came up a few times each. To combat the issue of long lists, it seems quite natural to simply include a priority system and allow users to sort their tasks in to customizable categories. However, the tasks of non-intrusive and relevant reminders may prove more of an issue. How might we create a reminder system that does not interrupt a meeting, but still gets its message across?

Overall this weeks class was quite productive, although I believe that some of the members could participate a great deal more than they did. It might not be necessary, as we were able to find a good deal of themes without the full attention of everyone, but for their learning as well as the health of the group, it may be an issue in future.

Looking at themes in our interviews provided great insight into what users THINK they need, but we were unable to come up with any 'unmet needs' that lay buried beneath the literal surface of their words. Hopefully with more time and a better understanding of our users, we will find our 'secret sauce' that will jettison the project into a place as solid as Google Calendars.

Reflection 1: Frameworks

During class we looked at three different frame works for thinking about various ideas and projects.

The first, the POEMS framework, was interesting in its own right. I feel as though it allows a group to really nail down what the important factors in their success are. There is very little room for being vague using each of the five sections, People, Objects, Environment, Message and Service. This could definitely be useful in any group I am in, as the rigidity focuses the users on figuring out exactly how their project will interact with the team and its users in various ways. Although, I felt that 'message' lacked the qualities of the others and had a little too much room for interpretation. Rather than message, I feel METHOD might be more useful: how will you deliver the product,  how will it be made, how will your service be better than others, and in general HOW WILL IT SUCCEED?

Back to the second in a moment.

The third, the user journey, was what we spent most of class toying with. From only a few minutes of using it, I really felt like I got inside the 'customer's' head better than I had ever before. You really have to think like your users, and figure out what might be difficult for them, why they would want your services, and how you can make your product better for the only person that matters, the user. Many different paths can come out of the user journey, and it might still be difficult to find all of the intricacies of your user base, but the more tools you have, the better you will understand your market.

The second one, though, was the one that really made me think. We didn't go over the 5 Why's in class as much as the user journey, but more than anything else I found the 5 Why's an incredibly intelligent way to get to the root of the problem. It is not enough to ask why you want some service or product to be made, you must understand why your users would want it, and to know that, you need to know what causes their need, and why it hasn't been fixed and why and why and why ad infinitum. The 5 Why's made me really think about getting to the very heart of a need; it focuses on the reasons for something rather than the something, so that the creator can understand and tweak their offering (or, if used for personal use, understand their problem).

Interview with Abdul Mahdi

• How do you manage all of your tasks? (word document, personal calendar, planner, etc.)
I use a combination of all the above but mostly google calendar


• What do you like about your current task management system?
It alerts me when it’s time for a different task and keeps me very organized



• What do you dislike about your current task management system?
Because of the alerts it at times disrupts meetings



• What parts of task management are easy/difficult?
Google calendars are very easy to set up and most importantly, it syncs with all my calendars….no difficulties yet


• What would be the ideal task management service/app?

I am a bit torn because I like the alerts of Google Calendar but dislike the fact that it disrupts other meetings…So some kind of silent alert (which I’m not sure how it’ll work) would be nice.

Interview with Cannon Peterson 
Restoration Manager at NorthStar Cleaning & Restoration

• How do you manage all of your tasks? (word document, personal calendar, planner, etc.)
Memory and excel sheet with list of tasks and when I need to do them


• What do you like about your current task management system?
Everything is easy to read and check, and is always available to me at my desk.


• What do you dislike about your current task management system?
Adding significant information can be hard, as excel is not the best medium for keeping track of long text.



• What parts of task management are easy/difficult?
Adding new entries and removing old ones takes longer than it might, and I do not get reminders.


• What would be the ideal task management service/app?

Ideally everything would be done for me somehow, but realistically I like my current way. If I were going to improve something, I would like to have reminders and be able to access my plans anywhere.

John Pergrossi
Regional Actuary at Travelers Insurance

• How do you manage all of your tasks? (word document, personal calendar, planner, etc.)
I made my own desktop application. I add tasks and times to it on my desktop, and it reminds me with a noise when something is coming up.


• What do you like about your current task management system?
It is quick to create tasks and anything that I do not like I can change myself.


• What do you dislike about your current task management system?
Nothing currently, although I haven't played with having it alert my phone.



• What parts of task management are easy/difficult?
Since I am near my desk consistently, having my to-do list on my desktop means I never forget. However, when it gets full, my desktop can get cluttered.


• What would be the ideal task management service/app?
I need something that isn't clunky. Most of the bigger calendar applications online like Google Calendars are hard to use for me because I have to learn their system, download them or open a browser and load their page, so having it on my desktop at all times is nice because I know exactly how it works. The only thing to change would be presets, so adding common tasks is immediate.

Interviewing

After doing an interview with Abdul Mahdi (which is posted on the TimeTraxx Google+ Community page) I had a few thoughts that I wanted to put down in some concrete form.

1. Getting an interview can be difficult

There are some ways to mitigate this issue, and we went over a few in class. The one that really hold true, in my experience so far, is that it is important to 'rope them in' before you actually get to the meat of any request. When I emailed Abdul Mahdi and others about helping us with some primary research in time management, I initially sent a large wall of text, with many qualifiers (...If you have time, etc.) and posted the questions in initial email if I was going to be unable to meet them in person. I didn't get a single response that way, but when I sent a short message along the lines of "hey, would you be willing to answer some questions about xyz" I found that it was much easier to start a conversation, and once started, people don't tend to just stop talking to you.

2. Knowing the interviewee is important

I only vaguely know Abdul Mahdi from some of our meetings and his having come to the bus100 class I took last semester. However, when I emailed some people that I knew better, I found that responses were faster in coming, and I am currently speaking with some faculty that worked at my high school.

TimeTraxx Primary Research:

I have emailed Abdul Mahdi of the IIT Career Managment Center to set up an interview, and will be going in this Monday when he has scheduled hours to ask him about his use of time management tools and techniques. Regrettably, I was unable to set up the interview for this past week, and will have the interview completed before Spring Break.

Research Questions and Possible Participants:

Possible Participants:
Nik Rokop
Matt Bauer
John Twombly
Abdul Mahdi
Ryan Miller

Questions:
Identify what techniques, services, or lack thereof participants currently use.
Find themes or common occurrences and identify similarities.
Ask participants what they like about the time management system they currently use.
Ask participants what they would improve about their current time management system.
Ask participants what their ideal services would be like.
Explore what issues their past time management systems have had.
Identify reasons for lack of use for certain products or services.