Project Contingency Mapping Brainstorm
Subject: How can we improve/ help compensate national healthcare crisis (with the retirement of the boomers) with the advent of robots/AI?
Things that may impede progress
-Our limited knowledge on medicine, psychology, and robotics
-Synced up schedule for a group meeting as we are all in different parts of the country/have different jobs.
Things that are outside our control
-Having thorough knowledge on health care and cognitive decline models
-available technology/ knowledge on it’s current iteration
Issues that need to be resolved before you can move forward
Agreeing with Colleen, we need to figure out our pool of people that we can hone in on for the AI conversation. In my submission video (when I was applying to USC about solving a problem) I mentioned the demographic of:
Baby boomer (65-onwards as of 2017)
Family history of cognitive decline (Alzheimer's, Dementia, etc.)
Optional boomers who live alone/widowers/widows-- loneliness is the #1 leading cause of cognitive decline.
This way, we have a scope of what we can achieve. My thoughts are:
Pick the style of technology and its feasibility in usage (like is it an Alexa or is it a Kibo kind of machine); No apps. Those are over and done with…..
With the chosen technology: what are its primary functions?
Cost range and accessibility?
Project Contingency Mapping Brainstorm: Colleen
Things that may impede progress
Depending on our team’s superpowers in understanding healthcare regulation, I think we might have some knowledge gaps in what is feasible within the constraints of the US healthcare regulations, insurance, and logistics.
Things that are outside our control
Actual implementation in a hospital or healthcare setting.
Issues that need to be resolved before you can move forward
I think we could help ourselves out with this project by setting expectations around scope. Scope: we could limit ourselves to a more specific audience (baby boomers? Aging adults in LA?) and context (hospitals? Clinics? Outpatient? Senior homes? Homecare?)
Project Contingency Mapping Brainstorm: Allen
Things that may impede progress
I’m expecting that I will be able to pull internal resources to help answer some of our questions, but there is the possibility that Intellectual Property may come into play if we get too close to something that’s already in work.
Things that are outside our control
Tech advancements in the space as we work on the problem
Issues that need to be resolved before you can move forward
I agree on focusing hard on the scope. In addition to what Colleen has suggested, I’d consider tech literacy as a criteria and limit our hardware choices to that which is already on the market or expected to be on the market by the end of 2018 .
Understand your limits: what are your capabilities and the collective capabilities of the team?
A: I think we’ve got a really good combo of skills and experience to tackle this problem. We may have to lean on external sources for legal/liability issues, but we can work around those
C: Agreed! Collective capabilities are interesting and have some nice overlaps as well.
K: All across the board I agree. I have a lot of multifaceted skills that can help as well as I have working knowledge of the current state of research regarding baby boomers and mental health. Collectively, we are all team oriented and easy going, but not passive--welcoming of all ideas and that breeds great concepts!
Establish reasonable and feasible goals and standards. What are you and your team’s intentions and are they in line with your abilities. Where does your team have gaps and how will you mitigate that?
A: Still working on final scope, but I do like how realistic we are at this point. We’re not trying to reinvent the nurse, but the initial scoping of the project and trying to see how we can impact patients now is a good thing. As mentioned, we may have some gaps in the legal field, but we can work around those or put caveats where appropriate
C: I’d like for us to establish just 1-2 guiding principles of our goals and standards. Something like: 1, we will experiment and try new things, even if it fails, and 2, we will think about how to create something that inspires joy, doesn’t just solve a need. I’m feeling quite inspired by Kelsey’s point from our group discussion, that we should think of this as a learning opportunity, and not overwhelm ourselves with trying to think up every complicated or over-reaching solution.
K: Looks like we are all working towards having an established scope of the project. I’m a firm believer in treating every step like a new learning curve because if you can understand how you can do something, you can then learn how to do it better-- products can take many iterations, however, why not start with learning how we all operate in a project setting without judgment/cutting corners to create a fluid, fun, and inspired product. I think gaps could arise with work load if we don’t establish our needs early on enough. Knowledge and effort to research to back up what we are working on could be a gap as it has the potential to be downplayed and underutilized in favor of having a tangible beta product. Measure twice, cut once.
Be strict and consistent. Do not promise what you cannot deliver. Talk with your team on how to stay within scope and meet and exceed expectations within your collective means.
C: See above - would love for us to have some team principles / guiding mantras to make sure this is a good learning opportunity and an enjoyable one.
Reward Yourself. What incentives do you and your team value when you meet your goals and conversely, what is agreed upon and accepted “consequences” for you or your team members for not contributing or behaving poorly?
A: High fives or public shaming
C: I value a good public acknowledgement of hard work and try to call that out for others as well. I am always open to feedback but do a lot better when given feedback in a timely way, and 1:1 instead of publicly.
K: Allen, that’s amazing and I have the perfect gif to go with that. In all seriousness though, I think incentives could be as simple as shout outs or genuine praise of each others’ contributions as well as maybe even organizing a “party” from afar--i.e. Send each other a care package. I’m old school like that with new school tricks: see Drizly. As for “consequences,” I think walking through one’s motive is important. I don’t like ambivalence, but I do care when there is a struggle going on in one of my teammates (hardships, time-sensitivity, and especially mental health related issues. We can’t be “on” all the time.) I think some objective metrics in something similar to a low-key charter would be good at maintaining order and understanding and de-personalize any ongoing issues.
A: Public shaming was a joke, but it doesn’t really work without emojis. Whenever I hear consequences, I think of https://media.giphy.com/media/m6tmCnGCNvTby/giphy.gif
