Dish Five: The End... Or Is It?

 

Tomorrow will be my last day in Customer Insights, and while I'm excited to go on a deliverable-free Winter Break, I'm going to miss that class.  I had a wonderful team in a wonderful classroom with a wonderful professor---what more could I ask more?

It's not like there weren't days where I really felt like sleeping an extra hour instead of coming in, or times where we procrastinated an assignment because we really, really, didn't feel like working on it.  But I learned a lot, and if someone told me I could redo this semester, knowing what I know now about my classes, I would still sign up for Customer Insights.  The course is a roller coaster, but that's why I love it---roller coasters are my favorite rides at theme parks.

Some of My Expectations (AKA waiting in line)

• The class would be just like Intro to Innovation and Design: I had this assumption because the design thinking activity we did in the beginning of the semester was just like the one we did in that class (spoiler alert: while there were some overlapping lessons, this course was much different overall)
• I would get tired of working with my team: I've had more bad than good team experiences, so my teamwork expectations were not high.  When I found out it would just be the three of us, I was really disappointed because I figured, "That's more work for all of us!  We can only split up the deliverables three ways!"  And yet, as luck would have it, I loved my team (and I wish we were all taking Product Management together next semester!).  It may have only been the three of us, but we were all so diligent that it was more productive than most 5-person teams I've worked in. 
• The Discover section would be my least favorite part: I knew that Discover would consist of research so I automatically assumed I wouldn't like it...but turns out research can be fun!  Especially, the netnography and ethnography!  Create was my favorite, but to be honest, I ended up loving all four parts.

Some of the Excitement (AKA going up)

• Exploring the fast food industry: I had to read a book on marketing and production in fast food when I was in middle school, and was fascinated.  So, when my team decided on that sector, I was really excited.  Here was my opportunity to combat some of the problems I read about (one of them being the lack of nutrients)!  Even though it's just a college project, I kinda felt like I was making an impact.
• No tests: I liked that I was able to put all of my focus on our innovation without also studying for exams (or doing mini sims).  This definitely felt like a learning-by-doing class, so I don't think exams would solidify my learning like they did in Principles of Marketing.
• Learning how to integrate AI: Artificial Intelligence is definitely going to play a large role in the future of business, so I really appreciated the lesson on using AI in our research.  Later, we used the AI imagery skills we learned in Advertising when working on our prototype.

Some of the Challenges (AKA the bottom of the drop)

• Not asking yes/no questions during interviews: Even though I wrote a guide to prevent from asking these kinds of questions, I still found them tumbling out my mouth at times.  I think it's that even though I was trying to just be a listener, I would still sometimes try to guess their feelings, and those yes/no questions were my way of trying to "confirm" my suspicions.  I needed to learn to come in to the interview with an open mind, without presumptions.
• Keeping up with the readings: This is bad, I know.  I read many of the HBR articles, such as "An Anthropologist Walks Into a Bar," and the one on Blue Ocean, but with the textbook, I'm not sure if I even made it past the first chapter.
• Transcribing the interviews: With both interviews, there was background noise, which meant that the transcripts came out crazy.  I spent hours taking out all the words that were said by a random stranger, so lesson learned: always conduct interviews in a quiet space, and instruct your interviewee to please speak loudly and clearly. 

Some of My Reflections (AKA how much fun was the coaster?)

• I kind of want to do it all again but pick a different retail sector: I really feel like I just finished an adventure, like I've been in a movie and this is the last ten minutes.  I'm at the part of the film where I'm saying goodbye to all the friends I met, and preparing to go back home having learned some valuable lessons.  But now I'm thinking it would be fun to play the movie all over again, but this time exploring clothing stores (working as a stylist for Stitch Fix has gotten me into innovations in fashion).     
• I wish the lectures had more activities/thought experiments like with Principles: I know we have less time for lectures because part of the class is spent working with our teams, but the little activities in Principles were so much fun and I missed them!
• I think it would've been cool to have a lesson on 3d printing, and how we can use it for prototyping 

This post ended up longer than expected, and I'm not really sure how to end it, so I'll just say this may be the end of my class, but it's not the end of using customer insights...hopefully I'll be doing that forever! 

Happy Hollidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!