alliejcorg

Design@USC, Seattle, WA

[alliejcorg]

Evalutation

One of the best methods and techniques we have used within the evaluation stage is working through our measurable goals and measurable achievements. Lucky for me, no one in our group was too shy to set goals for our final presentation and voice opinions on exactly what we need to do in the next week to prepare. Similarly, we spent time looking at our team norms that were defined during the first phase of the creative problem solving process. When we reviewed these norms, we were able to compare the goals we had set, and measure our achievements and shortcomings when it came to those initial goals. Some of the things that we did very well was staying on task and staying on time. Typically I am very shy when it comes to steering a conversation, so I was really impressed that our group was so comfortable to keep things moving and ensure that we weren’t getting too off track.

Next, we took a look at the presentation itself and reviewed the feedback that we had received in class reviews and office hours with Aaron. When we took a look at these bits of feedback, it made it easy to have a good discussion about proposed improvements which included: new branding effort, condensing explanatory material on optimized profile descent, and altering our presentation for a new audience. As we talked through this, we realized that we needed to define our audience and talked through the potential of our audience being airlines or capital investors, but in the end we settled on making the FAA/Next Gen leads our audience. This made the most sense because NextGen would be the first people we would need to engage with to get buy-in for a partnership.

Another method and technique that will help us will be collecting feedback from others, including results that come from rubrics of our peers. Another really important element that has been highlighted is the identification and discussion about what criteria are we judging others and ourselves by. Talking through this really helped our group get aligned on what success looks like for us as well as our classmates.

Finally, the iterative design process is an “acceptance”  phase in itself. What I have realized is that sometimes we need to accept that the process is always ongoing, and perfectionism is not the goal.

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Implementation - Iteration

Over the past week, our team has been very diligent about dividing and conquering when it comes to iteration. A very cool observation I had this week, was that there were very few instances where we had to actually assign specific tasks to specific people. Each time we met this week, our team members were proactive in coming up with a new marketing concept, additional research, or mockups – without being asked or assigned ahead of time. This was very promising because it made me realize that we are in a very good flow right now, with a clear solution and vision for what our final project will look like.

One of our main successes was the marketing campaign and concept developed by Josh. When he first pitched us the idea of his “we have a better solution” campaign, we all jumped on board and had a great laugh. I think Josh had a great idea and is very skilled at knowing how to reach and engage with people in the community. Josh worked with each of us individually to show how he generated virtual assets (via photoshop), and we each added input and additional ideas into the prototype document.

The biggest failure this week was on my end. In my regular job, I work with a program called CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme for International Aviation). CORSIA is a program that will offset the environmental impact of aviation emissions beginning in 2020. In many cases, this looks like an optional fee that passengers can opt into when purchasing a flight. I was really eager to get data on what the current uptake of the program is. I figured that if we could find current uptake for carbon offsetting, then we will find a similar uptake for the percentage of passengers that would want to positively impact the environment from a noise perspective too. If only 1% of passengers flying in and out of LAX opt in during a single year, each passenger within that 1% would only have to pay $8.75 in fees to support the airport’s development of OPD (Optimized Profile Descent). Our team decided to round up to a $10 fee to support Silent Sky’s expenses. Though I felt this was a failure on my end, not being able to give more rationale as to how many of the passengers will opt in, I still recognize that we were able to make an assumption and add the footnote that our assumptions will be adjusted based on CORSIA data as it begins to roll in.

We didn’t have to pivot our idea but we did have to dive deeper into the “what” and “how.” This was important for our group specifically, because our solution is not necessarily a product, but more of a process for fundraising and accelerating a process (OPD). The biggest win in my opinion was just ther fact that overall our team has had such a clear vision of what Silent Sky’s mission is and how we would execute. Finally, Mehrad has been keeping us all organized as always, and did a great job of taking all of our ideas and making them more clean and coherent.

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Implementation

Group Alpha had an extraordinarily productive week this week. We started off with a mentality of “making it happen”, which involved at least 1 group meeting per day. These multiple touchpoints allowed for us to begin putting out plan into action. This took us into the “distinguishing actions” process, which first started with an emerged issue that we need to tackle right away. Our initial plan was for our organization to primarily be lobbyists to convince the FAA to adopt continuous descent approaches. A wrinkle came up as we were researching a potential action, because we realized that the FAA has actually already adopted this policy and tried implementing through a program called NextGen. This allowed us the opportunity to go back and pivot to a different solution. Our research also led us to understand that despite the FAA’s adoption of continuous descent, there is still a need to funding at many airports to make continuous descent approaches a standard practice. With that knowledge, we decided to make our organization’s purpose the funding and acceleration of continuous descent approaches, also known as optimized profile descent (OPD). As we talked through this, many other ideas were discussed, such as green credits for airlines that adopt these policies, and how passengers can get involved in fundraising. Another process we used as this was happening was a “moment of truth.” We decided that an important step for us would be to develop a mission statement for our proposed organization, to ensure the purpose of our group was crystal clear, and that any other key activities done by the group were a bonus. The mission statement we ended up with was: “an organization focused on the acceleration of OPD as standard operating procedure.” We expanded upon this purpose/mission statement by indicating that we will raise these funds for the purpose of accelerating OPD at select airports. Josh knocked it out of the park by taking on the process of “live up to its name.” Josh very intentionally developed a brand concept and visualization, culminating in the name of our organization: Aviation Silencium, which is a fancy way of saying ‘quiet flight.’ Finally, I found that our group did a very good job of utilizing all 8 of the popular action methods. While Rob did a great job with public speaking, jotting down ideas/thoughts of the group, and advocating for new ideas and different viewpoints, Josh was stellar with translating and digesting. Josh also helped us develop graphics that brought visual aspects to our ideas and allowed us to bring certain processes and ideas to life, such as the FAA/NextGen x Aviation Silencium logo concept. Finally, Mehrad was our voice of reason in many cases, keeping us on track, translating our ideas, and being a great example when it comes to the body-language and role-playing step. Mehrad definitely did a great job of “playing the part” and making actions speak louder than words. This definitely showed up in the research and divergent work he did. Overall, there was a very positive shift in our group this week because we had to get aligned on our solution, and adjust to news that the FAA has already gotten on board with OPD. I am really proud of the progress that we made since this news came along, and I am anxious to roll up our sleeves and keep iterating on our Prototype Documentation.

[alliejcorg]

Ideation

For this week’s ideation brainstorming session, my group got together a few times to talk through some of the different concepts we could consider. It was probably one of the more fun sessions, because everything was able to be put out on the table and taken seriously – no matter how crazy the idea was. To be honest, this was not easy for me at first. I am typically a very practical person, so I am always considering the feasibility of an idea. This also means that I am typically very quick to shut down an idea.

One of the wildest ideas that came up in our group was to create giant Beats by Dre to put around airports to reduce noise congestion. At first, we all chuckled, then I remembered in our async material that we should think twice about the ideas that draw different facial expressions. That means it’s something so crazy or out of the box that it may have never been considered before. Another “crazy” idea that I actually really liked was to consider having airplanes takeoff and land into underground tunnels. Working in the industry, I know they type of reaction that these ideas might elicit, but I also think that we are thinking in a disruptive way, which is something I had never done before.

When it comes to the actual methods that we used, our group took advantage of a few different methods to tackle this step in our creative problem-solving process. We used the following: brainstorming (individually), group brainstorming, brainstorming crazy ideas, taking a break, forced connections, other places, what if, and lateral thinking. If you were to tell me that we would have used almost every type of method for the ideation phase – I probably would have been intimidated, but I actually had a lot of fun in the process! Fun can be measured by the amount of eyebrow raising and chuckling.

I think that so often it’s easy to go into the ideation phase with an expectation of what idea will be chosen in the end. I also struggled with this during the IPR. It’s important to recognize your tendency to want to do that – and fight back against it. Once we got the crazy ideas out there, as well as the more practical ones, we went off in our own directions to “take a break” and get ourselves into “other spaces.” At this point, we all dove deeper into one of the ideas and did some research. I chose to go deeper into alternative flight paths, because this is something that regulatory agencies, airports, airlines, Boeing, etc. are already doing today. What I found was interesting – alternative flight paths, or continuous descent approaches, help most communities, but hurt those within a 2.5 km range, even worse than before.

This research has led us as a group to believe that we can incorporate this knowledge into one of our other ideas to help support communities in the 2.5 km radius specifically.

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Definition

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Acceptance & Analysis

A successful project for me would mean that I have found a way to work together with my teams and utilized some of the acceptance and research techniques for problem solving shared from our asynchronous material. When it comes to self-interest, this topic hits home for me, as it is a personal passion, as well as directly related to my full-time job. This alone is a big motivator for me because I will benefit from learning through the thoughts of others, but also because I can become more of an expert on the topic. When I picture success, not only do I reference the use of acceptance and research techniques, but also the idea that my team has created something that has the potential to improve the world.

Potential benefits for me are that we’re able to craft a solution that can be used at my full-time job, and can contribute to the research and analysis that it takes to become an expert. Also, our project could allow my company to shape the future of environmental impact and sustainable transportation options. This is a very big motivator right now because of the rising concern globally. This project will help me personally by allowing me to excel as the environmental focal at work, and I will grow by absorbing thoughts and methods of my team mates. I experienced this firsthand at the Integrated Practices Residential (IPR). At the IPR, I was placed in a group of individuals who approached problems much differently than I usually would. This allowed me to develop my skillset in how I approach problems, and offered me more options of how to think through a problem. I can see a very similar situation in this project, where I’m able to learn from my peers’ unique knowledge sets, and apply that both at work and in my personal life.

In regards to the analysis step, I can appreciate the fact that this process allows to dedicated time to doing research. So often in the corporate world, we jump to find solutions and check something off of a list. However, with this method we can truly take our time understanding the subject matter and break it down into digestible bits. In addition to the journaling we’re already doing, one of the research techniques that I would like to try specifically is the lateral thinking technique. Working in the aviation industry, this topic will be particularly difficult to think about outside of the industry. That being said, it will be very important to get the thoughts of my peers who are in different industries and disciplines. The morphological analysis allowed me to notice some of the gaps in our research. This includes missing boxes within the grid we had set up, but also missing columns and rows for the grid we developed. The insights we have developed are that there is an abundance of material on the negative effects of aviation on the environment, but also that there are lots of solutions being developed to prevent that in the future.

[alliejcorg]

Creative Problem-Solving Interviews

Jeremy, Production Engineer 1. How do you generate ideas? (How, when, and where are you inspired? What inspires you? What obstacles do you face in coming up with a new idea and how do you overcome those obstacles?) The first thing I do if I see a problem is try determining what has been done already. Usually this starts with doing some basic background research. My next step is to mull over the findings from my research, then step away from the problem before going back to it. Often times an idea will come when I have time to think, such as in the car or during uninterrupted periods of work. I am inspired by similar or existing ideas to my own. When coming up with an idea, I will often struggle to figure out how to find an actionable idea. Working in a small business, we have very limited budget and resources, as well as expedited deadlines. I can often imagine complicated and elaborate solutions to our problems, but often they are not feasible within those constraints. To overcome these obstacles, it takes a lot of trying out ideas and iterations, being willing to fail. This includes prototyping and seeing how the product or solution may work in practice. When I am able to create a physical prototype as a response to a problem, I can overcome the obstacles of generating a good solution. Finally, I find that the actual process of creating something helps spark other new ideas.

2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems? (Describe the steps of your problem-solving process. Explain your journey from inspiration to implementation.) The first step is to very clearly define the problem involved. It is important to understand who the solution is serving as well as what have previous attempts to solve the problem looked like. Another aspect of my research is to determine the scale of a problem. I need to understand timelines and how urgent the problem might be. If it’s more long-term, I can take time to be strategic with the solution. Also, I will ask what the cost is if no solution is developed at all. Next, I will take time to do a little more research and determine what has been done before and why it failed. Simultaneously, I am considering ideas and brainstorming potential solutions. In my current role, it’s important to understand the systems and processes that are currently in place. The third step is to come up with a plan of attack. I need to ask myself whether this is a quick fix or requires lots of attention and resource. From the brainstorming step, I will now take time to consider my options and narrow down to the options that make sense. Next, I will start trying them out. A saying I like to remember is: “one physical test is worth 1,000 expert opinions.” Once I see the performance and can visualize the impact, I will determine which solution is the best fit. Finally, once a solution has been chosen, I need to be sure to continuously refine to ensure quality, safety, affordability, ergonomic for our operators.

Greg, Product Marketing 1. How do you generate ideas? (How, when, and where are you inspired? What inspires you? What obstacles do you face in coming up with a new idea and how do you overcome those obstacles?) Very often in the aviation industry, ideas come based on airplane specifications and capabilities. There is a narrow focus to stay within the industry when setting standards within marketing, so I make a very concentrated effort to educate myself on what other industries are doing. This may be something as simple as Apple’s seamless website design, or a well-crafted SunSki advertisement. My ideas come from generating lots of exposure from these other industries and finding ways to apply those to my job at Boeing. I also follow general design and marketing trends by constantly looking at websites such as AdWeek, Pinterest, and TrendWatching. I believe that life is all about discovery, so in a lot of cases that means getting out of my own habitat and taking time to travel. This also means that I am constantly learning and asking questions. The more knowledge I can collect on a particular matter, the easier it will be to develop an idea.

2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems? (Describe the steps of your problem-solving process. Explain your journey from inspiration to implementation.) Boeing has a habit of taking a very technical approach to problem-solving and creativity. In many cases here in Marketing, you will see ex-engineers jump to a process or solution that has been done many times before. I try to approach problem-solving differently, first by asking “why?” For example, we were asked to create a presentation for a particular product and focus on one certain trait of that airplane. When I asked “why,” we found that there wasn’t a great need in the first place. Next, I try to avoid looking at what has been done before and think about the problem on a large scale. Next, I take time to research what other industries are doing. This is when I try to understand what types of marketing are effective for similar problems/tasks. Then I will ask myself what supporting data we have to work with and try to draw conclusions from there. Once I have drawn those conclusions, the story begins to mold itself around that. Finally, once the story is told I typically present it to a few colleagues for initial feedback, but I am always seeking feedback from my peers and customers.

Peter, Adjunct Professor 1. How do you generate ideas? (How, when, and where are you inspired? What inspires you? What obstacles do you face in coming up with a new idea and how do you overcome those obstacles?) It is always important to me that I share with my students the experiences I have had throughout my 30-year career in the industry. In general, I am inspired by experiences and stories from others, but also from my own past experiences. I think this is incredibly important when teaching undergraduate students, because most of them have never worked in a full-time job. In many cases, I have found students struggling in other courses because they cannot see the real-world application of the concepts being taught.

2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems? (Describe the steps of your problem-solving process. Explain your journey from inspiration to implementation.) Back when I was managing a factory, I would immediately go out to the floor and talk to the mechanics to understand the problems that would arise. There was always a big emphasis we took on making sure our front line was covered and listened to. It was very important that I had developed close relationships with the mechanics, because when something did go wrong, they knew they could trust me to listen and not place blame on them.

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[alliejcorg]

Exploring Creativity

To me, creativity is not only thinking outside of the box but it is also the act of creating itself. In many cases throughout my career so far, I have found creativity to be as simple as changing a certain process. For example, my team has used the same process for uploading and sharing documents for the past two decades. However, recently a manager came into the group and developed a new way in which we upload and share our marketing materials. It’s easy to think of art or good design as something that is creative, but in a lot of cases I do not think that is true, because a good design could be copied from its original artist. That being said, in this case of my experience at work I believe that creativity is truly the act of taking a process or an idea and challenging it or turning inside out.

Along those same lines, when I think of creativity I think of the actual act of creating something. At many design firms across the world, designers are encouraged to “fail often.” In my opinion I think the actual act of trying to physically create something new is creativity, even if it’s considered a failure. As an example, I practice calligraphy in my free time. Sometimes this looks like practicing exact strokes and spacing of common script fonts. In other cases, though, this may look like me discovering a new way to portray a certain letter.

Overall, I think that creativity has a different definition to everyone. In my experience throughout my career, I am often seen as a “creative person” just because I appreciate good art and design. This is something I have struggled with because I sometimes don’t believe that appreciation is the same thing as actually being creative. In my first example of my current job, the manager who developed a new process for uploading our documents has a technical background in engineering. Many leaders may see this manager as a technical person who’s not creative, but based on the example I gave earlier he is a great example of someone who is the creative person in its truest form: both thinking outside the box and actually being able to create.