During week 3, we had an online session with Milestone Studios and our mentors to explore how to make a social impact. I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t have the class physically, because we could have more interactions with the studio as well as our mentors if it were a face-to-face meeting. Still, I gained many insights from the class and now have a clearer view of what to do next.
We started the class by discussing unmet social needs. After seeing some examples of how people overcame those challenges, we were asked to brainstorm the problems that we had encounter in our life and how we overcame them. I was shocked by this activity. I have always considered myself to be a person who has creativity, yet during this exercise, I was unable to think of anything that fitted the criteria. I have had the cases where I identified the problems, yet the solutions that I found were usually too complicated, or I myself didn’t have the technical skill to realize them. Seeing the simple solutions in the examples, I reflected on my way of thinking. In the future, I should try harder to pinpoint the core of the problem so that I can come up with more affordable and more accessible solutions.
Another activity that led to many thoughts was writing the opportunity statement. This is related to the defining stage in the design thinking process. Two new words that I learned was analysis and synthesis. The analysis is breaking down complex problems into smaller, easier to understand pieces. The synthesis is combining small insights into whole ideas. We applied those two concepts when we created the opportunity statement. Filling in the statement, we sparked ideas that we didn’t consider before. Previously when we prepared the presentation slides, we had more plans for Ron and only a vague direction for Ryan. As we brainstormed the opportunity we could have with Ryan, we realized “improving the ability to multitask for people with limited mobility” would be an area with great potential. This idea could benefit not only people with limited mobility when they do tasks such as filming and drawing, but also the general public who may need to accomplish tasks with fewer limbs. In the class, we didn’t have the opportunity to talk with our mentor. Later, I plan to interview him in more depth. One technique that I think would be helpful is the conversation starter which we studied in the reading. I believe this would be an excellent way for us to see how our mentor reacts and we can identify more possibilities.
I am Huan Wu, a leadership-oriented undergraduate student studying Accountancy, Supply Chain Management and Information Systems/Information Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
I chose to major in those areas because I am a person who likes to learn new knowledge continuously and take on challenges. The challenges bring me excitement, as I enjoy the feeling of using my expertise to tackle hard issues, find insights and initiate change. I believe having an understanding of different fields allows me to have a broader perspective when I look at issues in business. I aim at improving myself and learning skills to initiate change and make real impacts in the world in the future.
My LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/huan-wu-0507/
Hi Huan,
You are not the only one who found the activity where we were asked to identify a daily-found challenge that we faced and how we solved it surprising! I personally could not even think of a simple daily-met problem. However, I think we were just overthinking. I’m sure we had many different challenges we faced in our lives that we solved using a simple daily object.
I like the point that you took away from the activity though. At times, I feel that we are pressured to come up with such a unique solution that we miss the importance of simplicity. After all, the point of creating a solution is to be able to easily solve the problem. I think we should continue to keep that fact in our mind as we continue to design a product.
I really liked how you touched on both analysis and synthesis. It is fascinating how we initially need to break a down to its most components by analyzing. Subsequently, we then synthesize many possible solutions and workflows we may think of to create a lasting solution. We’ve had the concepts of affordability and accessibility stressed to us, so I think it’ll be important for you to synthesize with this in mind. Not every solution will be a feasible solution when we are looking to make things cheaper and easier to obtain.
Hi Haun,
I think it is very cool and smart that your team is going in the direction of widening the scope of your audience. I was reminded of assisted tech such as glasses when I read that you all are looking to find multitasking solutions for people with limited mobility and the general public. It is common for people to want to enhance their lives even if they may not necessarily need the product. I am excited to see what your team produces.