Project Reflections

Research

On the surface the kind of research that we did for this project seemed like something I might have done before. However, as we delved into the assignment I realized we were approaching this from a much deeper angle. We were not just asking women what they liked and didn’t like. We were getting to the heart of her needs without asking directly. That is a concept that I have always admired, but never completely understood how to accomplish. I tend to be rather blunt and direct, but this exercise was a good one in how to coax information from a subject. It was also a great opportunity to explore the “what should we have asked” questions. In the past when I have done surveys or interviews it has generally been one round of questions. In this case we did our series of interviews and then formulated our survey. This gave us a great opportunity to fine-tune the survey questions to ensure we were getting exactly what we needed from the respondents. We could test the hypotheses that came from the interview findings! This worked great, except of course in reviewing the survey responses we thought of other things we could have asked. Perhaps it is a never ending circle, but never the less it was a great experience.

Prototyping

Without a doubt, one of my greatest takeaways from this Nordstrom project has been the concept of prototyping. Prior to this class a prototype seemed only like a concrete thing, constructed by designers and fabricators, that was a preliminary version of your project. While that might be true in some instances, through this process I have learned that a prototype isn’t just a thing, it’s a process. The process of prototyping is similar to ideation in that you move through different ideas, changing this or that, allowing what you are creating to morph with each new thought. Prototyping is like physical ideation. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Anyone can do it! Just take any objects around and use them to convey your ideas. The most powerful learning, I think, is that prototyping doesn’t have to be 3-D. I was completely baffled at the prospect of prototyping a service or a website. I don’t know HTML5 or animation. It was fascinating to see how dragging out your pencils and BIG sheets of paper (and I feel like big paper is essential) can open your mind to creativity and you can really work through each step of your idea by drawing it on paper. I am not an artist, but as the scribe of the group it was incredible to see our team’s ideas come to life on my page.

Video Presentation

Of all of the parts of this project putting our findings into a video presentation was the least helpful part. That was just one more layer of stress to add to the mountain of deliverables. Since this project was for an actual client – Nordstrom – I felt that there was much more pressure to deliver the highest quality work. We certainly delivered that from a research and customer insights perspective, but in a work situation we would have had the support of a production team. While I do have some film production training and do pretty well with iMovie, I felt like the pressure to create a client-worthy video was unnecessary and did not add to the learning of the class.

Emotions

Working on this project as a team was invaluable. This kind of research and creative thinking is best done with a team. It was fantastic to bounce ideas around the group and I was always impressed with the things that came out of our brainstorming sessions! There were times that I was frustrated by group members with lofty goals that were outside of our abilities for this project, but as a group we were able to keep moving towards a project that we are all proud of. I really enjoyed moving through the stages of the class with this project at the center. This is my favorite sort of class – where you can immediately apply course concepts to a real situation. The fact that the project was central and relatable to us was also a huge bonus. Overall, this was a great experience. This is definitely in my top 3 projects that I am most proud of from my MBA, and I plan to use this project as a portfolio piece/interview topic in my job hunt.

Ethics of Insight

Ask a seventeen year old to define privacy and they will probably talk about their parents coming into their rooms without knocking. That kid wouldn’t think twice about broadcasting their every thought, preference, feeling and location to the world. If you talk to that kid’s parents they might say it is no one’s business what they talk about on the phone or what they buy in a store, but it where they go is certainly a private issue.

In today’s increasingly digital world there is a new concept of privacy. This comes as more and more of the population has come of age in a world where “checking-in” at a restaurant or updating your status from around the world is the norm. This creates a tension where the older generation finds these practices absurd and even dangerous. 

Young people may not think twice when companies like Apple or Google track location information through their phones (Angwin & Valentino-Devries, WSJ.com 2011), but older users may feel violated. As this younger generation comes into the workforce and attempts to use these technologies in their business it is important to understand the differences in the way that people perceive privacy.

It seems that a baseline minimum standard of privacy is the expectation that identifiable details not be linked to data. In the example above about cell phone location tracking it seems that the point where locations and a single person’s device can be linked is where discomfort begins. While there are people on either side of the comfort spectrum with this, the baseline for most seems to be here. 

Next is usually consent. Using information without consent is a hot issue for many people. The trick these days is that people don’t read consent forms. They are forced to “accept” Terms & Conditions in order to move forward, so they scroll through the 12 pages and just click “ok.” No one really reads all of that information – how does that really equate to consent.

Then, at least for me, is the way in which the information is used. I am comfortable – appreciative even! - if information like my preferences or my location is used on a macro level to customize my experience, make things easier or more convenient for me, or for safety. If, however, my information is used on a micro level to track my movements, allow people to find me or make judgments on me, I am very opposed. Perhaps I want all the benefits and none of the negatives of this technology – but isn’t that usually the case? 

I still want to be able to do what I want, when I want, but I don’t want people to be able to find out and judge me – or penalize me! And I’m not someone who is out breaking major laws. When I start to think about how law enforcement could use this technology to find dangerous criminals, at first it sounds good. Great! More criminals off the street! But then I think, I don’t want someone looking over my shoulder if I jaywalk or speed. If Google is tracking traffic speed on highways to keep maps up to date they could certainly let the authorities know that I am 5 miles over the speed limit.

But where is the line? In the news this week a man was updating his Facebook status while on the run from thepolice. He is accused of assaulting his girlfriend and has been involved in two fool chases with police officers. He has a criminal record that includes five felonies. This seems like a guy we would want to get off the street. 

Wouldn’t it be great if Facebook’s location services could tell police where to find the guy? On the surface this seems great, but when you think about how this might apply to you it seems incredibly invasive.  What if you were (falsely) accused of stealing $1,000,000? You didn’t do it! They have no proof! You are innocent! Our legal system currently says that we are innocent until proven guilty. So should police be able to pinpoint an innocent person’s location? That seems like an invasion of privacy. So perhaps the line is when the information is used against you?

So what is the answer to privacy? Where is the line? I think this is a case where public norms change as quickly as technology – and that is fast. A new norm is created everyday so we all must get comfortable with fluidity.