This course has challenged, enlightened and inspired me in ways that no other class has done because it encouraged me to think in an uncomfortable way. I felt myself step out of my comfort zone numerous times throughout this course. The course material and work load was not difficult, but it did require allot of invested time for thinking. As it was pointed out in one of our readings this semester, people do not allocate time to think. I am one of them and this course forced me to allocate time to think, process and analyze the information we had gathered over the course. Allocating this time was extremely beneficial because I was able to get a full understanding of our project and mission, not just a surface level understanding. Here are my three main takeaways.
1. Step out of your comfort zone.
a. The idea of creating a product that could potentially change the lives of people was daunting. I put pressure on myself to try and create something that was revolutionary. As demonstrated when we did the I-phone prototype in class, I kept coming up with ideas that were already in existence. It wasn’t until we began to go through the process that my team and I were able to come up with unique and innovative ideas. This proves how necessary and important the design thinking process is.
b. Interviewing and moderating a focus group forced me to step out of my comfort zone. I was nervous to how would they react to my questions. Am I asking the right questions in the correct way? Once I got comfortable talking to others about the subject, we were able to create a conversation which led to more of a story. This story led to our most insightful and important thoughts. I had no idea that encouraging someone to tell a story would lead to such great insight. I will be more comfortable for future interviews/focus groups because I learned how to listen, encourage a conversation and foster a welcoming environment.
2. Follow the process.
a. I am the type of person who wants to “cut to the chase.” Take out the middle man and get to the end result. This step by step process taught me patience and the value that each step can bring. I learned to trust the process. We never would have come up with our idea had we not done each step. Yet, it is not even simply “doing the step.” This was a process where each step led to new research, ideas and data to analyze and think about.
3. Listen.
a. This course taught me the importance and value of listening. I would like to think of myself as a good listener, but I am not comfortable with silence. It was a good thing that this was brought up before we began interviews, or I would have filled that silence with my words. Embracing the silence encouraged the people I was interviewing to talk more!
b. People have the tendency to want to over talk others. I saw this happening with the members of our focus group as they all wanted to express their thoughts. I also felt the urge to simply tell them about our idea, how to work our prototype and just get their “yes, great idea!” about our design. I wanted my idea to be their idea. I wanted to make them understand it, accept it, embrace it and support it by telling them about our prototype. If my team and I had not drafted our focus group guide, which emphasized and reminded us to listen, this may have happened. We truly listened to their insight and kept an open-minded, unbiased approach which allowed to get insightful feedback.
No more steps left to accomplish?! I will admit, I am sad that this semester is over. I have learned allot from this class that will positively affect my life. The five life lessons this course has taught me are:
1. Be a good listener
2. You are your biggest critic so do intimidate yourself from expressing ideas
3. Allocate time to think
4. Go off script
5. Communication is key
This class was the most well-paced project that I’ve worked on in the business school. Most courses have a culminating project, but this course was divided into two parts. The first half of the semester was focused on well-being and gathering data. The second half allowed us to use our findings to create a prototype. Most students wait to do project work at the end of the semester, but in this course we started working on our project within the first few weeks. I believe this led to a better outcome, a true understanding of the material and a sense of pride in the work we had created. Thank you for giving me the tools to think more creatively and I hope to continue this innovation experience in Sustainability next semester.