Tuesday's group breakout exercise,
rapidly prototyping an electricity-free and child-friendly nebulizer, helped me
realize a lot of deficiencies in my approach to creative problems and
underlined some important issues in operating effectively as a team. From the
start of the workshop, it was clear to me how we were going to get the
nebulizer to work: pump connects to tubes connects to inhalation device, throw
in connecting pieces, plug holes, get out the door in under two minutes. For
the most part, that is what happened, but it was just as straightforward for
everyone else. I was too focused on the idea of jumping in and getting the
thing to work period that I missed out on some really simple ideas to make our
product approachable and fitting for its application.
The presentations showed how a few
simple creative ideas could really set the product apart from its competitors
and cater the way it is used by the user. Something as simple as making the
mouthpiece less intimidating for the child with a an animal shape, as one group
did with a dragon, or, as another group did, using the T-junction and a second
pump to create a continuous stream could greatly enhance the user experience
and even make it more attractive than the electrically-pumped device.
Moreover, I realized that those
simple ideas would be a lot easier to come across if we made better use of each
other as a team. We could definitely use some practice in decreasing friction and
letting ideas flow more freely. I feel as if we squelch ideas a little too
quickly, and we sometimes abandon ones that, in hindsight, may have been
promising leads or at least a route to later branch off from. A major part of
why I am in this course is to gain those skills, especially in the context of engineering,
and to get into the groove of getting the most out of group projects like this.
Let us hope we do that!
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