Ryan Lanzendorf

Unit 14 Process Journal: Evaluation

One of our team’s mainstay opportunities is implementation, which by default impacts evaluation. When I think about this stage of the process and our current status, I am very much considering how we define evaluation through the lenses of reviewing & revising and asking if we solved the problem that we identified (Test, Fix, Retest) and determine the appropriate next steps to turn our problem into a reality (Optimization Finding). Further, we could have done a better job of measuring progress and soliciting feedback from stakeholders and peers, which may have affected implementation not to mention earlier detection of flaws and ways to improve.

Collectively, we WANT to make sure that our solution solves a real-world problem — the data backs this up. However, one piece that I go back to often is realizing that finding a scalable solution for a problem that requires such individual personalization and customization is no easy task. As much as we desire a solution that is realistic, feasible, accessible, and affordable for individuals and is yet scalable is challenging in itself, so this is a very tall order! And although we expect a fair and accurate report on performance, I think identifying mistakes and overcoming our shortcomings will be an “a-ha” moment and a strategy for planning for improvement. We have yet to establish our measurement strategy + success criteria, but I imagine it will certainly outline our goals & objectives, our wins & achievements, and lastly insights into ways of improving.

Although I maintained a process journal throughout this course to evaluate and reflect on my productivity, I did not use the journal as a means to “compete against myself,” “pay as I go,” nor to reward my productivity. The latter may be a personal opportunity of battling my imposter syndrome, and thats something that I continue to work on every day — that’s just my own understanding of how I function. I’m looking forward to when my group and I observe other group’s presentation on how they approached their problem definition and solution, then considering their feedback and evaluation.

As we were prototyping on the prototype, I thought it was helpful for us to revisit our user personas and dig into their pain points, motivations, needs, and expectations especially throughout iteration.

We initially hand sketched a crude prototype using paper and pencil, and used 3D design software to further explore prototyping and how the two modular components would function together. Managing time constraints between each individual’s work and school commitments continue to be an obstacle, but I’m confident that we’ll land on how the product works. Additionally, without design and prototyping expertise within the group, we’re doing the best we can while building and flying the plane.

Good news is we haven’t had to pivot, and hopefully we don’t have to, but there is work to be done on materials manufacturing and production. And now that we have a designed prototype, we can push it further on *how* an individual will best get fitted and casted prior to actual development.

We’ll continue to explore and iterate on the prototypes using different implementation methods and techniques.

One additional opportunity is to dig into a visual value proposition and ensure that what we are mapping out is consistent with not only meeting consumers needs, but almost more importantly aligned with their pain points and motivations.

As next steps, we need to continue to iterate on our initial designs and compare real life prosthetics researching materials, fabrication, and costs.

Unit 12 Process Journal: Implementation

Unlike the gif and implementing a dress code, the Wearables team is solving a much larger and needed problem — ensuring that Americans who need prosthetics can gain access and at reasonable costs. As it stands today, only 5% of 40 million Americans who need prosthetics currently have access. Put another way, 38 million out of 40 million Americans are unable to afford prosthetics.

Currently, we’re still working on implementing our solution and carefully, thoughtfully, and strategically considering form and function to bring affordable prosthetics to life at scale. There are a number of considerations specifically around physical hardware, manufacturing, production improvements, material optimization for mobility at lower cost, fitting & casting & adjustments, and potential software opportunities as well.

As we collectively think through our approach, I’ve found that hand sketching was a great foundational first step to visualize how our proposal would look and function. Additionally, through continuous iteration, we’re employing modeling and prototyping techniques to fine tune our proposal. And throughout iteration, we’ll continue to consider performance and usability testing, specifically as it relates to mobility and prosthetic function. I’m using “performance” not so much in the context of metrics, but more so in the sense of function — does it actually work?!

IDEATION

First and foremost, I acknowledge and appreciate our Team Wearables group dynamic — there is no ego and an incredible amount of respect for each other, giving one another the freedom and space to speak without judgment. Collectively, I believe that we did an excellent job of managing distinguishing actions, specifically generating ideas before selecting one, not being too precious with ideas, embracing ambiguity, and proposing ideas without judgment or criticism. Additionally, we agreed that our original problem definition may have been too general and required further focus after subsequent research.

All that said, let’s get into it! Prosthesis are incredibly expensive and as a result often times not accessible. As technology increases, it directly affects the cost for prosthetic. Our objective is to find the happy medium — how do we balance design and technology with cost? High design and technology results in high cost (and high quality. Low design and technology results in low cost (and low quality), neither of which are acceptable solutions.

There were quite a few methods and techniques that we employed in order for us to land on idea-seeking questions and resulting brainstorming to land on a few standout ideas. For me personally, I found it necessary to do some individual brainstorming based on my own research before I felt informed and confident before participating in a group brainstorming sessions. As a group, we met on two separate occasions to group brainstorm, then took a break, only to come back and revisit further brainstorming ideas to land on our idea-seeking questions. A few brainstorming ideas that popped up were in fact a little crazy, although we could have been a bit crazier in our brainstorming. We identified a few important attributes that are essential to the problem we’re trying to solve for.

PROBLEM DEFINITION

This quote from Einstein perfectly sums up how we approached defining our problem statement. It was important to make sure that we thoroughly research the problem in order to identify a solution otherwise we risk solving the *wrong* problem.

Our team is passionate about finding a solution to an increasingly global issue: access to prosthetics so there was significant research completed beforehand to ensure a fruitful conversation. In fact, as we worked through landing on a problem definition, we certainly defined many of the parameters and findings through divergent thinking then narrowed our approach through convergent thinking. For example, we firstly identified important key issues such rising cost. Further, we started with a somewhat general yet convoluted definition that needed subsequent refining, redefining, and simplifying the problem & identifying our key personas / audiences based on our research and fact. As we continue our research, I anticipate we may need to revisit or further iterate on our problem statement and define measurable outcomes in order to meeting our overarching objective (i.e. mission objectives technique).

In terms of methods, we certainly utilized a range of techniques to help us get to where we landed. From my perspective, we used paraphrased connections and boil it down to describe something, focusing on the essence of what we’re trying to solve & ultimately the appropriate terminology. We did identify *some* attributes prioritizing the ones that we deemed most important and relevant to what we wanted to solve for. Further, we got our initial thoughts out on paper using key words, then collectively talked it out to further clarify and simplify — we did not use sketches or diagrams to visually demonstrate events, however that may be a technique in further exploration. We did not reinvent the wheel (recipes and formulae) and sought previous research via the internet.

As we continue on this group project together, it’s possible that we reexamine what we currently have and lean in on crossroads, problems within problems, and synectics techniques to supplement and/or identify other possible solutions to our problem statement. One major opportunity as noted above is further investigation and identification of mission objectives ensuring that our problem and solution(s) are measurable.

Note: There are a tremendous amount of different use and edge cases for prosthetics, such as individuals obtaining a highly specialized prosthetic for running purposes, so our problem definition represents the solid majority for those who need prosthetics to normalize their day to day function.

ANALYSIS

There are several analysis techniques that I’ve employed to understand and accept the challenge we’re facing. Firstly and most extensively, I utilized the Look It Up method as part of my research. As noted in another post, this challenge is completely outside of my personal and professional background, so I’ve relied heavily on Google to conduct all my research and learn more about prosthetics and the different pros and cons based on material and resulting cost implication.

Additionally, I’m very much a Pack Rat when researching a topic outside of knowledge. I don’t know what I don’t know, so it is difficult for me to sift through all the material and determine what is relevant or not, so its my own strategy to take copious notes so I can refer back if I need to. I’d rather be equipped with more information than needed than not enough or not the “right” information later. We did conduct a morphological analysis to help identify different materials and costs by extremity type as part of our research, which is proving tremendously helpful.

ACCEPTANCE

For this group project, my team and I are exploring prosthetics, and ideating how to leverage design, business, and technology disciplines to solve for increasing production costs and resulting inaccessibility across the globe. This is a unique challenge for me individually as this is an area that I have no background or experience.

Due to my lack of knowledge, this undertaking presents its own challenge: unfamiliarity, discomfort, and a fear of failure. Historically, I’ve been a part of projects where I have some interest or experience, however this is not the case and the thought of pursuing this automatically puts me in a negative mental space. Additionally, I’m recently starting a new job role in an unfamiliar industry and so much of my available head space is devoted to onboarding and learning about the marketplace.

As such, I’m tapping into several methods to accept this challenge as this undertaking will certainly require me to step outside of comfort zone, not fear failure, and be a collaborative, supportive team member to dig deep with my group. Specifically, I’m utilizing the Go-Getter Mentality, Self-Control, Give It Up, and Adaptation techniques. And knowing myself and my work situation, managing Self-Control will be the most difficult technique.

What does creativity mean to me?

In short, creativity is the freedom to use my imagination without bound and without hesitation. Creativity allows me to tap into my inner child harnessing the power of play and exploration. Rather than coloring inside the lines, creativity allows me to break the conventional rules of the right away to approach a coloring book. And as I have matured, I learned that self-doubt and lack of confidence are two of the biggest deterrents to creative thinking. It’s that moment of letting go, taking (safe) risks, and learning to be okay with being wrong that I can flex my creative muscles.

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