Project 1: Discover

Discovering Ideas (September 7th, 2017)

(Choose interesting issues/problems and grade them on validity (V), significance (S), and interest (I) on the scale of 1 to 5.)

If you want to charge your laptop you have to go to a specific location in the classroom where the wall plug is available, often times taking turns
(V) 5 (S) 3 (I) 5

Hungry quite frequently
(V) 5 (S) 4 (I) 5

students putting trash under drawers
(V) 5 (S) 5 (I) 5

(Generate more ideas)

Documenting academic work and other achievements throughout semesters to create college application. (in a systematic fashion) 

Better mood for grumpy/sleepy students in the morning (more motivation) 

Tackling procrastination?

Interview Round 1 (September 11th, 2017)
(The responses are rough, paraphrasing notes, not replications.)

Interviewees: 
Arvin Wu
Jason Liu

What do you often find yourself doing before procrastination strikes?

Humanity/Manning’s homework
Homework

How do you feel before, during, and after the process?

Drugs, feels good at first, but sucks afterwards
I feel bored, happy, then guilty

When does it usually occur?

Doing humanity/Manning’s homework

During homework

Do you find working in groups helpful/more efficient?

Need good teammates that won’t slack off.

More efficient because groupthink

What kind of incentives make you work?

A sense of achievement and want to finish work

Chatting with friends about homework

What stops you from procrastinating?

Anything that is not related to humanities

Realizing that it’s late at night

What do you think can solve the problem?

Destroy everything that makes me procrastinate, a girl he likes and smart to study with

Make homework more interesting/Pomodoro technique

What are the roots of your procrastination?

Assignments in humanity subjects, especially open ended stuff like essay

Boredom

Do you think other students have the same issue?

Yeah

Yeah

Do you think other students have the same causes of procrastination?

No, because everyone’s different

Yeah

Did you ever attempt to solve this problem? What was your approach? Result?

Yes. I tried to cut wifi, but I need it except for math

I used “self control”

Did you ever help others with similar problems before?

No, I district them instead like engaging games

No

What kind of barriers do you think you will encounter during the process?

Depression because I can’t watch youtube and researching is too hard to find the right answer, you feel you are never going to finish the work

Stuff more interesting than homework

Would you try out the app called “Self Control,” which forbids you to go on certain websites or applications for a set amount of time, to help you?

I might not

Yes

Would you let your parents confiscate your phone while you are doing homework?

I can give it a try, but not always

No, because I need to check Snapchat

Does chatting with others help you concentrate and work?

I don’t chat much

Yes

Does eating while working keep you from getting distracted?

No

No

Do you reward yourself when you complete your tasks?

No, I feel it when I’m done

Yes, by watching youtube

Do you have a schedule for the things you need to do?

Some

No, never

Have you ever heard of or tried the “Pomodoro Technique,” which makes you focus for 25 minutes and rest for 5 minutes (cycles)? Will you give it a try?

I never tried it, I just do marathon. Might try it.

Yeah, I used it.

Does listening to music help you focus? What kind?

Yes, but not English or Chinese when writing essays

Yes, piano instrumentals

Do you think procrastination is due to tiredness or unwillingness? Or both? How so?

I feel I have infinite amount of work and never finish, I don’t feel reward until done.

Unwillingness, too boring

Should students sleep and not finish their homework if they're too tired? Health or academics?

Sleep if they procrastinates.

No, they should finish homework

Is homework the only time/reason you procrastinate? Why?

Yes. Maybe some responsibility work

Yes

Do you think procrastination is a habit that can be modified? Or it is an innate human nature?

Habit, not human nature before 9th grade

It is an innate human nature that you try to change but cannot

Is doing work on electronic devices the reason that you are easily distracted? Would alternatives be less distracting?

YES, more specifically internet. No, because it takes more time.

No, I still use my phone when writing on paper

What kind of work or subject makes you procrastinate?

Humanity and essays

Manning’s homework

Do you find exercising helpful to preventing procrastination or would it just exhaust you even more?

No, it doesn’t.

No

Do you find it more comfortable to work in public or by yourself? In an environment that is quiet or “semi-noisy?’

Myself, quiet

In public, quiet

Do you believe that some people never/rarely procrastinate?

I believe, people won’t if they have passion.

I don’t

What do you think about people who don’t procrastinate? How do you think they achieved that?

Envy

They don’t have work!

Interview Round 2 (September 14th, 2017)

(The responses are rough, paraphrasing notes, not replications.)

Interviewees: 
Salina Kuo
Bryan Ying
Teeny Chen

Tell us about your worst procrastinating experience.

Pulled an all nighter with Max, sending videos to each other. Found it rewarding than homework. I fell hangover and had to drink caffeine. Can’t concentrate for a whole day. Eye bags.

Prep for debate but don’t know where to start. And waited till 10 pm. Chatting while working and watching videos. Barely started at 12. And went to sleep. Didn’t do work. Guilty because of group work. No feeling of responsibility. Horrible human being.

During college app. Finished essay on the last minute. Sad because missed the holiday. Stressed out because have to meet the deadline. Advice: start early and don’t procrastinate!

Tell us a time that you attempted to solve this problem.

Made a schedule for homework. 30 mins for homework A, 30 mins for homework B, 10 mins break, 30 mins if not finished with homework A

Try to not play with phone and go on Facebook. Try to set goals. Do essays for 30 mins, but missed the starting time and kept on dragging.

Leave distractions in another room (e.g. phone). Turn off laptop when not using it. Go to cafes to work. Turn on Do Not Disturb mode on phone.

Why did you fail or succeed?

Focused for once, but never worked or tried again afterwards

Failed both, distracted next to him because he needs hotspot

Phone one definitely worked (7/10). If go back check then it will be a long period.

What are you doing before procrastination strikes in? (5 Why’s)

When woke up, no procrastination, but it kicked in after 3 hours. Had enough sleep and focused. Stopped by being awake and started working immediately. Brain starts to think about more things after waking caused distraction. When I chat with friends and I prioritize replying messages instead of finishing work. Urge for entertainment due to the lost of interest in homework

After dinner or school events. Better than doing homework. Some homework is boring (e.g. outlining). Do interested ones. Don’t procrastinate on math because he is bad at it so he feels obligated to improve

Distracting notifications on laptop. Read slow. Lose track when reading. No ideas for writing and get stuck. No creative power and not enough personal experience. Bed makes her want to sleep. Try not to work on bed. Working in room makes her want to jump on it.

What do you do during procrastinating? (5 Why’s)

Social media and news site for games. Curiosity to be sparked not bored, change a mindset. Want to be “un-bored.” So I can be happy and free your mind.

Chat, watch videos, and play games. Socialize and entertained. He needs friends and have fun. Want to work with friends.

Use Instagram and Facebook. Look at other people’s activities. To know what other people are doing. So I compare myself with others. But also brings stress relief. Chat with people. For fun and relaxation. Sleep. Mentally tired of work. A lot of work.

How do you feel before, during, and after procrastination?

Disinterested, relaxed and chilled, screwed and doomed

I won’t, have fun and feel guilty at the same time, regret and say he won’t procrastinate again

Unproductive (no progress), OMG, regret

What kind of barriers do you think you will encounter during the process (why can’t you stop)?

A habit, super natural reflexes

Realize it is so much better. Entertainment and friends.

Because it is addicting. Takes you away from work. Allow you to do sometime you like to do. Like doing subjects she likes, but cannot focus on the ones she don’t like.

Do you think procrastination is a habit that can be changed or get rid? Or it is an innate human nature?

No, but it can be changed. Workload needs to be adjusted.

Habit that can be changed. Because he knows people who don’t and have talked to them before. Also, he didn’t procrastinate before in elementary. He thinks that it’s the advance of technology and responsibility he got (phone) that started his procrastination.

Habit. If electronics don’t exist. But still prefer to use it because it is convenience and increase efficiency. Not in the same room where your bed is. Sometimes do that when not lazy.

Reflection (September 14th, 2017)

Describe
For the first major project of the Innovator's Space class, my group decided to work with problem of procrastination in our high school. Before we defined the problem, we needed to deeply interview our target clients to gain insight and empathize with their situation.
We designed a set of questions that directly asked about "what's" and "when's" of the procrastination. A lot of questions led to a "yes" or "no," which limited our ability to explore our clients' minds. We learned about several "why's" and "how's," but most of the information we obtained from the interviews aligned exactly with our preconceptions. Either the questions were geared towards confirmation bias or that we simply aren't digging deep enough to find the actual insights.
With supervision from teachers, we were able to refine some questions and reorder the interview to start with a more potent can-opener: "Tell me about your worst experience in procrastination." We were able to glean some more information out of our clients, and ended up with some basic factors:
1. School work does not feel rewarding enough (when compared to procrastination) and often feels impossible to finish.
2. There are too much distraction around me.
3. I genuinely dislike/am bored of this work.

Think/Feel
I feel disappointed in my own ability to open people up during interviews. I try to go through a sequence of simpler questions to gain insight through "why" questions, but everything felt largely superficial. I feel as if a lot of the insight we assumed to have obtained actually came from ourselves. Regardless, those insights ring true to a certain degree, and that means we at least have some empathy (even if it's preexisting).

Evaluate
We got some information, but our interviewing efficiency was somewhat low. We had too many questions that resulted in little information.

Envision
I have not yet envisioned anything yet. Such may lead to solutions that I may have a bias to for a problem I haven't even clearly defined yet.

Plan
I plan to interview a few more people to the best of my ability (with hopefully improved questions) to gain further insight.