All this reading is paying off. I can see the power of different methodologies in getting everyone on the same page for a project, but the fire starter/facilitator whatever you want to call it really needs to get everything rolling…or someone does. In DPD, I’m with a lot of alphas, which is going to be great and come with its own challenges. In AUX, half our team is more subdued, possibly due to language barriers. It something that isn’t going to be a problem!
When we first got together, we needed to come up with some sort of identity. or name for our group…I suggested a combination of the first letters of our names, Skye, Natalie, Mansi and Jeremiah. SMNJ, NJMS…SiMJiN? When I suggested Simjin, both Natalie and Skye giggled as it sounds like the word for psyco. Is that ok? Is it insensitive? Is it rude? The assured me it wasn’t, so we agreed to do a range of iterations with the word as a logo…more on that later.
We looked at our assumptions…Why would you need to get a copy of your criminal record? You must have done something bad right? We talked about this, then realised we have all had to get criminal records done. Me for jobs (managed by the employer), and the others for their student visa. We realised that there was a vast time difference between getting it done in NZ as opposed to either China or India, which is redic really, considering the population differences.
Felix, one of the tutors, told us of how he had to get his own criminal record to apply for volunteering roles where children were involved, and because of the time it took, went for volunteering at the SPCA instead. Once we realised that there were heaps of reasons why you would need to get your criminal record, our questioning turned to WHY it takes so long…like it’s all digitalised, right?
What would be the right way to go forward with this?
By going through the project/grading markers, it was clear to me that we wouldn’t be making an actual product or even a prototype, but just the plan for it, like a document we would give a potential client.
We chatted in a pretty unstructured way, and the things that came out, I took notes of, giving us a framework. Natalie and Skye shared the process in China, and Mansi shared the Indian process, which really helps when it comes to perspective! I agreed to look into the process here, as well as Australia, the UK and the States, and report back to everyone.
We had to think about what tools we would use to get a greater understanding of the client wants and needs.
Our basic assumption is that everyone will think a month takes too long. Proving or disproving this is a success either way. Mansi agreed to draft a survey we could send out, ass well as getting in touch with her mentor, who works inside the Ministry of Justice, and could provide us with the inside machinations of the process. I agreed to throw together a discussion document so we had something to work with.
Later, I devised a small plan for what I needed to do:
Steps taken for the CRC project
1/ research – discover all the information about the process.
- Copy the form as it’s currently a protected PDF (QUESTION: how can someone even fill this out online…they really would have to print it and write it, or at least someone like Gloria would. I may have to as well)
- Copy all the information from the website. This gives a single resource, outside of the computer screen, where you can focus only on the copy, without concern for layout or other digital influencers
- Define who this project is for. I believe it’s a system design exercise, as I currently assume that all the users would have the same problem or question, namely Why does it take so long? I think some of their secondary issues would be the repetitive nature of the form.
We agreed to meet next Tuesday from 12 to 2 and have a co-design workshop together.
Jeremiah Boniface 