Blog #3 - Generative Research

I can't live without:

Goals: Without a direction to head in I often feel lost. If I am not working towards something I feel like I am just spinning my wheels and adding nothing to myself.

Occasional Solitude: I consider myself a people person but to be honest it makes me weary sometimes. Even though it's only once in a blue moon I will eventually reach a day where I will leave my cell phone at home and have a "me" day.

People: I love people. To me, more friends equals more fun. Despite what I said earlier I will always choose to hang out with people over just myself 99% of the time. 

Sun: Ah, the sun! Give me sun! I moved from New Jersey to Texas to enjoy the sun! If I ever miss snow or rain I will just google image search them.

I care about:

Balance: I'm a grad student with a lot on his plate. If I didn't make sure I made time to do work and play (not all the time but occasionally) I would might go mad. I respect my workload but know that I need some time to kick back and cut loose to give myself some time.

Running: Running brings me solace. Ever since I started running I felt like my life has gotten more in order. The weight loss that comes with it also helps.

Success: If is something that is not going to help me succeed in anything I won't do it. I strongly dislike anything that doesn't help me in any way even if I try to look at it from different angles.

Digital Ecosystem

National Newspapers Online: The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times were staples when I lived in New Jersey. I have always been a huge fan of newspapers and the ability to read them while being environmentally friendly is a huge bonus. The art of writing a newspaper article is easy to appreciate. Also, these sites have more info than hardcopies of the same paper due. There is always an endless supply of information and news available at my fingertips.

Twitter/Facebook: My background is in journalism. Through four years of college I was lucky enough to make a lot of friends in the business and if there is one thing I can trust it's that when they post an article online it is definitely worth a read. My friends are likely to have similar interests as me being of same age and place of origin so keeping tabs on what they are sharing usually keeps me up to date on relevant information to home. I will also follow their post back to the source Facebook page or twitter handle so I too can keep in the loop.

Blogs & Forums: I frequent Reddit a lot. It's easy to stay up to date following the proper subreddit. While I won't find every article interesting, I will find many that are worth reading for sheer entertainment value.  It's also easy to break down what kind of news I want whether it be international news, entertainment, or science.

Typical Weekday

Peaceful Wake-Up: After a couple dozen snooze button strikes I wake up to the most calming part of my day, 6:45 am. While I get ready for the day I usually turn the tv on and absorb whatever news is being presented at that time. I'll switch between multiple news channels ranging from BBC to KXAN. I have no preference, I mostly do it for the background noise but find myself learning information as well sometimes as I make my breakfast.

Walk/Work Shuffle: As I switch between home, work, and class multiple times for the first half of my day I take some time to go online and read whatever pleases me or do homework if I have any. These days it is mostly the latter. When I actually am performing the former I look at movies, entertainment and national news but when it's a work day I gather work and professional related information. This stops when I am in class of course because I am actively listening and taking notes but will gather events and work related information from my professor.

Home Time: After a long day out I usually go for a run to get away from it all. Unfortunately, every run has led me back to my house so I usually give in and decide to make dinner instead. While I cook I have cooking shows on. I learn as I cook and the music on Chopped makes any dinner you are making seem incredible. Once dinner is out of the way I get my last look at the outside with a game of intramural flag football. Afterwards I prepare for my night of learning, working, and occasional procrastinating as I plan out my days ahead and see if anything I picked up on earlier has evolved in any way.

Blog #2 - Journey Mapping

J decides that for his girlfriend, B’s, birthday that she has earned herself a fabulous vacation getaway for two. During a routine night at her place he asks B about her thoughts on the matter. Of course she responds yes, much to J’s pleasure. Their excitement is at a high because of the excitement and novelty of the idea as this would be their first of many vacations together. Not long after they decide to start planning their trip together. One weekend, two nights, countless memories (they hope). Their first step is to decide where they are headed. “Unfortunately, there isn’t anything super exciting in New Jersey that we haven’t seen before,” says J. Both J and B are New Jersey natives and given their 25 years of age are excited to check out somewhere totally new.

By the end of their first research session, B asks J about his thoughts on San Antonio, TX. B has wanted to see San Antonio for years so J sees an opportunity to take his girlfriend on an adventure as well as make one of her dreams come true. J thinks it’s a great idea and they quickly begin researching the city. They decide that they have to hit the Alamo, the river walk, and Sea World during their time there. “We didn’t want to spend the WHOLE time drinking,” says J. With their plan taking shape J and B needed to take the next step, the one where they really say they are committed to the trip: booking the flight, making reservations at the hotel, and buying tickets to sea world.

“Hotels.com was my best friend that weekend,” says J. J is a manager at Best Buy while B is a student who works part-time. J obviously plans on paying for the majority of the trip but student loans also have to keep him grounded in working around his manager’s salary. One issue they didn’t expect was rough timing. It seems that the only time that J and B can both get off from work is around Spring Break time in Texas. “Apparently San Antonio is a big deal to some people,” said J with a chuckle. With hotel prices significantly higher than during the surrounding weeks J had to dig through what he claims may have been hundreds of hotels in order to find the perfect mix of affordable and “kick-ass.” After a bit of frustration and more than a few glances at his online account, J finds a diamond in the rough. There happens to be one affordable hotel within a mile of the river walk, which makes perfect sense. “We could walk down to the river walk, celebrate, and taxi back.” The hotel was booked. After that J tells me it took little time to book a flight and buy the tickets for Sea World online especially due to Sea World tickets being about 30 bucks cheaper to buy online than in person.

Fast forward a few weeks and J and B are at the airport after being dropped off by a friend. J believes he may be in the running for best boyfriend ever if B’s ecstatic attitude gives any indication. The flight goes swimmingly, they rent a car with little difficulty, they find the hotel easily, J and B are now ready to get their vacation on.

First on the list was a nap, followed by their first visit to the Alamo. J was a history major in high school and he likes to “nerd out on that type of stuff.” B is less than impressed with the size of the historical area. It is smaller than she thought it would be and less epic than many had made it seem. As Schmitt wrote in “A Framework for Managing Customer Experiences” no two experiences are exactly alike. J and B are a perfect example of this at The Alamo. J gets a little frustrated with B but the two retire back to their hotel in order to get ready for dinner.

J picked a famous restaurant on the river walk, an old favorite according to his studies before arriving; he believes B will love it. Unfortunately his cognitive process when making this plan doesn’t pan out to be what real life is. A stuffed fox that sits right next to their table immediately saddens B, a self-described animal lover. J, being the ever perceptual human being that he is finds a way to distract B from the dead canine a few feet away from them by pointing out one of her favorite foods on the menu. Much to his relief it removes her attention from the fox and for a brief time all is well. When the main meal comes though, B isn’t a fan. She sits looking frustrated at J. J begins to feel the pressure as his girlfriend hasn’t been having the best time on their three day, two night stay in San Antonio. Feeling defeated, he returns to the hotel and falls asleep.

The next day, it down pours. The idea of spending the day at Sea World impresses neither J nor B. They talk out the issues with the night before and decide they will make the best of the day they have left. Both decide to stay in. “I go to Sea World to watch animals swim, not to be swimming with them.” It turns out that staying in was the best idea as the two reconciled and reveled in doing nothing for the majority of the day. That night they head back to the river walk and B is excited and content the whole time. When midnight hits the two embrace and celebrate B’s official birthday. J feels like the man. Everything that happened the night before doesn’t matter. Today, he was planner extraordinaire.

The next day, they pack up and check out without a hitch and arrive back at the airport. J considers it an excellent vacation and is happy that he could make his girlfriend happy. He enjoyed the weekend so much he never even told his friend at UT Austin that he was in the state although his friend totally understands. The two are now engaged. A small amount of that may be attested to J’s ability to manage B’s experience this one time.

Blog #1 - The Empathy Map

After the readings this week it seemed most appropriate to see what persona a dear friend of mine who is in a much different place than I might be. J is a 26 year old Caucasian woman who recently graduated from Rutgers University with an MA in Education. Apart from being born in the same state and having the same alma mater I doubt we could be more different in segmentation. Reading through the list of personas given to us from cohorts.com I would believe that she resides somewhere close to the Educated Working Woman persona due to multiple similarities and few differences (the biggest difference, as I’m sure she would be glad to know, is that she is 7 years younger than the median age of this group). I worry about making sure I do my readings, wake up on time for class, and getting my blog posts done before they’re do. How different is that from what’s on her mind?

To J the most important thing is balance. It’s what really counts. Family, work, and play all should get equal amounts of time and effort. That balance is what helps her deal with her major preoccupations. J takes her days one at a time and focuses on what she has to do that day, any finances that need to be handled, and getting enough sleep. Without sleep J might find herself having a rough day as a 6^th grade English teacher because as we all know, children are a handful. That being said J is really content with her life. Her main worries at home are simply to make sure rent and utilities get paid which also fits her in with the 60% of educated working women who do the same. At work she has a bit more to prove as a new and untenured teacher. “Everything I do is under extreme scrutiny,” she says. In 5 years she will be able to hopefully achieve her goal of being a tenured teacher. “I’m coming in and doing my best every day.” As long as J can maintain her balance she is content.

J’s environment at work is very high stress. “You have to be on your A-game all the time.” She is currently working on getting everything ready for back-to-school night. Unfortunately J has a slight very of speaking in front of a large group of people. A lot of people can mean a lot of judgment. Her home life however, is her Zen space. J lives with her boyfriend of 4 years and 2 kittens (educated working woman lifestyle alert!). When she is stressed at home (which isn’t too often these days) she can give anyone of them a hug although she admits that 2 of her 3 roommates will most likely want out of that hug ASAP. J likes small gatherings of people during her free time. These allow her to talk to her friends about the goings-on of their lives as well as play video games and discuss current events. She claims to not have a large amount of time for a social life and when she does have time would rather not spend it out partying or getting too wild. It has never been her style. When questioned about the friends that she does go out of her way to keep in touch with she describes them by saying “They would be the people I invite to my wedding.” Luckily for her boyfriend, he needn’t worry about that pressure yet as J does not want to begin talking about marriage until she makes it through this school year. Although he may want to consider getting her that iPad she has been wanting as her birthday approaches. She is very appreciative of her position at Linwood Middle School. New Jersey has what some might consider a very dismal job market for teachers. That goes double for English and history teachers. J is in the rare position of being hired before she had finished earning her master’s degree which I might add fits her in with 65% of the educated working woman persona

J values people’s first impression highly. Therefore she is very open and welcoming and tries hard not to come off as standoffish. She is very professional in public and never dresses below business casual at work which means heels, accessories, make-up, and hair done. That isn’t to say that she doesn’t cut loose when she’s home. Outside of the work place J is a jeans and tee shirt(as well as anything pink) kind of gal who prefers to save her make up for workdays while she reads comic books and the classic literature that drove her into her profession.

J’s social circle of friends can be divided into three parts according to her. There are those who she loves to hang out with but would never work with in a professional setting, those that she works with professionally but could never see herself having a drink with, and those who fall into both of those categories. Her bosses on the other hand can be very intimidating due to their strict and blunt nature. She get’s by it though. J’s influences are her step mother, mother, and father. Her morals are based on what her stepmom, who she affectionately refers to as Bug. Her parents taught her strong sense of right and wrong to her as well. Both work for local PD departments. Her father is a detective and her mother a dispatcher. These influences are what helped shape J into the person she has become today.

J fears very little, I have seen this in person. Seeing the intimidating loads a college student can be given, especially while double majoring, working nearly full time, and graduating in three years, may have shaken my boots but J has always remained unphased.  What does frighten her is the thought of losing anyone she loves whether they are family, friend, or cat.  Her biggest frustrations are when people are not organized. “I’m anal like that” she proclaims proudly. She admits to using her credit card a large amount of the time but will never use it to buy anymore than her paycheck affords her. In fact, she plans on getting rid of all her debt (student loans excluded) by the end of the month. The current main obstacle in her life is getting her students to grow. Most of J’s current aspirations and focus are on her career.

J’s current short-term wants are similar to many young professionals. The newest apple iPad to go along with her iPhone and Macbook that she can use at home and possibly share with her class. J can be considered a gamer and anything the falls within that category is desirable. On a more serious note, J is at that point in her life where she wants to start living better. A new apartment with a dishwasher as well as her own washer and dryer are high up on her wish list. Finally, she would like to meet eye to eye with her boyfriend about when would be a good time to get engaged. J has almost reached the goals she had set out to complete once she started college. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be a teacher and be a good one at

that...oh, and to be married.” Getting through this upcoming school year will allow her to achieve her first goal. It is her bar for success. “It feels like I am where I should be and am on track compared to some of my friends,” she said hopefully not including her interviewer in that sentence.

Overall J accurately fits into that educated working woman mold better than any of the other personas although in order to get the full picture one must consider her love of comics and video games, dislike of dishonest media of any sort, and love of her Dallas Cowboys. J believes that order and serenity will get her through most issues and a level head will keep her sane in what is the busiest time of her life so far.