Essays and Musings

[stopmeifyouhaveheard]

Evaluation: A Natural Morphing

Definition of evaluation: : determination of the value, nature, character, or quality of something or someone

The evaluation process is something that I tend to naturally shy away from; it’s painfully uncomfortable for me and it’s easy for me to blame the weird pseudo- Nordic background that I have, were certain types of critique are considered hurtful, (therefore non-Nordics are surprised when they are met with complete silence to a question/ or a situation) and yet blatant honesty is equally expected. None the less, for this evaluation, it’s easy to map out how people fell into roles that were natural and intrinsic to individual strengths without employing the literal meaning of evaluation.

Upon our group reflection, both Roberto and Linna stayed true to their pre-determined roles, as Roberto is very knowledgable with graphs, charts and high level diagrams. Linna, who gave herself the title of the “librarian”, but was much more than that, not only provided the direction for the drilled down ideas for the team’s name, did a lot of the initial styling for the presentations, also came up with the concept idea of exploring the usage of a non-polluting material

--->     Adobe!    <----. 

The  biggest deviations from the original plan occurred for both myself and Lauren; I was supposed to take notes for the project and  Lauren was to just call time etc for the duration of the project. Looking back, this was probably ill conceived notion since it wasn’t employing the true capabilities of our team. Yet, at the time, we were complete strangers to one another and we didn’t know the full talent stack of everyone. Lauren, was able to beautifully breathe life into the concept of the architecture and create an overall look/feel with an equally beautiful color palate. By providing a style guide, I was able to create a live website for our final project and her contribution made it more polished and complete. This natural morphing wasn’t a guided situation, but was allowed to grow on its own which has resulted to a better end project for our final presentation.

[stopmeifyouhaveheard]

Implementation: Part 2

I realized the other day when I was putting together the “Project Plan” via Smart Sheets, as a “Time and Task” plan that in order to put this project together and to truly launch this idea into a company, that there would have to be many pivots from start to finish. Securing the financing alone , from VC’s, would involve a lot caveats that we probably aren’t anticipating; none the less, I think that there is a growing acceptance that 3D Printing will be part of the future of construction. However, in our case, the  3D Printing of  locally sourced materials  (eg the adobe and mica) would require not only land surveyors, but additional feasibility studies that would more than likely result in more pivoting inside of the company before launch, alongside any other hidden gotchas since no one on the team is involved in this sort of science or engineering, therefore making theses steps inside the project planning process murkier.

During this process, I was also able to put together a website displaying the what a promotional website would look like, which luckily satisfied a requirement for another class and while many hours went into that project, I know, once again, that if this project idea were ever to gain traction in order to become a realized company, that it would also change a few times over from what I see it today on my computer screen. 

[stopmeifyouhaveheard]

Implementation of Group Idea

Our group is relying heavily on visuals this week for the implementation portion of project. This is to help envision the solution to the problem that buying a home nowadays is extremely difficult for first time buyers, therefore the demographic that would be interested would be ideally, “millennials”, whose upper demographic is now in their late thirties. However, we also know that  anyone that is in the early adopter group sort of mindset (these are probably the same folks that went out and bought the iPhone when it first hit the market over ten years ago), would also be interested in this product.  

That being said, there are many ways to approach this project, and mapping the consumer journey was something that we felt that the other companies weren’t doing and/ or addressing from what we could see on their websites.  Therefore, if we were to pitch the idea, somehow gain funding (guestimation of 100-150 million USD dollars), gain access to the large 3D printing machines and launch; the mapping of the consumer journey not only gave us a definitive starting point, but also positioned us to where adoption of 3D homes would happen a tad quicker since we are also propositioning that our group should partner with states with low taxes and state relocation programs.

We are still a couple weeks away from our final deliverable, so we still have a way to go! None the less,  now that I have learning about this sort of technology makes me feel as though I am standing on the precipice of something amazing and am curious where this market will be in ten years. 

[stopmeifyouhaveheard]

Ideation: Team 3D Printed Homes

Going with the natural flow

Our group is pretty informal in its discussion process (which is great, because I am an informal person) and when we met as a group, we used the Miro board/ zoom meetings and threw ideas  up on virtual stickies. We broke our ideas up into three main categories; Finance, Technology, and Community.  We then continued to digest this information down further through informal discussions, brain storming and being open to one another’s opinions, while still adhering to the group’s initial problem statement/ premise of, “How can we leverage and advance current technologies using modular homes  and additive manufacturing to create more sustainable and affordable home for first time buyers?”

Seeing is believing

I can’t help it, I am a little bit of a nut in the sense that when I do something, I tend to go a little overboard. Part of me, loves being in the weeds and  3D printing isn’t something that I really thought too much about until this project ended up in my lap. So to really gain an understanding of what it is that we are proposing as a group, not only am I meeting with a real estate/ sales agent for the Rancho Mirage, CA 3D printed home development site, but have also researched additional courses, outside of school, on how 3D Modeling and 3D printing actually work from start to finish. 

Now what?

I am someone that isn’t quick on the draw, meaning that I need to digest what is going on around me, despite coming off as a person with strong opinions. However, I know that my opinions can always be changed and when I have a chance to think about an idea, as well as process and then I am able to draw conclusions that are more actionable. Luckily, my group is respectful of that and usually, in an almost stereo-typical fashion, my “a-ha” moments have been in the shower or after I wake up in the morning when everything is quiet and/or when I am playing fetch with the dog in the early mornings before the kids wake up. I guess I always knew this about myself and after reading the async materials, it was confirmation that I always have been on the right track in regards to ideation. 

[stopmeifyouhaveheard]

Definition: of a Problem regarding owning a home in a large urban center

I am under the opinion that remote jobs are here to stay in some hybrid fashion or another; people are just as productive in remote work as they are in the office and sometimes even more so. More technology oriented companies such as: Facebook, Twitter, ADP etc have made working remote the norm.  In my own anecdotal pandemic lockdown experience, the luster of California has definitely dulled, as I am a working mother to two small children under 5 yrs of age; I have a demanding job in fin-tech and was made to feel trapped between the screams of my children and the demands of my boss, while experiencing riots, gutted grocery stores, the fear of an unknown virus  and skies darkened with smoke from uncontrollable fires all in the same year. I have had a couple of friends already throw in the towel regarding California and leave for small towns in mid-America for the perceived notion of safety for their children and affordability. 

Therefore, this brought the question to mind for many people, including myself, as to whether condensed urban areas with growing ecological and sociological problems, like Los Angeles region of California with its  high taxes and high home prices have the same allure as pre pandemic times?

Perception is what often colors our idea of our immediate reality, therefore it was an easy conclusion for me to surmise that urban centers aren’t as important in a post COVID world and that 3D printed homes  in developed communities outside our cities will become more of the norm as technology advances, especially in states that have lower taxes and lower costs of living.

My team congealed rather quickly under the norms of “take the best and leave the rest” regarding our ideas and brainstorming process, which thus far has been a pleasant process. Therefore we have taken bits and pieces of everyone’s ideas in order to form a user focused problem statement and definition. Ultimately, I am excited to see the conclusion of this project and our final presentation 

[stopmeifyouhaveheard]

Analysis: Owning a home is super expensive, but is a 3D printed home any cheaper? Probably not right now, but it does have less of a carbon footprint...maybe

During the course of my research, I can’t include my own biased nature in the statement that owning a home is expensive; the land taxes kill my soul here in sunny Southern California as I try to figure out where (and why ?!) my money goes every month along with my monthly mortgage. Currently, during the analysis phase, I have been looking at the websites of the main companies that manufacture 3D printed homes.

 Always doing my due diligence, as well as, satiating my own curious nature, I  am even taking a tour of the new 3D printed luxury home development outside of Palm Springs called Rancho Mirage on March 30th. 

None the less, the bulk of my analysis has been on government websites trying to understand the hidden costs of owning a home both inside and out of California. Currently, a basic model offered in the Rancho Mirage is roughly $545,000 and the most expensive is closer to $890,000. 

[stopmeifyouhaveheard]

Acceptance: “So.... like...what’s in it for me then?”

Self reflection and eventual acceptance is a tough one, not only for myself, but I would imagine for a lot of people. As part of my own self reflection, I have had to accept that I am on a career path where I don’t really want to be, and am hitting a glass ceiling that I don’t really care to break through which has been a tough pill to swallow. I have spent many years honing a craft that is important for many organizations, but has left me more or less feeling like  I get paid to be an adult babysitter that wades through other people’s shit and dramatic outbursts on a daily basis in order to make sure that technical product launches actually happen. 

It was interesting , during grad-school class the other day, that we were asked to write out what we thought would be a disruptive business that I would be placed in a group that not only involved 3D printing, but also housing development and its overall construction through this new technology; my original idea involved an e-commerce platform and baby goods. However, instead of insisting that my idea was the correct one, I decided to go with the flow. 

I figured that this an opportunity to learn something different and new under the premise that maybe this endeavor will take me down a different path. Ultimately, this school group project reminds of the quote, “ A chance not taken is an opportunity missed”, and my opportunity is not only working with people that are nothing like me, but learning about a technology that is still in its infancy. None of us can predict the future, and since the universe presented me with this scenario, my choice was to accept it with open arms with the hopes that I will be able to build off this knowledge for my future (and maybe be in a job someday where I am not wading through childish work place behavior and endless zoom meetings!)

[stopmeifyouhaveheard]

Creative Parent aka “Creativity for me: Right here, Right now as someone in charge of small humans”

I am currently wondering how I am going to clean up my kitchen floor; My moment of brilliance today, also known as a lapse in judgement, resulted in lmy four year old usin pink and gold loose glitter to make her home made pink tarantula prettier. 

When you are four years old, what other colors could a tarantula possibly be?

Every pre-k little girl knows this one, and especially if said little girl has a bedroom that could only incite the jealousy of Tim Burton. Therefore, when she approached me, this afternoon, about whether or not she could use the mountains loose glitter that she had found in my craft bin to decorate her home made pink tarantula, I let out a frantic, “Yes!”. In hindsight, this was probably my only recourse with her; I knew that I had hours of tedious zoom meetings regarding non compliant data bases,  and legacy code waiting for me.  I needed her to be good so I could try to pretend to at least mildly comprehend  an antiquated fin tech eco system that had been built when I was her age. 

Somewhere in the distance, I hear the other kids rustling about and I quickly scan my memory as to whether I have stale donuts to feed them more like, bribe them to stay quiet. 

For a brief moment, there is silence. I am listening to my Dev Ops manager and Business Analyst drone on and on, but I have a growing dread that the children’s silence means that they are up to no good. Upon this realization, I know that once the slurry of meetings are complete, that my children will present me with one of the following: something that undoubtedly will need to be fixed, the expectation that I will be able to hack together a master piece of a meal with whatever I can find in the kitchen and even tend to screams tears and every so often blood over a stolen toy or non turn taking during video game play. 

You see, as I have gotten older, I have come to realize that creativity is beyond just artistic expression; Creativity coupled with grit is how I manage being a working parent that decided to go to grad school during a pandemic where everyday is an adventure and thinking on the fly while maintaining the peace in our house. Glitter on the floor that will take me ten years to completely clean? It’s a small price to pay, all things considered.