Week 10 Reflection

After looking at the Speed Dating articles and using this system to help move through iterations, I feel that it is a great strategy to receive feedback on pieces that you do on your own. I find that getting multiple different perspectives on an idea in a brief “quick glance” over the product provides a great prediction of user feedback. So much of the success of projects and products these days is based on the first impression through design. The look and feel of a product and the utilities surrounding the product, all influence the consumer into buying or passing upon it.

By using this strategy, you receive a direct, first impression of your idea. It’s a clear and accurate perspective because it's based more on a gut reaction than an analytical one. This is a subconscious behavior that I feel is often blocked when people are allowed to think or analyze the product. Also, because you are the creator, you have the thinking perspective, but not all your ideas come cleanly through presentation or words. Therefore, it's an important process in being able to see which ideas come through clearly and which ones are muddled.

With speed dating, I came up with almost a whole new idea because someone questioned the plausibility of the idea. This shifted my whole perspective on the problem and the solution as I sought to make something that would be equally impactful but much more achievable. Without this quick outside perspective through gut reaction, I would never have found this new path and have one of the flaws in my solution exposed.

I think this strategy is great in everyday life, and especially product development. Getting quick, emotion-based opinions from others does a really good job of broadening your perspective and helping you to see a bigger picture. I hope to apply this in my engineering job, and not be one-track-minded by only relying on my expertise, which is often tunnel-visioned.