iadp week 3 reflection

Finally! We're starting our 5 weeks design challenge and have the opportunity to meet the outreach project partner. The design challenge is "How might we help the Gen-Ys to become financially savvy?". Got really excited that most of my team's questions that we emailed the coaches earlier were selected as part of the top 20 questions for the project partner :)

We had 3 guest at our project partner kick off meeting - the CEO of RinggitPlus.com, CEO of SaveMoney.my, and Malay Mail representative (who was also a co-founder of RinggitPlus.com). It started off with a brief overview of what design thinking is all about, followed by our batch's progress so far in the 10-weeks IADP. Then it was simple presentation by RinggitPlus.com, followed by a Q&A session. It was really interesting to find out what were the motivations and backgrounds of these entrepreneurs. Interestingly both lived abroad for quite an extensive period and they aim to make a difference in Malaysia, by bringing back ideas which have worked well in other countries. One can really see their passion and perseverance in making a difference in a country where they belong. And it's also quite interesting to note that they have worked in huge well-known organisations before deciding to focus on their startup. I too aim to take a similar path soon. And recently, a friend shared with me that it's about finding your passion (what your heart tells you, very much based on your personal values), your talent (what you're really damn good at doing compared to everyone else; and this is not those generic adjectives commonly used), and what would make economic sense (well, everyone needs to earn for a living).

Empathy
Started off by unpacking the 1.5 hours project partner meeting with the empathy map. Interesting enough that the empathy map (as a framework) can be used in this context. Perhaps I should consider using the empathy framework in speech/dialogue session which is good practice to be comfortable with this framework. And yes, we did find interesting tensions, contradictions and even surprises from unpacking what shared at the kick off meeting. One of it was, who would you rather trust - banks or the www? This was because we were challenged by the project partner on why should Gen-Ys trust banks, when we asked him why should Gen-Ys trust his website. To be honest, it was a really interesting insight - upon reflection, there are many who get into really bad debt; but the thing is that do banks really advise their customers on how to maximize the benefits of their products without getting into big trouble! Having worked in a bank previously, I started questioning what is the role of a bank? and what is the purpose/vision/mission/values of each bank in Malaysia? If banks are setup to truly advise customers based on their needs, then the question is whether the "advice" is wanting to "help" its customers. And another interesting point, is the role of financial advice websites (similar to RinggitPlus.com and SaveMoney.my) here to truly "help" bank customers? Is their business model sustainable over time? And what is the role of the central bank??

We continued in the afternoon to research and prepare for observation. Decided on the profiles of Gen-Ys and stakeholders that we wanted to focus on. And brainstormed a list of questions. Felt that we had more time to really think about how we wanted to approach the observation session the next day, and the insights we wanted to validate as well.

On Sunday, we were off for field work. The team decided that we would be able to find lots of opportunities to observe & interview at Mid Valley. It was a really good day as the team managed to interview quite a diverse group of Gen-Ys. And of course, we had enough time for lunch (for the first time).

Headed back to the Genovasi playground to unpack our interviews & observations with the empathy map. It was interesting to know that most of our interviewees only own one credit card, and some don't even want one at all! Some even believe that those with credit card are those in debt. But one of the most interesting insight for me personally is that Gen-Ys struggle for basic necessities leads to debt at an early age. Upon reflection, I have to say it's quite true! Majority got student loan, car loan, insurance, rent etc

And the team was once again challenged to use both the customer journey map, and empathy map in combination for a presentation to other teams. It was not easy at all, but somehow we managed. And unexpectedly, the presentation to the other teams went quite smoothly. There was a sense of pride that we really did it, but more importantly for me it was a really good experience to try out something new, which seemed to be really challenging due to time pressure. At the end of the day, we nailed down a couple of interesting insights from all our interviews.

Other activities include:
1. Danish clapping game
2. Grab hold of your friend's finger each time the word "water" is mentioned when the coach was reading through a story. At the end of the story, we were asked about what the content of the story
3. Selecting pictures which describe our team currently, worst and best situation. And of course interpreting what it means.
4. Pictionary - and we emerged victorious!