Events
Getting Reliable User Feedback
This tutorial is expressly designed for 2.009 teams by the communications instructors. It will be held twice to accommodate student schedules. We are asking that you send a minimum of two team members to attend either session.
The tutorial content includes: How to ask appropriate questions; how to ask questions that yield reliable information; how to interpret user input; who to ask, etc. Please RSVP to 2009CR
with the names of the team members who will attend, and which session they prefer to attend by 4 PM Monday, Nov. 9. If there are particular topics that might help this team, please feel free to list them.
Session 1: Tues, Nov. 10 from 10:00 -11:00 AM
Session 2: Friday, Nov. 13th from 3:00 - 4:00 PM
Location room 12-134
Industrial design consultation. Jeremy Vanhill, Senior industrial designer at Cambridge Consultants, will spend 1/2 hour with your team to help you refine the overall vision for, usabiilty, and form of, your product. Please show up to the consulting session with a few printouts of your design. Your assembly review materials may be appropriate. Also, think ahead about aspects of your product form or user scenarios that you are struggling with. Jeremy will discuss your design and also sketch alternatives with you. Please take full advantage of this great opportunity.
Thursday: Pappalardo lab conference room
6:00 PM: Yellow
6:30 PM: Green
7:00 PM: Pink
7:30 PM: Blue
Friday: Pappalardo lab conference room
6:00 PM: Red
6:30 PM: Orange
7:00 PM: Purple
7:30 PM: Silver
Tutorial on assessing design risks. Thursday, October 15, 7-7:45 PM, room 1-273. Bobby Dyer, an engineer at Cambridge Consultants and course mentor, will give a short tutorial on identifying project/product risks... a critical task in the mockup phase of our projects. He will discuss how to identify risks, how to evaluate risks, and how to develop a plan to address risks.
Tutorial on observing users. Friday, September 18, 4-4:40 PM in room 1-132. Jeremy Vanhill, Senior industrial designer at Cambridge Consultants, will give a short presentation with tips on things to think about when observing and trying to learn from potential users or customers. He will be happy to answer questions and give suggestions. This is very useful in the early part of any product development process, and is particularly relevant for the observation exercise over the weekend.
Credit card training for financial officers.
September 28, 4:00-5:00 PM, room 5-223. Financial officers hold their team's credit cards. MIT will not issue any of the 2.009 team cards until all financial officers complete the MIT training program. Thus financial officer attendance is mandatory. If there are conflicts, please contact the course instructor.
Information officer session with the course
librarians
October 1, 7:00-8:30 PM, room 14N-132 (Digital
Instruction Resource Center)
Information officers must
attend, dinner will be provided (pizza). The sketch
model presentation requires technical benchmarking, market, and customer
information for the ideas that your section is pursuing. Several librarians
will be on hand for one-on-one consultation. Be prepared with descriptions
of your teams concepts, what information you have already found, and what you are finding
difficult to locate. There should be a representative from each section, so if an information officer cannot attend an appropriate substitute should be arranged.
Team communication training for system integrators, offered by the communications instructors.
October 1, 7-8:30 PM in 12-134. Dinner will be provided (pizza). There should be a representative from each section, so if a system integrator cannot attend an appropriate substitute should be arranged.
System Integrators keep a team working productively even when opinions diverge, schedules shrink, and goals expand. Their most powerful tool is effective team communication (usually in the form of meetings). Although most people give significant consideration to the content of our communication, we don't often stop to think much about the way in which we communicate. A few straightforward principles -- for example, a basic understanding of what underlies effective influence, management, negotiation, and conflict resolution -- can make all the difference when dealing with crises and overcoming obstacles.
Prior to this workshop, we will ask you to fill out a brief questionnaire about your communication strengths and weaknesses. Also, come prepared with a (brief) list of those situations in meetings that are most difficult for you.
