Team Meeting #0: Meet Oaklandish Impact!

Welcome to class!

For today's session, our group went through the Workshop Guide for Class 1 of the course. We started off the workshop with a brief exercise to introduce ourselves to the group, what we're currently working on and what we'd like to learn during the course. We then proceeded to play an Icebreaker called Visual Telephone to get our creative juices flowing. We each start by writing a phrase (silly or serious) on the top of a sheet of paper. The paper is passed to the person on the right and that person tries to draw the phrase, and this alternates until the sheet of paper comes back to the original owner. My phrase "Bears like to eat cupcakes" pretty much stayed the same throughout. However, I did learn that glitter is pretty difficult to draw on paper, as it ended up being mistaken for nails. 

The next portion consisted of going through logistics for the course. We decided that we will switch up roles every week for storyteller and class leader. We also decided on a set of ground rules for the course that will help our workshops run more smoothly: 

• No Devil's Advocate.
• Be on time!
• Be prepared.
• Use of more "I" statements, speak from individual experiences.

After discussing readings from our first class, we got right into the meat of today's workshop: Design a Better Commute! We split the group up into pairs and took turns interviewing to understand each other's morning commutes. Some things to keep in mind for these interviews was to be an active listener and to keep asking "Why?". 

Step 1: Interview (15 mins)
My partner, Lina, talked about her morning commutes of having to drive to multiple locations throughout the day. She typically drives because it's most the cost- and time-efficient, but prefers to find free parking as most people would. Sometimes she'll settle for having to pay for parking or parking a little further, and will go through multiple cycles to find parking, but usually won't spend more than 10-15 minutes looking for parking. If public transportation was more accessible, she would much rather prefer that option, but driving to each location to meet her clients currently suits her needs better. 

Step 2: Interpreting needs (5 mins)
We took the next five minutes to read over our notes and interpret our partner's needs from the interviews. 

What are three unique aspects of your partner's commute? 

1. Having to drive to multiple locations throughout the day.
2. Determined to find free parking.
3. Would use public transporation if more accessible.

What are three needs that your partner faces each month?

1. Find free parking. 
2. Get to meetings on time. 
3. Have everything packed for the day.  
   

Step 3: Brainstorm (15 mins)
For this section, we took fifteen minutes to brainstorm new solutions to improve our partner's commute. Some of my ideas for Lina included an app that helps you find free parking, co-sharing parking spaces, more locations on public transportation systems like BART and Muni, Clipper Card with unlimited monthly passes for the entire Bay Area, and parking garages. 

Step 4: Prototype (15 mins)
It's time to get tangible! We worked on more physical/visual prototypes to imagine the possibilities and pitfalls of our solutions. I decided to go further with my free parking app idea, and started to draw out the visuals of my app.  

Step 5: Feedback (10 mins)
After prototyping, we finally shared our ideas with the rest of the team. 

Lina's idea for a driving co-op to solve the issue of having to drive to work everyday.

Chris' idea for Annie's request for the best bicycle ever!

Annie-Rose's idea for Chris' problem of commuting across different public transportation systems with a bike, including a work station for Caltrain!

Team Oaklandish Impact!

Some lessons learned from today: 

• Time constraints allow for creativity
• Collaborative nature allows you to put out ideas you normally wouldn't
  

Class 1 complete! See ya next week!