Can't believe it's over!

This class has already been of great value to me and I am excited to apply the lessons I learned to "real life" as I start my full time job this July. 

After working on the design thinking project for Target, I really feel I understand how to cater research to certain participants to gain insights. Before the class, I looked at more traditional forms as research, like focus groups and interviews, as the best ways to gain insights. However, our in class discussions, activities, and my experience in the project has made me look at creating more out of the box forms of research. For example, my group wanted to see how millennial moms expressed their love and trust, and who they trusted most in their lives. I had seen a touching video that showed the power of writing a thank you letter to someone you are grateful to and reading it to them. I was able to adapt this idea for our group to use, and it truly gave some great insights. We also got to think differently with our blogs, and we were inspired to adapt some of those activities for our participants as well.

The project and class also let me understand how to approach an innovative project much better. Being a business student, it’s tough to get out of the mindset that we need to make the decisions that will get us the best ROI only. The reason I say this is because when the Target project was introduced, I understood it as we wanted to find some innovative ways to help them approach their most attractive customers or get them the most money. However, when Walls told us to think of unique niches and create personas for people that may not be the traditional Target guest, I saw our groups come up with some awesome stuff. I enjoyed watching all the presentations and seeing the innovative approaches we came up with for personas that were really different from what I was thinking at the beginning. I think the idea of getting out of the business comfort zone and looking to different ways to think creatively will be really beneficial for me as I begin my career. I will be starting full time at Target this summer, and I know this approach will be welcomed there.

I’m not sure if any part of the project was just not useful, because I felt the project was structured very well and that I learned a lot. If there was something I would improve, it would probably be the next steps document. The reason is, for all the other parts of the project, we had a Phase to turn in and time to really think about it and get feedback on it. I feel the leave behind is extremely important too, so some more guidance and time on that would have been useful.

I really loved my group in this class, so my experience with the project was very positive. From the beginning, we all got along very well and we were very involved with the project. We all had a lot of ideas, opinions, and suggestions to contribute. I definitely think working with a group made me like the experience a lot more, because the project was our baby, and we all got to share it. We met often, and thought about different ways to approach it. We took feedback we received and tried to make our project better. We shared the disappointment of not getting more participants, and the excitement in getting information and insights as well as creating our prototype. Not only did having my group make the project more fun, it also contributed to my experience in the class. We interacted with every in class activity and got involved with the other prototyping exercises as well. Overall I feel I learned a lot from the class and my group was a huge part of that. 

On Creativity

What is my personal view on and experience with being creative?

I have always enjoyed being creative- in High School, this translated into writing. I started many (still unfinished) novels, constantly had new ideas for stories, and took a Creative Writing class my senior year. I wrote poems and short stories that got published in the school literary magazine two years in a row, and also entered several contests that I heard nothing from.

One challenge for me was bridging the gap between talent and how I wanted to be creative. I have competed in a poetry jam and written poetry contest the last two years in college; I won third place in written poetry, but never placed in spoken. However, I always found myself more excited to perform and read my work aloud than submit written poetry. Even back in high school, I liked to work on a few drawings and submit them to the literary magazine. I don’t think they ever got published.

I guess I mention that because I wonder whether we can measure how creative we are being based on performance measures, or rather what we enjoy and feel most creative in? My true passion is dancing, and I have taken several classes, performed a couple of places- nothing that got me any medals. However, I feel most creative with dancing. I can’t hear a song without choreographing in my head, and my favorite thing about coming home is a living room and hallways to dance around in.

And there have been several times when I have felt extremely uncreative. Not every problem necessarily calls for a creative solution- my math classes and science classes really just need a formula to be applied.

Of course, I have mostly talked about creativity in art forms so far. I think this is because most of my experiences with true, unbounded creativity have been in those aspects. But I would love to have more creative business experiences. I do think I have gotten to exercise some creativity in my time at McCombs.

My internship last summer, for example, introduced me to a company that values creativity. I think Target has made great strides in enabling their employees to be creative at the Headquarters in Minneapolis. As a Marketing intern, I was given a broad issue for my project, and encouraged to think out of the box. We had access to the Target Commons, across the street, where there were comfy couches and a lawn patio to work on, and ping pong, foosball, video games, bean bags, and more to play. There were barbeques there, as well as an intern celebration for us. We even had meetings where instead of sitting down in a traditional conference room, we “walked the skyways” which connect the downtown buildings. We were encouraged to “Work.Different” and I believe it truly fostered creativity. Getting the chance to get out of my cubicle and explore different environments gave me different ways to enable my own creativity, and the freedom to pursue the channel that worked for me.  

I also attended open houses in the office where teams shared information about worldwide trends in retail. This way, an employee that had never traveled for their position got the exposure to innovations in Europe and Asia, and consumer insights that could help them with their every day decisions. The members of these teams were extremely accessible as well, and I got to chat with them over coffee and learn more about what they do and their journey to that position.

One huge part that allowed me to be creative at Target is that the pressure of grades was taken away. I have found the same trend in school projects- whether individual or group, classes where I don’t feel as scared of making a bad grade let me be more interested in thinking out of the box and investing in a project for more than a score.

Can I be creative by myself?

I first answered this question with a confident “no,” citing that if someone lived their whole life as a hermit, they would not be creative- but that let me prove myself wrong. Because I feel they would be creative even in that environment. They would have issues or problems they need to solve in a creative way. They would have dreams and imagination and I’m guessing curiosity about the outside world. And there have been several times when my imagination has run wild and I’ve come up with creative ideas for clubs, initiatives, stories, art, dances, and more- by myself.

Is a group within an organization capable of being creative?

I do think a group in an organization can be creative. However, I believe the correct environment must be fashioned to allow this. The group should be a space every member feels comfortable sharing ideas. If the group dynamic is one that goes off topic, laughs together, and gets along well, I feel they will be inclined to be more creative than a group who is only focused on results, or worse, does not get along well. This has been proven again and again in my academic career. When you feel comfortable with your group, you can throw out crazy ideas- and veto them as well. You can think more about your cause or your project outside of the group setting, and thus have more to contribute at your group meetings. When you feel affection to your group or group members, I think you will be more inclined to think more creatively.

Are there different creative types of problems and, thus, different creative processes?

Should we trust ourselves to know when we need one type of approach versus another?

I like the idea that there is structure to foster creativity. As the article, “How to be Creative,” suggests, creativity is not magic, but rather a skill to be developed. I think there are different creative types of problems and processes to address them. However, I feel it is better to have different creative processes that we can use our judgment to apply to the problems. As I mentioned before, I enjoyed having the freedom at Target to use the avenue I chose to pursue creativity. Sometimes I wanted to slave away on my project at my desk, sometimes I wanted to muse over it outside the Commons on a couch with the sun shining on me. I think we can view the processes the same way. They are frameworks that can be applied to different problems.

It’s hard to know which approach we need or which would work best. I think we can treat it as a framework, where the different processes can be tied to previous situations it has been used. Often, creativity is linking different experiences so I don’t think this would limit it in any way.

One thing I feel we need to keep in mind is that often, these processes may thrive when we are alone. In “How to be Creative,” there are several examples where a solution is thought of completely alone, after thinking about the issue over and over. We saw this with the development of post-it notes and with the creation of “I <3 NY.” In my own experiences, I often get “obsessed” with my most creative ideas, thinking, planning, and molding them in different places from the shower to the bus. The group setting is a great place to bounce of ideas or put solutions into action, but I don’t think we should use structure to label spells of individual obsession and imagination obsolete.

Business Model Analysis Report

10/7

SFCG, San Francisco Consulting Group, is a consulting firm in Austin that offers cloud solutions to various businesses. They are in the global cloud computing services industry, and offer three types of support. On one hand, they have a team of consultants- cloud ninjas- that help clients with how best to adopt and optimize the cloud solution that fits them best. They also provide training to help clients create a program to address their employees’ unique needs. And lastly, the offer support packages for cloud computing practices and strategy. The global industry includes other software as a service companies, like Salesforce.com.  

            My first exposure to SFCG was at the Career Fair earlier this semester. I saw their job posting online and was immediately attracted by the interesting name- “Cloud Ninja.” When I met them at the Fair, they were energetic, fun, and inspiring. The ninjas were from different backgrounds, and had a passion for their company that was contagious. The amount of responsibility even new consultants were trusted with, and the ninja’s commitment to helping their clients really sparked my interest in SFCG. I researched it more online after, attended the information session, and found I really connect with the company. SFCG is committed to taking care of its employees and fostering productivity through unconventional ways. The employees are required to take a vacation every quarter, and the team goes on various activities. They recently went Paddle boarding, for example. They have yoga at their office, and fit right into the Austin culture. I am passionate about this company, and interested in learning more about the cloud computing services industry. Furthermore, consulting allows me to travel and develop knowledge about different industries.

The company has had over 250 clients since 2001. SFCG focuses on several customer segments, but I am most interested in three. SFCG targets Healthcare & Life Sciences companies, High Technology firms, and Media and Advertising firms. They offer CRM on demand as a product. They work with Oracle on this solution. This is a large, respected company and software in the field.

The benefit of being a small firm is that SFCG can tailor its value proposition to each of these segments. However, at the heart of it, they seek to offer the same caliber of personalized solutions for their clients. SFCG can assist all these firms to generate leads, improve sales efficiency and effectiveness, improve customer retention, make informed management decisions, and more.

For Healthcare and Life Sciences companies, SFCG uses expertise with industry regulations, forecasting, and selling on the go to help the clients verify compliance, improve inventory management, and increase revenue. They can use CRM to generate leads for the company, improve sales efficiency and effectiveness, improve customer retention, and more. Unique to this market, they can focus on helping the company with making informed management decision. They can provide custom trend reports to recognize developments and allow the company to react before their competitors. This is important because the Healthcare and Life Sciences industry is seeing many changes today, with the introduction of Obamacare. Private companies may have to communicate their advantages over the government provided healthcare. Thus, SFCG can also help these companies improve customer retention.  

SFCG offers adoption, innovation management, and customer support of cloud solutions to High Technology Firms. Because these clients are more familiar with the offering, SFCG’s value proposition is a broad toolbelt of cloud solutions. It is particularly important that their main product, CRM on demand, comes from Oracle, a trusted source in the industry. Here, SFCG can provide reports on improving customer life time value. They can also help these firms evaluate the return on investment on marketing campaigns. Their campaign ROI analysis will more effectively define what works and what doesn’t. Companies like Groupon are SFCG clients, and these tools can help them significantly.

Media and Advertising Firms also need to see which campaigns are effective. SFCG’s ability to help them generate leads and weed out practices are that inefficient will ultimately help these firms lower cost. Furthermore, as much of this business involves selling their services to clients, SFCG can help Media and Advertising firms improve sales efficiency and effectiveness. Training and analytics help implement sales best practices and see they are followed. Thus, revenue per sales person is increased, and sales people are empowered.

Source: www.sfcg.com

Generative Research

I. Close to Me- The six things that are closest to me are:

1. Islam

2. My best friend and "monkey" (nickname)

3. My sister and best friend

4. My parents

5. My cell phone

6. Entertainment media

I couldn't live without my faith because it is a guiding factor that has shaped my life. So many of my relationships with people and things have changed or been broken but my relationship with my faith and God has stayed constant, even if it goes through cycles.

Though my faith is extremely meaningful to me, entertainment media like TV shows, movies, and music are essential to my life. They provide me much needed escape from my daily life or troubles. They also make me happy and provide fun, easy activities. I usually access these with my laptop.

Though I have a complicated relationship with my parents, one where there has been a lot of tension, at the end of the day, they truly love and care for me. They have done everything to provide me such an amazing life and continue to do so. I couldn't live without them and am extremely thankful for them. I turn to them with every major decision, as much as I may want to pretend to be "grown up" and independent.

The five things that I care about are:

1. School/Education

2. My future

 3. Money and Quality of life

4. Nature

5. My three other best friends 

I drew a shooting star to symbolize my future. I also connected it to education with an arrow. I care a lot about my future, and have invested a lot in it throughout my school career with grades, internships, and more. As I prepare to graduate, my future is becoming alarmingly close. I am excited to see where I end up.

I care greatly about money and quality of life. I'm truly blessed to be where I am, and mainly it allows me to hope and dream, which I really care about. I have an easy and comfortable life, and I'm very grateful.

I'm not exactly an outdoorsy person- I can't see myself going camping every weekend- but I love nature. I care about being able to sit outside on a nice day, soak in the sun by the lake, or appreciate the gorgeous natural beauty we have around us. 

II. Digital Ecosystem- I use web search, online video, Twitter/Facebook, and more, national newspapers online, and blogs and forums to feel connected to the world. 

I primarily get most of my news/entertainment/updates from Twitter and Facebook. I get almost all my news from Twitter, or if friends link articles on Facebook. I also enjoy getting life updates from friends on those outlets and Instagram. I also stay updated with products on Wanelo.

I also use blogs and forums a lot, namely BuzzFeed and other websites like that. Several websites use gifs and memes which depict every day situations we all relate to. I enjoy visiting these.

My first venue to learn about anything is to Google it. This is why web search is what I most use. I utilize this for everything from learning about new technologies, events, activities, concepts, and more.

III. Typical Weekday- I wanted to add a few descriptions on busy points of my day here so they could be seen easier-

1. There are several bullets between my lunch and study periods. This varies based on the day- Monday and Wednesday I am in class for a large part of this time, eat quickly, and focus on trying to be productive on campus. When I come home on those days, I'm usually exhausted and don't study until later. On Tuesday and Thursday, I come home earlier and eat lunch, take a break, then study. On Fridays-weekend, I usually work and do more fun things, and study in longer periods. Shopping, hobbies, web, work, and clothing (changing) all find a place here. 

2. Another busy time is between study time and dinner. This is similar to above, it's a more flexible time that I may be studying, watching movies, catching up on E! News, using the web, and cooking. Because I don't have prior commitments, it varies daily. 

3. The rest of my day seems to be pretty evenly split in activities. In the morning I am usually getting ready, and if I have time I do some homework and watch a show. On weekends I have breakfast with my roommate and usually head to campus in this time if I am going there. The night time can be a time of heavy studying before deadlines, job applications for full time, or just relaxing and being on Facebook and watching shows. On weekends, this is a time for going out and hanging out.

David's Journey Map

I have to say- being a business major I never really expected someone to be as passionate about engineering as David is. Medium height and build with black hair, David is 20 years old, always smiling, and a great friend. He loves soccer and is minoring in French. He just came back from a soccer practice before our interview- his first of the semester. He loves being outside and is the captain of his team.

When I ask him when he first thought about his major, he stops to think for a second. His current love for his major makes it hard to pinpoint just the point when he began making this crucial decision. He settles with the summer before Freshman Year. Both of David's parents are engineers- his father Petroleum and mother, Chemical. David's family is from Colombia, and most of his relatives live there. Being far from them, his immediate family in Houston are very close. David was inspired by his parents and influenced to follow the path to Engineering. David also was influenced to this field by his 12th grade Physics teacher. David has a vibrant personality and connects to people easily. Before the interview, we were just speaking about how we like to find friends in every class, a contrast to his girl friend and one of my best friends, who likes a "break" from talking and knowing people in some classes. He is very extroverted, and it makes sense that he was influenced more by people than other factors in choosing a major.

David was admitted to UT in Petroleum Engineering. He chose this field as a temporary entry into the school. Because he was exposed to the field from his father, it was an easy choice for him. However, he did not feel very sure about it. He wanted something more broad, so that he wouldn't be limited in his future profession. He did not feel too worried about it as he knew it was easy to change majors within the Engineering school, and he was still 100% sure about Engineering. He was considering Chemical or Mechanical Engineering

His second semester of Freshman year, he took a Statics class, an Engineering class that he really enjoyed. This class specifically relates to Mechanical Engineering, and the people and material covered in this class pushed David to be 100% sure he wanted to transfer to Mechanical. For many college students, decisions don't come as easily or as strongly as they did for David. However, that's just his personality. When David likes something, he loves it. He has strong emotions and strong attachments. He likes grand gestures, and it makes him who he is and a great guy to be around. In fact, he wanted to treat Taylor (his girl friend) and I by bringing us Which Wich sandwiches while we were studying before the interview.

He officially transferred to Mechanical the first semester of his Sophomore year. That year, his classes in terms of what he learned, the professors, and his fellow students validated his decision. He was not only 100% sure in his major, but really felt passionate about it. He began his search for a summer internship by attending the career expo and communicating his passion for the field. He got an internship with a Nuclear Plant in a small town near Houston.

Though he enjoyed learning about the workings of the plant, he did wish he got to do more meaningful work in the internship. Nevertheless, it didn't reduce his passion for the field going into his Junior year. He again really enjoyed his classes with concepts, projects, and people. In particular, he loved his thermodynamics class- another major specific class. He went through the recruiting process to get another internship for the summer. This time, he opted for a company in Downtown Austin, with only 3 employees at this location. He really enjoyed himself, and was especially influenced by his mentor. He found that his mentor was very smart, and gave David work that was both meaningful but not overwhelming. He was also able to apply concepts he had learned in class. David was making a real impact in his internship.

David is now in his Senior year. He is recruiting with companies and his energy and passion for his field is sure to get him great prospects!

Blog 1: Empathy Map

9/9/2013

It’s my first blog post! Today I will be starting on an empathy map for someone dissimilar to me. I think this tool will be very useful to me as a Marketer. In my internship this summer, I had to try to imagine myself as a consumer in the retail landscape. However, the customers of the large discount retailer I interned for were extremely diverse and especially very different from me. I think developing empathy will be both essential for my future as a Marketer, and a fascinating way to understand other personalities.

For my empathy map, I chose Rameses. This is an alias..he’s not actually named after the Egyptian pharaoh. In fact, he is an electrical engineer, newly married, and a new Dad. He was born and raised in Bombay, India, and attended the University of Houston for Graduate School. He moved to the US in 2010 for his graduate schooling and got a job at Hewlett Packard after. He met his fiancé at the University of Houston. Generations in his family had arranged marriages, but his fiancé and he went back to India together to meet each other’s families and got engaged when their schooling ended. Rameses is a distant cousin of mine, but because I have no family in Texas, he is close to our family. This summer, Rameses had a son. He is extremely tiny and cute, but keeps the young couple up all night! Rameses’ wife’s, mom came to stay with the couple for a while and take care of the baby. Later this year, Rameses’s parents will visit as well. Rameses represents an immigrant whose family from now on will be Americans. He brings unique needs marketers should address in a diverse city like Houston, which attracts several immigrants.

Here’s a little more about him-

1.      What does he think and feel?

a.       From my assumptions, what counts to Rameses are religion, his family, fun activities he can still partake in as a new dad, his son, his work, providing for his family, his parents and brother

b.      Major preoccupations he has are that his son will be growing up in a different culture than he did, that his wife and he are new parents and may make mistakes, that his job may not be stable

c.       Rameses worries about the stability of his job and future of his son

d.      Rameses aspires for his son to have a good life. He also wants to be a good dad and a good provider for his family.

2.      What does he see?

a.       Rameses’ environment is in the suburbs of Houston. He sees his new house, a developing neighborhood, his job at a Hewlett Packard, his wife and child, and his parents who will be visiting soon.

b.      As a new young couple, he and his wife will be making new friends. Other couples in their neighborhood are also having newborn children, thus his friends are changing from his bachelor friends at UH.

c.       As a new dad he sees products for his newborn child. He sees the use of a good swaddling blanket. He seeks easier ways to balance his work life with being with his son.

3.      What does he say and do?

a.       Rameses’s attitude in public is polite and friendly

b.      Rameses has the appearance of a middle class young man who is starting a family. He is skinny, has short hair, clean shaven, and still wears sweatpants and t-shirts. During the week, he wears tucked in polos and jeans for work. He wears his glasses more often now as a new dad  

c.       Rameses is friendly towards others, he makes small talk with waiters and waitresses, interacts with neighbors, invites family over for dinner and occasions, skypes his family long distance regularly (in fact, he keeps an iPad open on the dining table to easily talk to them) and shares frequent pictures of his son with them

4.      What does he hear?

a.       Friends tell Rameses about new issues to think about with his new son, about their new experiences and what is happening in their lives, about how they miss their lives in school/college/graduate school (wherever they met Rameses)

b.   His bosses are much older and experienced and have advice for him as a new dad as well as input into his performance at work

c.   Influencers, like his parents and uncle (my dad- his only close family in Houston), have different inputs into the different investments Rameses should be looking into, parenting tips, what is normal for the baby, Google allows Rameses to quickly research different actions with his son, his wife influences when he goes to work/goes to lunch/comes back home

5.      What are his pain points?

a.       Rameses fears that he will not be able to instill his cultural values in his son, or find the right balance between raising his son Indian or American. 

b.   Being a new parent and not having as much time for himself and his marriage is a frustration. Not having the culture and environment he grew up with can be frustrating when he misses it. Having constant responsibility instead of days of endless video games and pizza as he did only a few years ago is a frustration. Being far away from his Mom and Dad is a frustration.  

c.   HP's seeming decline and the volatility of the technology industry is a large obstacle to Rameses being sure in the stability of his job and his future. The gap between American and Indian culture is an obstacle that he will have to face when beginning to raise his child. His values also differ greatly from generations before him as he represents a younger generation.

6.      What does he hope to gain?

a.       Rameses wants to provide a good life for his family and newborn son. He hopes to gain status and reputation in his career. He wants good friends and a good neighborhood for his son. He needs to instill good values in his son, preferably the oens he wishes to carry on from his Indian culture and faith. 

b.   Rameses measures his success at work with how his superiors evaluate him and the tangible fruits of his work. He will measure his success as a Dad with individual instances with his son.

c.   Rameses faces obstacles of challenging, time consuming work and a work environment not conducive to motivation and innovation. He does not feel passionate about his work. He will face obstacles related to having his first child, the strain having a child puts on a relationship, integrating both his cultures into his life, his marriage, his child's upbringing, and his parents and wife's parents' visits to his home. 

That's all for now! Thanks for reading.