Case Study Ironhack Project 1: Wicked Problems
Overview
For our first challenge, we were presented with a wicked challenge that introduced us to the framework of design thinking and how to define the problem and show the overview of the solution. For this project, I teamed up with three team members to demonstrate our design thinking process pertaining to Food Sustainability.
The Challenge
In the last decades, there has been a rise in consciousness on the importance of good nutrition and the responsibility that individuals have to provide themselves with good food. Organic food is not accessible to everyone, being restricted to those who can actually afford it. Supermarket chains and other big companies benefit from the organic food market and conscious customers, but don’t actually solve the situation — they just make the gap and the impact bigger with unsustainable models. How might We help communities access the seasonal produce of their region, fueling fair and honest relationships between producers and customers while ensuring food safety for all?
Problem Statement
In our first week of meeting, we were a bit overwhelmed in tackling the challenge and producing the necessary deliverables. We naturally gravitated to solving the actual problem itself. Once we received further guidance from our instructor, we began by doing some research on the issues initially presented- organic food, education, and community partnerships. Over time, as we did some research on the topics mentioned, we proceeded to start with our lean survey canvas to create some questions that we wanted users to survey. Once our survey was sent out, we mobilized to conducted interviews to continue to collect our data. Based on the data we collected from the surveys and interviews, we created our affinity diagram and empathy map to narrow down the problems down to food safety, affordability, seasonal produce, and education.
Users & Audience
In our lean survey canvas, our initial users wanted to empathize were restaurant owners, food distributors, grocery shoppers and local farmers. We felt that these parties could provide the best insight and potential solutions to our challenge. We did some research to understand how seasonal produce is cultivated, including identifying peak and off- peak periods for purchase. We also research the USDA website on their food education initiatives and partnerships with local food distributors for recipes and last community-based organizations that help bridge access to quality food to needy neighborhoods.
After creating the survey, we realized that empathizing with grocery shoppers would be better approach since grocery shoppers have specific circumstances and dynamics that impact their needs. From our research 9 shoppers participated in our survey and we conducted interviews with 6 shoppers. Many of our shoppers from the surveys and interviews came from various backgrounds and dynamics: some had large families, others were working spouses with on the call careers, while others were single living on their own.
Roles & Responsibilities
Since this was our first project together, roles were mutually divided among the 4 of us- our approach was to divide and conquer. There were times that one of our team members could not meet outside the classroom. We made sure to constantly communicate and update each other on the updates that occurred in their absence so no one was behind or felt left out. All of our meeting occurred remotely during a mutually agreed day/time.
Scope & Constraints
In terms of constraints, one constraint that you will see throughout my Ironhack journey is being and learning remotely. While the pandemic made it absolutely necessary, there was opportunities available that if the course was taught in person, I would not be able to take advantage of. Regardless, UX research is still possible! So, our first constraint was time- we only had 2 weeks to do this tackle the challenge and present our process and solution. For a first timer like myself, it seemed like not enough time- the reality is, in real life scenarios, it could be a short as a week or long as a month (or longer- depending on scope). What was more important was not the length of time to work o the process but how we utilized the time to complete our deliverables. This led to our second challenge- time management. We had to meet many time outside class instruction not because of the jobs to be done, but because we did not effectively managed our time accordingly.
The Process
To execute this project, we started with some initial brainstorming sessions just to talk out our thoughts and justify why the need to research. We followed by doing some market research o get an idea of what we could potentially wanted to explore. We used the Lean Survey canvas to help us organize and develop our survey/ interview questions. Our survey and interview questions were a variety of scale rating and open-ended questions. After collecting our responses from the survey and interviews, we used an affinity diagram to organize and develop our how might we questions. Then we used an empathy map to empathize with shoppers to further define our problem and hypothesis statements. From the results, we developed a user persona, a journey map and storyboard. In the ideation phase, we decided to use
Outcomes & Lessons
Our takeaways from this experience helped really understand a lot about design thinking and the focus on the process to define our problem. It was very easy to shift into a “problem solving” mentality to try to solve the problem, but the beauty of UX is not the solution- it is “how” you got to your solution. Working with team members is not anything new to me, however, when you are working with others who are (more or less) have the same level of knowledge (beginner to non-existent) in UX/ UI, empathizing is a skill that you must learn to cultivate beyond your common interpersonal skills. From a leadership approach, understanding your team members strengths and challenges and using them to maximize the highest outcome is something a leader (or team members) must understand and acknowledge and try to work with each other for the optimal outcome. Overall, this was an amazing project to get me exposed to the world of UX/UI and I look forward to the projects ahead!
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