brianmtran-blog

[brianmtran-blog]

Process Journal #9 - Process Reflection

Reflect on how you can make improvements to the structure of the creative problem solving process to improve the outcome of each phase in order to get better overall results and summarize those ideas in a new post in your process journal.

The creative problem solving process helped our team understand what problem we wanted to focus on and how we could solve it. Some stages took longer than others and were not as straight forward. I think that for the overall process, there could be some changes to get the results we wanted quicker. This process and the way our team worked may not fit with other teams, as each group is compiled up of unique individuals.

What stages can be removed, and what stages need to be added?

After going through all the steps, there are a few steps that could be added and taken out.

In my opinion, the accept phase could have been removed for this class. Everyone knows that they need to accept that changes are needed, so this step could be combined with the analyze phase. Under the analyze phase, I think it could should be rephrased as “research and analyze.” In order to analyze anything, you would data, which would come from the research. After evaluation, I think another round of implementation and evaluation would be necessary because there may be different prototypes to test. Implementing the first time will not always work out as planned.

What methods and techniques are mandatory for each stage of the process?

I think that there are a few things that should be mandatory for each stage of the process. For the beginning of each stage, the objective should be stated and understood by each team member. Although each stage states what should be done, the objective can explicitly state what to get out of this stage regarding a certain topic. Once the team goes through the process, there should be a reflection from all the team members. This allows everyone to communicate their thoughts and what they got out of the process. If there is misalignment between people’s thoughts, this is a good time to set things straight and get everyone on the same page before moving forward. If there is still no agreement at the end, maybe the previous objective or reflection from the stage before can help guide the team the right way. This may take longer but it could make each step more effective.

[brianmtran-blog]

Conceptualize It

Subject: Future of Work

Create and present a visual rendition, model, simulation, wireframe, flowchart, or prototype of the solution. This is your opportunity to imagine the best ways to visually communicate the outcome of your project.

What does your implementation look like?

Using our previous process journal posts as inspiration, we decided to create a style guide. Justin took the first steps of just looking at the the definition of impact, using the way the word was split up.

As a team, we came together and defined the brand mission, core principles, brand personality, and mood board. These items would serve as the basis of how we run our operations, design, marketing, and more. Before Alyssa started the design and mockups, the team also created a flow chart of what the user would see and how they would interact with the solution. After this was finalized, Alyssa created mockups of the application and the user flow. Although the user would most likely start from the desktop, it made more sense to create the mobile version first and translate that to desktop rather than the other way around. As a team, we went through the first design iteration, seeing how we could make a few tweaks. 

One example was how we transitioned the colors from a gradient of magenta (feeling like love) to a gradient of orange (feeling warmth). The team also made minor changes like matching the font of the header and box text in addition to the order which the content popped up. We had to keep in mind that the first version of the solution would just connect people to other individuals and passion projects. Later on, the solution would provide online collaboration tools or access to different API’s, making communication and seamless for the users.

How will people interact with it?

Our users would interact with our solution digitally first on the web (or on their smartphone if they live the on-the-go lifestyle). They may be searching for different jobs to pivot to or discover various ways to pursue their passion through their work. After discovering potential passion projects to work on, the user would apply and get connected to the individual or group that posted the position. The user would then be able to continue communicating with the other individual or group on their smartphones through the application. Both parties can communicate and agree upon how they will execute the project together. The user would either learn something new by working with others or contribute with their expertise and passion. After using the solution for various projects, individuals would then be able to see a list of previous projects they worked on and the current projects they are working.

Another way that the user would interact with the solution is by posting opportunities either as an individual or as an organization. After setting up their account, they could post the name of the project, some background information, and what type of positions are needed. Individuals would then apply to these postings and communication would start between the various parties, discussing how the project will be split up.

Through many projects, users could earn money by working on projects they are passionate about or apply their skills to non-profit projects.

Use Case Scenario

The Pivotor - Jane

Jane is the VP of finance at a large fortune 500 company. She started her career there straight out of college and has built her way to the top for over 15 years. Jane knows that she is good at running the company and its finances but knows that there is only so little she has left to learn. She wonders what her life would have been like if she pursued her passion, drawing and designing graphics. During her free time, Jane does design different art pieces and share it with her family. After constant feedback from her family about pursuing her passion, Jane decides to look at potential ways to spend more time designing outside of work.

One day, she googles and discovers imPACT, a solution that allows you to connect with others and pursue your passion project. Exploring more of the front page, she sees the option to create a profile, which entails to some simple information like a profile picture and an introduction. There are some options to include some of her social media links like LinkedIn and Twitter. She puts that her professional experience is in finance but her passion is in design. Below this, she finds a empty gallery where she can showcase her previous artwork. After finishing her profile, she searches the keyword “design”, discovering a wide range of opportunities to contribute to.

One project that real captures her attention is web design through a small e-commerce startup, but she has no experience at all in this particular field. Out of curiosity, Jane applies for this opportunity, and is automatically connected to the startup and is able to introduce herself and why she is interested in a chat. Moments later, she receives a response from one of the representatives. They looked at her profile and are very impressed by her artwork. Seeing her potential, the startup offers her the opportunity to work and learn from one of their UX designers since they need a lot of help.

Excited, both sides connect on the best practices for work and communication, slowly transitioning away from the app chat. The startup closes the position and Jane’s profile now shows her working on the current project. Their agreement is that she can work on it after work hours and on the weekends. Jane now has the opportunity to continue her stable job while learning web design after hours.

Once the web design project is over, Jane’s profile shows the previous project and the web design she worked on. Thankful for the opportunity, she realizes that her company needs to revamp their operations and utilization. Looking for a operations consultant, she asks her team to post a position on imPACT, looking for someone who is passionate about optimization and business strategy. They find a match and go through the same process that Jane went through previously.

What are the processes or systems involved for how it functions?

Through Brian’s leadership, our team was able to develop the UX design of the process and system of our app and website platform. To see the live flow of the application, Alyssa utilized Adobe XD, testing various layouts and combinations. In order to make this solution go live, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration from the technology side. Some design solutions that could be used to create the final mockups could either be Adobe Illustrator or Sketch. To build the website, the team could either build the code from scratch or build off a framework like bootstrap. The pros of using bootstrap would be keeping the design liquid and mobile responsive. Javascript and python would be a few languages that would help run the solution. Leading to the mobile development, we think making the application iOS specific first would make sense since the majority of our target market uses an iPhone. Later on the roadmap as our product grows globally, we would create an android specific application Since this application is data input heavy, we would need to create a reliable infrastructure. Although on the pricier side, AWS (Amazon Web Services) would be the most ideal, being able to store and process data at a fast rate. They would also maintain the servers needed to store and run the data. Later on in the roadmap, these servers would be capable to run Machine Learning algorithms (AI).

Click here for larger image

With so much data being involved, the data tables would need to be structured correctly. One thing to take into consideration is how the data will be used from the user’s needs and the organization’s needs. The data may look the same but the intentions of the data need to be specified in order to make the solution work seamless.

The website would need a domain and be hosted while the mobile application would need to be posted into the app store in order for the users to reach the solution.

Who are the primary stakeholders involved and what is their perspective on the solution implementation?

Individual Freelancers - The opportunity to participate in a project aligned with their passion.  The ability to pivot careers with a mentored learning experience without the heavy risk.

Corporate Organizations- The opportunity to discover new talent, to assemble new teams of people with new ideas and to execute projects that people are passionate about.

Non-Profit Organizations-  The ability to outsource work from high- profiled creatives and freelancers that are passionate about the organizations mission and work.

Start-up Organizations-   Low Risk outsourcing of talent to achieve tasks and projects that are outside the initial budget constraints of an organization.

imPACT Team-  Contribution to the Future of Work and how we work.  The ability to facilitate connections between the individual and the large organization through passion projects.

[brianmtran-blog]

Process Journal #8 - Evaluation

Reflect on the methods and techniques that are most appropriate for evaluating the performance of your groups implementation and summarize those thoughts in a new post in your process journal. 

There are different ways that our team can evaluate the performance of the implementation. One way to evaluate the success of the implementation is by crowdsourcing. Reaching out to the same groups from our previous poll, we can record data and analyze whether our solution is having impact or not. By reviewing our feedback, we can either improve on any negative experiences or pivot our solution if needed. The team needs to go into this process with a mindset that change is ok and that iterations are needed. Another way to evaluate the performance of our implementation is by looking at our roadmap and comparing it to our current progress. If we are ahead or behind, the group needs to think and reflect whether the solution is where it is supposed to be at the moment. We may not align on the progress of the solution and if that happens, all of us will need to backtrack and review each step of the creative problem-solving process.

How do you assess the outcome of the various phases of the creative problem-solving process that your project has gone through?

Example of a service design blueprint above.

One way to reflect on how decisions affect each other is by building a service design blueprint. The overall first line shows the journey of how the user interacts with our solution. The next line below would show what steps are needed in order for the user to have that experience from our side and their side. Each line would go more into detail on how to make the previous step possible. By having this map, it can help us see where the pain points are and how we can mitigate those spots. When we evaluate the performance of the solution, this service design blueprint can help us prioritize what to work on first and how to split the tasks.

[brianmtran-blog]

Business Model Canvas

Subject: Future of Work

Complete a Business Model Canvas comprising key questions such as what is your revenue stream, what are key partnerships you’ll need to forge, and what resources are vital to your operation. The more detailed your canvas is, the more informed your implementation will be. Create a new post in your process journal with the completed canvas document.

Link for large image here

Key Partners

In order for our business model to function optimally, we will seek strategic partners. These partners include corporations looking for part time help, start up businesses looking to build strong teams, shared spaces where freelancers can often be found like WeWork, and volunteer organizations. These types of partners will provide projects for our future users and help build the reputation of our brand.

Key Partners are important for our early stages and long term plans. Strategically we plan to bring on Corporations and Startups who are committed to creating projects for freelanced assembled teams to join in the beta phase.  In addition, work spaces like WeWork may be inclined to offer their members this opportunity to be an early adopter. We recognize that some of our competitors may actually be partners in the future as the entry point and exit point to our platform. There is possibility to align with online educational spaces, as well as incorporate the collaborative digital tools into and accessible by our platform.

Key Activities

To make this business successful, there are a few key activities we would need to accomplish. In order to make the solution successful, the team would need to develop with user research and feedback incorporated. Understanding the mindset of our target market and potential users will help us create user personas and develop a consumer-centric solution. Having a consumer-centric solution will help us with user adoption in the long term. It would also be key for us to create a services blueprint, showing and helping us understand when our consumers use our solution and what steps are needed to give them the best experience. This can also show us some resources we can share across our services or the pain points that need to be addressed. After some discussion, we see our users understanding the solution and its services through their desktop. Once they have made their connection with their passion project or company, they can communicate on the go using our application. We need to make sure that the solution not only allows people to connect with their passion projects, but also provides them opportunities to grow professionally. Other key activities to ensure is that the user data and software is ran on reliable servers like AWS, design a UX that empowers the users, connect like-minded people through profiles, and set up a our business account (banking, HR, team infrastructure, and more).

Key Resources

We have decided on Key Resources that will allow our business to scale accordingly. On the onset, we will need physical resources like a creative space whether digital or physical. We will also need a domain and data storage center. From an IP standpoint we will need to implement Machine Learning, adjust for Network Growth, formulate a strategic plan, create a Production Schedule in Phases and perform an Competitive Landscape/ SWOT. The Human talent and resources will be developers both for the technical and business development, marketers, operations/ finance/ HR, as well as project leaders and facilitators. Financially, we will require a bank account, funding both personally, as well as form VCs. There is potential for some crowdfunding opportunities for some of the non-profit activities.

Value Proposition

The Value Proposition that our app and platform provides to customers is two-fold. One customer is the Individual  freelancer; we will be enabling them to pivot careers, pursue their passions, find connections with other team members/ mentors, build their portfolios, transition with ease and take appropriate risk. For the Business organizations, we will connect them with the best talent for their project, headhunt potential full-time employees on trial run, freelance a team and connect and organize. Great value can be awarded to all parties involved.

Customer Relationships

The expected Customer relationships are as follows: Our Business to others Businesses, Our Business to the Individual User and Individual users to connect with each other. We act as a platform to create jobs, matchmaker, guide/ mentor, as well as perform the role of teacher and professional developer through training that we provide in future phases.

Channels

Since imPACT is a business that focuses on remote collaborative work that brings like minded people together to pursue their passions we will rely on remote collaborative platforms to target our audience.  We will certainly be advertising on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  In addition to the tradition social media / advertising platforms that help target ads to the correct audience we will also utilize blogging or channels platforms like Medium.com.

We will also need a sales team to form and build relationships with larger corporations, non profit organization, freelancers, and starts up that might benefit from using a service like ours. We will avoid cold calling but rather generate prospective partners or users through targeted advertising.  Once a few key relationships are established, we will start to lean on our referral system to continue to grow our user database.

We can also utilize job posting websites like Shapr.com and LinkedIn.com to advertise the possibility of owning your own “small business” through managing several small projects you are passionate about.  This will be a great tool for entry level employees looking to find their passion and build a portfolio through exploration.

Customer Segments/ User Types

Our target audience includes several categories.  We have identified these personas as the following: The Hustler, The Adder, The Pivoter, The Impactor.  

The Hustler is a freelancer that is looking to maintain steady income through several projects.  

The Adder is looking for supplemental income while exploring their passions and building a portfolio that might also prepare them to move into the Pivoter role.  

The Pivoter is someone who feels stuck in a position or feels out of place in their current role and wants to explore other opportunities while still having the security of their full time job.

The Impactor is someone who is looking to become more involved with non profit or volunteer organizations.  The Impactor might be young and curious and can start to build an entry level portfolio through project based work while making a social impact.

In addition to these user personas, we are also targeting larger corporations, non profit organizations, start ups, or freelancers that could benefit from using our platform to build strong teams and help their project keep momentum. We will help these project facilitators connect to their strongest teams.

Cost Structure

There are some costs that the team needs to consider before starting this endeavor. In the beginning (first three months), we would need full-stack developers to help create the solution on desktop and mobile. To create a PoC (Proof of Concept), we may need 3 full-stack developers, costing about $60,000. To set up our reliable technology stack and infrastructure (like databases and servers), we would need about $6,000. We can work out of an office or co-working space like WeWork for about $4,500. The marketing campaigns would cost about $4,050 if our goal was to reach out to 15,000 users. Business insurance would be about $6,000, branding and design around $15,000, and payroll for other business functions (operations, finance, hr) would be another $15,000. Overall, the initial costs to start within the first three months would be about $110,550.

Revenue Stream

Revenue Streams are achieved through the following:  A fee to the business organization for curating and placing individual freelancers. A fee to the individual freelancer for educational opportunities. There is ad revenue on both the website and the app. In addition, there will be fees for additional support for the business organization for project management until our AI is fully developed and automated- this could be a concierge type of service in future phases. There will also be fees for professional setup for both the individual freelancer, as well as the business organization. All these fees will be established and allow us to use discounts and waived fees as promotion and marketing. Certifications and improved visibility fees are also things that can be implemented at later phases with subscriptions for the serial freelancer. Variables that could affect the fees are discounts and leapfrogging/ cutting out the app as a middle conduit.  

[brianmtran-blog]

Process Journal #7 - Implementation

Reflect on the methods and techniques that your group plans to use to communicate the ways that your project should be implemented and summarize those thoughts in a new post in your process journal.

Creating this Business Model Canvas, we decided to separately work on this and come back together to discuss. To collaborate, we used Mural to create our Business Model Canvas. It was neat to use this template because it provided rows of questions for us to take into consideration, helping guide us on how to fill it out from different perspectives. Although it was not my first-time filling one out, it was a first to create this without having a full day or two workshop. From our selection process, we knew what impact would do, but this made us think how to implement this idea into the market.

How do you most effectively pitch your idea to various stakeholders?

Talking with each other, we would pitch our idea by having stakeholders empathize with us. Our idea is something that many can relate to, feeling split between the stable job vs pursuing their passion. By having them picture themselves as the user going through the process of pursuing their passion projects not alone, this will show the value of the idea. Going deeper into detail about how people could use this idea and keep their jobs, this will really showcase how there is nothing else on the market that provides this opportunity. Connect with others and pursue your passion. From volunteer work to building the right team, there is impact to be made.

How do you visually communicate the objects, environments, systems, processes, and interactions involved in your project implementation?

We can show a map of people connecting and using their passion to create impact. On a local or global map, we can show how people interact with each other through a wireframe. By having a web of connections, this can show how people can pursue many passions or just one. The goal would be to communicate and show how people from different backgrounds can do something great together. This can be shown by a well thought out UX experience, as long as people understand that they can connect with others. Another way to visually show our project implementation is by creating a roadmap. This would show what we would execute and in which phase. The team can show data visually, including our budget. The scalability can be shown with our forecasted projection of growth. Staying in the business mindset, a SWOT analysis or competitive landscape can visually show what our challenges are and how we can overcome them. Putting all the above together, this can turn into a VC pitch deck for us to present in the future. With extra time, the team can create a brand bible or platform, describing our mission, positioning, and values of the company.

The outcomes out of all this visualization can highlight that no matter where you are from, we can make an impact together.

[brianmtran-blog]

Choosing a Solution

Subject: Future of Work

Using the ideas generated during the ideation phase, work with your team and use one or more of the decision making methods and techniques to select an appropriate solution to your problem.

What criteria did you use to select the solution?

We used the following methodology to arrive at our solution:

Prompted Question: “What motivates your peers at work?”

Idea Potpourri

Poll

We realized that with all three of our solutions, we were able to combine all of the ideas and target multiple generations rather than only focusing on Generation Z. We then took an iterative approach and altered our problem definition from:

“As Gen Z enters the workforce, employee values and technology will evolve.  How can we adjust how we work today to better prepare for the next generation?” 

to

“As employee values and technology evolve, how can we alter the current state of the workforce to better cater to our passions and non-traditional work environments?” 

Through our conversations, as mentioned below, we realized that aligning our work with our passion is not only something the younger generations value but it common among several generations and is already seen within some of our neighboring countries.

How do the pragmatic and logistical concerns around implementation affect the selection of your solution?

Our solution is going to require expertise, imagination and curiosity. We will be able to implement and create an app that will be within our budget and we are aware that if additional funds are needed we will perform rounds of fundraising. Through proof of product, we understand that there are several variations of social networks that already exist. For that reason, developing a social network / collaborative space for passion projects will not be a large hurdle to overcome - it will simply be a niche network and unique interface. Our various SELECTION methods, we were able to arrive at a very focused and direct solution that fits within a reworked problem question.  The pragmatic and logistical concerns were nearly abolished through our 3 methods of selection.

How do you deal with compromises and coming to a consensus regarding the solution decision? Document your activities in a new post in your process journal.

Our Potpourri Conversation eliminated any individual allegiances we may have had prior to this discussion. Our final solution is a blend of our top 3 ideas.

During our selection process, we decided to ask ourselves what motivates our peers at work? This was our Prompted Question Exercise. After each talking about our industries and how people in different roles work, 

we noticed that the common theme was people wanting to having an impact. 

To test if our hypothesis was correct, we created a Poll. Within the poll, we decided to create questions to see if people cared about working on passion projects and what their passions were. To get a variety of users, we each asked people in our fields to answer the question (Justin with design, Alyssa with education and tech, Brian with enterprise and tech) along with asking the cohort. 

From our 107 responses, we found out that 63.6% of our participants were motivated by work they were passion about. 

Majority of our participants were between the ages of 21-39, being closely split between working in the office (41.1%) and away (58.8%). Overall, it was a close match between people being motivated for individual growth (80.4%) vs bringing impact (73.8%), showing us that both aspects should be part of the solution.

SELECTED SOLUTION: An app that matches users with passion projects that are posted by an organization or freelancers (non-profits, corporate research & development teams, government agencies, etc) where IMPACT is the end result. Users form PACTS with other users in remote and digital collaboration.   imPACT can be rewarded through accomplishment, as well as other incentives based on the budget of the posting organization. imPACT can be used as a supplemental or primary income source. imPACT can be used to learn and mentor others through collaboration. imPACT is collaboration on the go.

[brianmtran-blog]

Process Journal #6 - Selection

Reflect on the methods and techniques that your group used to select the most appropriate idea to address the problem you have defined and summarize those activities in a new post in your process journal. How did your group come to a consensus on what ideas to select? What were the discussions and debates over ideas?

Our team looked at different ways to approach the selection process. We looked back at our top choices that had potential like finding other passionate people to work on your projects, collaborative tools, and working or Wi-Fi on the go. There were other choices as well to choose from our brainstorming session, but they seemed to fit under the three overall choices. The team discussed different methods of going through the selection process from the class lecture like “What would happen if…” or Ranking and Weighing but there were some criteria that did not fit our objectives. 

The goal was to see if there was a need or want with our solution, so we decided to use the methods of Idea Potpourri or take a poll.

We were able to narrow down during the selection process by just communicating with each other and having a dialogue. From the three top choices, none of us were attached to a particular solution, which made it easy for us to incorporate Idea Potpourri. We noticed that people could collaborate together and on the go to work on their passion projects. 

Each idea could have worked by themselves but the three put together made it a stronger solution.

Next, Justin asked Alyssa and myself “what motivates the people you work with?” Although we work in different fields (Alyssa with tech and education, myself with enterprise and software), the similarities were that no matter what the person’s role was, their motivation came from wanting to create an impact. Justin suddenly started to talk about how the idea could be called imPACT, addressing the outcome Alyssa and myself stated earlier. Just talking to each other about what the solution would do in particular along with the target market, we realized that many age groups would benefit from this solution and not just Gen Z. This made us rethink what our problem statement was and how it could change.

To really understand whether there was a specific want or need for this solution, the team decided to create a poll. With this poll, we asked questions about what motivates them at work, their work environment preference, age group, tools that they use, and so on. Using our professional network, personal network, and school cohort, we were able to receive about 107 responses in only a few short days. 

Overall, the results from the poll told us that people do want to work on their passion projects, but with flexible work hours while developing their professional growth. 

This sparked a discussion on how we could narrow our scope and develop a solution that tailors to this need.

As a team, our vision has changed throughout the process. The good thing is that everyone on the team is open to pivoting and focusing our efforts to new ideas as we go through each exercise. It’ll be interesting to see where the next step takes us!

[brianmtran-blog]

Process Journal #5 - Ideation

Reflect on the methods and techniques that your group used to come up with ideas to address the problem you defined in the previous unit and summarize those activities in a new post in your process journal.

When coming up with ideas to address our problem, we realized that just talking about it was not enough. 

The team knew that we needed to address the problem and record the results more effectively. 

We were thinking about using different methods like writing on a google doc or using google slides, but I mentioned one way we collaborate at SAP. Using the software Mural, it provided us a platform to write our ideas down similar to writing on post-its. We could post our “post-its” on the board, first without organizing. Once we had down our thoughts, each team member went over their thoughts on how we can improve the future of work with Gen Z using technology.

What ideas were the outcome of your group brainstorming exercise?

Some outcomes from the brainstorming session involved how Gen Z works remotely but being able to collaborate with others at the same time. By using the cloud or faster processing, this allowed Gen Z to work on their passion projects or satisfy their work needs, no matter where they were. Some ideas included using software to work collaboratively and allow flexibility while others talked about how Gen Z cares about their work and who they are working for.

What were some of the standout ideas and discussion-points that came out of the debriefing session?

Once we went over our thoughts, there was a common theme of Work Cultures, Resources and Tools, and Workflow. We categorized our ideas into these themes, noticing that some points stood out more than others. For example, remote passion project placement for Gen Z, better collaborative tools, and consistent access to work and WiFi while on the go were ideas we saw that could potentially be implemented in the next stage. With so many great ideas, we need to be thoughtful on which option can be pursued. Our solution needs to be adaptive to the needs of not only Gen Z, but those that work with this group as well.

[brianmtran-blog]

Group Brainstorming and Debriefing Session

Subject: Future of Work

Using your problem definition, come to a consensus on what your idea-generating question should be. While you brainstorm with your team, be sure to record everyone's ideas.

Team Brainstorm Recording

Observe and visualize your brainstorming process (Do you do it remotely? What collaboration software do you use? Are you writing, drawing, or something else? How does everyone feel?)

Brainstorm Session

Image click here

During our brainstorming process, one of our peers brought up a different way to brainstorm remotely. Sharing the software called Mural, we were able to brainstorm together online. Mural allowed us to post what our idea-generating question should be. 

As Gen Z enters the workforce, employee values and technology will evolve. How can we adjust how we work today to better prepare for the next generation? 

By brainstorming live, we could each have our sections, writing or drawing out our own thoughts using different colored post-its. It took a few minutes for everyone to get started and learn the software, but soon enough, we were all silent. Everyone was pretty optimistic about trying to use this new application. Although it was our first time using this tool together, we were able to experience brainstorming together without being in the same room.

Once your brainstorming session is over, take a little time to look at the ideas that you have generated as a group and attempt to make an effort to organize them in some logical fashion. Discuss some of your favorite ideas from each other and how you could combine different ideas in various ways.

After our initial brainstorm, we broke our ideas and post-it notes into themes: Work Cultures, Resources and Tools, and Workflow. 

Image click here

From there we went through and talked about each of the post-its. So far some of our favorites include remote passion project placement for Gen Z, better collaborative tools, and consistent access to work and WiFi while on the go. All of these ideas really tie back to our problem statement of better preparing for Gen Z as they enter the workforce but they also help address how our current workforce will adapt in the way that we work.  These ideas could even help older generations find jobs or passion projects to work on as we see the jobs of today disappear.

A lot of our ideas were results or affected by future technology and how work behaviors may changed for Gen Z.  With this process, we are confident that we will arrive at some selection in the upcoming section.

[brianmtran-blog]

Persona Exercise

Link Here

[brianmtran-blog]

Process Journal #3 - Definition

Subject: Future of Work

Reflect on the methods and techniques that your group used to define the problem and summarize those activities in a new post in your process journal. How did you come to a consensus on what characteristic of the problem needs to be addressed?

Team definition: As Gen Z enters the workforce, employee values and technology will evolve. How can we adjust how we work today to better prepare for the next generation?

To get to this definition, our team first agreed on how to approach the problem. During our class meeting, we decided that each team member would try to interpret what future of work meant to them with supporting evidence. After a few days, we would come together and talk over which route we would move forward with.

When thinking about the future of work, I was trying to think of existing issues that we currently have today. One problem that many teams have is communication. There is not one answer to how to fill the communication gaps between workers and stakeholders. Even with my personal work, I see communication as the major pain point with projects. Working with my team and AI, I thought it would be interesting to see what the changes in the future could be. The customer service industry seemed to be an area that many people did not see being impacted, including myself. Using AI, a human could talk to a chatbot, not needing the human interaction. Many jobs would be lost, all because of the advancements of technology.

With that in mind and written down, I met with my team members to discuss my thoughts with technology and the customer service industry. Alyssa came back with technology affecting how Generation Z works in the future while Justin came up with how education is affected. We discussed combining all three together possibly since they seemed like good ideas. At the end, we understood that it would make sense to choose one. As a consensus, the team chose to move forward with how Gen Z enters the workforce. This problem interested all of us, wanting to understand how to solve this issue. Overall, we thought that we could ideate and come up with a good solution at the end of the project. The group saw that all three definitions we came up with applied to the future of work, but it would make sense to approach the problem that had more solutions.

I think it’ll be interesting to see how the ideation phase will turn out now that we have defined the problem. 

[brianmtran-blog]

Conjunction Junction

Try describing five (5) different things (objects, spaces, paintings, people, etc) using only the conjunction 'and' to specify their qualities. Follow up by describing the same things using only the conjunction 'but' to specify their qualities. The purpose of the exercise is to reframe your thinking about the details of a subject matter by forcing you to describe it in a different way. Create a new post in your process journal with the results.

Apple iPhone Physical Features

My Apple iPhone is space gray and is a shape of a rectangle and is made of glass and has finger smudges on the screen.

My Apple iPhone is space gray but is in a shape of a rectangle, made up of glass with finger smudges on the screen.

Apple iPhone Internal Features

The iPhone inside has electronic circuits and a battery that holds a short charge.

The iPhone inside has electronic circuits but contains a battery that holds a short charge.

Apple AirPods

The AirPods are white and wireless and small and charge with a case.

The AirPods are white but are wireless and small, holding a charge with a case.

Apple MacBook

The Macbook Pro is portable and silver and sleek and has useless USB-C ports.

The Macbook Pro is portable but silver, sleek with useless USB-C ports.

Apple iPad

The iPad is light and has a bright screen and is rose gold and made of aluminum.

The iPad is light but has a bright screen, being rose gold made up of aluminum.

[brianmtran-blog]

Problem Definition

Subject: Future of Work

Attempt to define the problem on your own and create a new post in your process journal to document the definition. Then get together and explain from your perspective the path you took to arrive at your definition and your rationale for its development. Discuss, critique, compare and contrast your definitions and make notes on what your group members have to say about your definition. How similar were all of the definitions? How different were they? What were the patterns and what were the outliers? After sharing your individual problem definitions, come to a group consensus regarding what your final problem definition will be and add that definition to your process journal post.

Group Problem Definition:

Individual Definitions:

Alyssa:

Gen Z:  Generation Z will demand flexibility, security, and individuality - the demands of the workplace will change as Gen Z enters the workforce. 

How can be better equip companies to be more appealing to our future generations?

Millennial managers appear to be the most worried about company culture

Corbin says that it's necessary for managers of all generations to embrace using more technology as Gen Z enters the workforce.

Despite their entrepreneurial nature, work-life balance and job security are the two career goals most important to this generation.

Brian:

Communication: How do we leverage technology in the future to bridge the gap of communication between the workforce?

If tech/AI take over the jobs of those in the IT/customer service sector, what can those people shift to?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/11/26/ai-is-super-charging-the-customer-service-world/#20ce4c004f04

https://www.ibm.com/blogs/watson/2017/10/10-reasons-ai-powered-automated-customer-service-future/

Justin:

Education and Preparedness/Training: What tools and skills are needed to prepare the next workforce? What are these new jobs/ positions and have they been defined and shared? What jobs/ positions are going to be automated- has this been shared? Can education and training be implemented in the Primary and Secondary levels?

What jobs are at risk?

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-jobs-automation-risk/

Similarities, Patterns, Differences, Outliers

Similarities: All individual problem definitions focus on our future workforce that includes Generation Z.  Each problem definition is also thinking about how technology can help us but also the effect that technology has on our work. What jobs will need to be replaced?  What communication tools and training can help companies facilitate future workforce Gen Z?

Patterns:  Looking to the the next generation of our workforce. Technologies advancements and developments effect. How will our future workforce look like with the growth of technology?

Differences: Each one of us looked at technology shifting how a particular industry functions. We were seeing technology affecting different age groups with different impact. Some of our definitions are more specific towards solving a specific problem and other definitions stay more broad solving problems across various industries.

Outliers: Looking to education to prepare earlier generations for the future of work.

Extra Notes

What are GenZ wants and needs?

What forms of technology are Gen Z using?

Entrepreneurship

Work life balance

Job Security

As the  Customer Service Industry is becoming extinct, how are new ways that companies can create jobs for Gen Z?

Company Culture

Flexibility

Communication between work force

Leverage Technology

Customer Service Industry

Machine- sounds like

Customer Service Jobs - Lessen

[brianmtran-blog]

Process Journal #3 - Analysis

Reflect on the methods and techniques for analysis that you have used this week and summarise those activities in a new post in your process journal.

Where have you sought out research material?

Articles, Journals, Online Publications

Click here for research

What kind of interesting things have you discovered?

I have discovered that technology is not only affecting industries as a whole, but individuals as well who are part of the industry. From AI to blockchain, they can influence how jobs can be done in different ways. For example with Natural Language processing (NLP), speech can help guide medical scribes to copy down the process faster while in the business world, it can be used as a digital assistants to ask for reports. This is only one small aspect of how the future of work can shape.

What sort of insights are you able to gather through your research so far?

I see that from looking at different industries, there are many jobs that are going to evolve. Technology will come at a fast rate and we have to be ready to adapt. By accepting the technology coming in the future, we can see how to fully utilize and maximize the potential. I see that we also need to educate ourselves and others on how technology can affect the way we work everyday.

[brianmtran-blog]

Morphological Analysis

Subject: Future of Work

The team approached this assignment by doing a morphological analysis on the future of work. We chose to create two charts, one reflecting how technology affects certain industries and the other showing the impact of technology to common team structure. By doing both, this helped open our minds to the possibilities of what work can be done in the future with the help of technology. Some of our input came from our own industry knowledge while other comments came from researching how jobs and industries will be affected in the future. This exercise showed us that change is inevitable, but we can push the status quo of how work is traditionally being done everyday.

>technology affecting certain industries 

> impact of technology to common team structure

> research

> resources

Click Here for Larger Images of the charts and resources

[brianmtran-blog]

Picturing Success

What would accomplishing your goal be like?

What would be the immediately expected results of the best case scenario?

The expected results would be that we will discover a new way of working and collaborating, hence “Future of Work.” We would be able to bring our findings and test them in different industries.

Who will be benefitting from your success? 

This crowd can vary. From students, corporations, startups, or any type of employee (we probably have to narrow down the field to make our results the most effective). Hopefully our findings will be shared if successful.

What positive impact will you be making locally and globally through your success?

I believe that we can create a local and global impact through our success because our goal is to help bridge the workforce and foster collaboration, no matter where you are working from. People’s passion along with the Future of Work will hopefully bring success.

What kind of rewards could come from the success of your undertaking? 

I will find a way to have ice cream delivered to my team members if this becomes successful. 

New ideas and methodologies could be shared, opening new doors of how we push innovation and break boundaries.

Do you expect to get a product back from this undertaking? Will there be some monetary reward? 

There could possibly be a product but I would not think of getting monetary reward right away. Future of Work can be based off of technology or just optimizing how we work with our colleagues. If monetary reward was our goal, I think that would take away from our overall vision.

How will this aid in furthering your career?

I think this could help further my career in different ways. By going through this project with my team members, I can learn how the world connects with each other away from the enterprise space. Just understanding how others work can help with my work, trying to develop new technologies and businesses that make people’s lives easier and more simple.

What are your motivating factors for succeeding? 

I want my team members to succeed, making this one of the most motivating factors. I think we are all eager to discover new ways of work, finally solving our biggest gripes working everyday. Instead of waiting for an answer, we are getting the answers ourselves.

What makes you interested in the problem in the first place? 

I think what makes this so interesting is that others most likely have the same issues that I have. How can we improve the way we work together? Imagine if we are able to connect people across the world to build greater things, that would be pretty cool.

What do you think is compelling about seeing the problem-solving endeavor to its end result? 

I think the feeling of accomplishment would be one very important factor. This is one problem that can create a bigger impact, and I can help solve this problem with my team members who are as equally passionate as I am. I don’t think anyone likes to see problems being unsolved (unless it’s a tv show finale).

What level of investment do you have in the solution succeeding?

Taking classes with my peers across the US and colleagues across the world, this can greatly impact how I interact and solve problems with others. I can’t imagine the way we work not improving, otherwise nothing would get done. The power of collaboration can bring us so far, even beyond our wildest dreams.

How will you and others benefit along all of these different measurements of success?

If we learn from each other, that is already one form of success. Building on top of each other’s ideas and bringing it to the next level would be something extra special. With all of our backgrounds, we can share and gain so much knowledge.

[brianmtran-blog]

Contingency Management

What are your capabilities and the collective capabilities of your team?

What are your capabilities and the collective capabilities of your team? 

Brian- I listen to everyone’s thoughts first before listing my own, trying think logistically how to make everyone’s input show. Whatever the team needs me to work on, I’ll work on. Everyone can work with their strengths and whatever tasks are left, I can take on.

Alyssa- I am very observant - I get my best ideas from my surroundings whether they are people, places, objects, etc.  I love building a team that trusts each other and I have been successful in doing so within most of my team experiences. As a team, I love the diverse backgrounds and level of participation seen across the board.  I trust that we all want to do good work and will do so together.  

Justin- Inclusion and horizontalism- I believe everyone has a voice- opinions should be subtatianted.  Visual understanding, some use of graphic tools- but not completely proficient.   Good presentation skills and team building.    I am confident that my team has complementary skills in research, development and efficient and effective execution techniques.  We should strive to really learn from each other and also utilize our personal skill sets.

In Conclusion, the image above reflects the Collective Capabilities of our #FOWsquad.

Establish reasonable and feasible goals and standards. What are your and your team’s intentions, and are they in line with your abilities? Where does your team have gaps, and how will you mitigate them?

Our goals are very simple.  We intend to take each stage of this creative problem solving process one at a time.  It’s often easy to jump to research and brainstorming. We will rely on each other to keep on task and within the parameters of the prompts. 

Be strict and consistent. Do not promise what you cannot deliver. Talk with your team on how to stay within scope and meet and exceed expectations with your collective means.

We have created a Framework that is Cohesive based on the following:

Consistent Meetings: Setting a series of recurring meetings for status updates and to discuss on how to accomplish tasks.

Pulse Checks: Make time for check ins: How is everyone feeling?

Stay on the Same Page: Are we still all on the same page?

Digital Collaboration: The use of multi digital platforms will be used to achieve effective and efficient results in a long distance collaborative project.

Tools: Google Hangouts, Google Drive, Slack Channels, Text Message

Dynamic Responses:  Peer to Peer Review, Surveys, Comments

Reward yourself. What incentives do you and your team value when you meet your goals and, conversely, what are agreed-upon and accepted “consequences” for you or your team members not contributing or behaving poorly?

The above explains it all. Bam.