3 boring product ideas…

It feels good to see people and crowd after so many days, said Jay.

I never expected these many people at Schenley park, said Sati.

How many days since we last met, Sati?

Man, I don’t remember when this all started. Two? Two and a half months?

Yes, It’s been almost 10 weeks. Just sitting inside the house, I just lost track of time and even what day of the week it is.

Is it so? What day is today?

It’s Saturday.

No, It’s Sunday.

Stop it, Sati. You, and your kid jokes.

*It’s 7.30 PM and the trees at Schenley park looked lush green from yesterday’s summer showers. Once in awhile, Jay and Sati could smell a strong aura of petrichor hovering over their nostrils that exuded from the ground. The sun was playing hide and seek with the gloomy sky which gave a grey backdrop hue to the lush green trees. Schenley park had a football stadium circumscribed by a 200-meter synthetic running track. Jay and Sati started walking on the running track.*

Weather in Pittsburgh is so unpredictable, said Jay.
Give me one sec. I forgot to do something when I started walking here. I am going to… set up this alarm…. before we start circling the park.

Nice, I didn’t notice your blue watch. Looks nice.

Thanks, it’s kinda like a Fitbit. It helps me keep track of my walking steps each day. Our gang’s ‘Gadget’ guy suggested this one.

Haha. Cool. Looks good on you, Jay. Suits your dress and shoe.
You have a good taste for fashion.

‘I know, right! Thank you.’ grinned Jay.

‘I’m glad you liked my joke. Thank you.’ winked Sati.

Haha. Stop it!

So, what are you up to lately, Sati?

Hmmm.. work projects as usual and blogging after a long time.

So, I liked your recent article, Sati. You were talking about this new interactive device, right? I was wondering.. hmmm.. Can you give me an example?
Like, How would these new interactive devices work in real life?

‘Yeah. Good question. Well…to think of a more relatable example,
I was wondering how different the experience of conversing in WhatsApp would be if we have these two constraints,

Firstly, I can’t message instantly. My message will be delivered only after 10 seconds.

Secondly, during a conversation, I can’t type if the other person starts typing.’

What if your chat box disappears when the other person starts typing?

Or, a kinder chatbox like this…

But, Whatsapp is called ‘Instant messaging’ for a reason. Why should the message be delayed for 10 seconds? said Jay, in a thoughtful voice.

‘Well…..Good question. Sometimes, when I pour out my emotions to my best friends, they never replied to me immediately. Sometimes they would reply to me after 5–10 minutes, sometimes even hours. I always thought that they took some time to listen to me and understand my emotional state and point of view before advising me.

A parallel I’m trying to draw here is that how ‘important’ listening is for good conversations and how often we don’t listen to others.
Jay, I wonder, why don’t technology aid each of us to be better listeners?

“Why don’t technology aid each of us to be better listeners?”

I feel these messaging apps are making me conform to a bunches of emotions. ‘Human emotions are so subtle. We can put an ‘emoticon’ to how we feel.

I feel, either we should have subtler emoticon options in our messaging app or either we should get rid of these emoticons from these messaging apps. I feel I am conformed to choose what Facebook thinks ‘how I should feel’, from a set of emoticons. We aren’t taking time to reflect on…’ Sati paused here.

Hmmm, we should talk about this in detail sometime later, Jay. We should.

*Jay looked at Sati. Her nose is sweating already.
Jay still felt fresh. The humid aura of the park doesn’t seem to titillate his sweat glands, except for the first drop of saltwater scurring from his chest, down towards his stomach, slowly settling in his belly button.

Sati gazed at a small little girl who just cycled beside them. Her pink skirt matched her beige colour bicycle’s pink rim. The little girl’s parents were sitting on a corner of the football field, just talking to each other without taking their eye off their kid.*

Sati, I have been thinking about the WhatsApp example you just told. It would be an interesting product to experiment with.
Do you feel that our digital life should reflect our real-life, Sati?

Do you feel that our digital life should reflect our real life?

Hmmm… I don’t know I want to think more about that question. Jay, you ask awesome questions, said Sati. She was smiling at Jay. *Jay beamed, shyly fixing his sight at the soccer players on the field.*

Jay, do you know? Many times I have felt that Facebook could be a lot different too?

I’m listening. Tell me about it.

In the mood for learning something? asked Sati in an excited voice.

Sure, Why not? Let me work out my brain muscles as well.

Before I tell you how Facebook could be different, I want to tell you about the frame of reference by which I am looking at these products. Have you heard about ‘Jobs to be done’?

I study sociology, all this ‘tech stuff’ is new to me, Sati.

Yes, Yes! Sorry. I keep forgetting. Anyways, don’t worry. This is not ‘tech stuff’.
You are going to love this, Jay.
There was this ingenious Harvard business professor called Clayton Christensen, he came up with this framework called ‘Jobs to be done’ to anchor our thinking on customer needs while developing products. The beauty of this framework lies in its simplicity.

How do I put it? So, let me ask you this: ‘What is common between a wet cloth, mop vacuum cleaner and a Roomba?’

They all can be used to clean the floor?

Beautiful! Exactly! At the very core, all of these products do the same job for us, customers of those products. In this case, ‘cleaning’ is the ‘core’ job to be done. It is important to understand this distinction, because, all of those different cleaning products ‘fight for our house cleaning products budget’.

That’s interesting, Sati. I never thought about cleaning products from this perspective before.

Me neither, Jay, until I came across this.
In his landmark paper, Clayton named these ‘core’ job that every product does as the ‘Jobs to be done’. The best part is that he even goes on to explain that there are 3 different types of core job each product should do, like functional, social and emotional jobs.
If we go back to our household cleaning products example, there the
‘Functional’ job to be done is ‘removing dirt from the floor and other surfaces’.
‘Emotional’ job to be done is could be something like ‘a neat and tidy house gives you a peace of mind’.
‘Social’ Job to be done could be something like ‘a clean house put a good face for you when relatives visit your house’.

Well, I get it now. A car is not just a car. More than just a machine to transport people(functional JTBD), we choose a car over a bike because it feels good to drive it(emotional JTBD). Above everything, a car is a symbol of prestige(social JTBD).

You are a genius, man. *Sati patted on Jay’s left shoulder. Jay blushed in pride*.
You should eat well, man. Go to the gym.

All the gyms are closed, said Jay.

Else, you would have hit the gym?

Maybe, said Jay with raised eyebrows.

*They smiled at each other*

Tell me about Facebook, Sati. I’m curious now.

Yes!!! Let’s talk about Facebook. So, what do you think is facebook’s core jobs-to-be-done?

Showing me what I should buy and the best deals available in my newsfeed?

*ha-ha-ha.They laughed their teeth out*

You are funny, Jay.

All right, Sati,. So, Facebooks at its core is a Social networking site? It’s a site where we stay connected with people all around the world?

Yes, Jay. Exactly! Facebook is a platform to stay connected with people all around the world.

I was thinking, how might Facebook experience be, if there are no ‘like’ buttons?

Well, just in case you might wonder how Facebook might look like without a ‘like’ button. (Honestly, I was attempting for a better post than this. 20 minutes scrolling Facebook, hunting for a better post, I got lazy and decided to just stick with this.)

Sati, I’m an Insta person((Instagram person) but I also visit Facebook once in a while. I love the ‘like’ button. I just thought you want more emoticon options in the ‘like’ button. Why do you want to get rid off the ‘like’ button?

Yes, Jay. I would want more emoticon options to express our plethora of subtle emotions, but also I was wondering how different the social media experience be if there are only ‘comment’ and ‘share’ options!
Let me put it this way. How do we stay connected with someone?
It’s through checking with them how they are doing once in a while right?. It’s through communication, Jay. How do you get to know someone’s thoughts and feelings without having a conversation with them?

How do you get to know someone’s thoughts and feelings without having a conversation with them?

I disagree with you on this, Sati. I don’t comment a lot in Insta(Instagram). But, I do like all of my friend’s posts. Many times, I don’t have a much to tell, I am too lazy to comment and more than that I don’t feel safe expressing any personal opinion in these social media platforms. I love the ‘like’ button on Facebook.

Jay, I could totally relate to you. Even I don’t choose to engage in the conversations sometimes if I am tired. But, I feel that Facebook has a big opportunity as a company to nurture relationships. Think about this Jay: If all we could do on Facebook is commenting, do you think people might start sharing more meaningful content to engage in a conversation with their friends?

I like what you just said. Even, I visit Facebook to consume content in a relaxed manner, Sati. I don’t know how you define ‘meaningful’ content. I love memes. To me, that is ‘meaningful’ as well. I like Facebook just the way it is now, said Jay, looking at Sati to see if she is disappointed by his comments. *Sati appeared as cheerful when they met for the evening. Moments later, Jay checked on his left wrist.*

Oh, wait! We have already walked 2000 steps? exclaimed Jay.

How do you know?

My watch just vibrated. It’s telling me that I have walked enough for the day. It’s funny, I am not even sweating as much as I wanted to.

You know, Jay?. I always liked haptic feedback. It is very polite. I am actually getting reminded of one of the baby monitor projects we did Jay.
Did I tell you about that?

I don’t remember hearing about that project, Sati.

So, this was for one of my IoT Project. The story started like this: one of my teammates, Kavi was visiting one of his friend here in Pittsburgh who had his first child a few months ago. Kavi he recalled that during the conversation, his friend was constantly checking on his mobile to check on his baby, live-streamed through the baby monitor app. Kavi recalled that his friend couldn’t focus on the conversation because his mind is occupied with his kid.

Our team felt that while all the anxiety of a new parent is truly understandable, Why should a new parent check her mobile to see if her baby is doing well? The core job of a baby monitor is to accurately tell the parents if their baby is doing fine or not.

Brainstorming for solutions, we sketched an enchanted baby monitor which would alert the parent only when the child is crying or when the child is moving a lot due to any discomfort sleeping through haptic feedback. Initially, we envisioned a small teddy key chain that the parent can carry with them to get feedback on their child’s health, but later we realized that a wearable can do that job effectively.

I like that concept. I could see how that might help new parents. Did I tell you that I have synced my calendar with this watch?

No, Jay.

This watch acts as my alarm, Sati. I can see that, with a wearable like this, these new parents can engage in social conversations and even keep doing their normal household chores without having to open a mobile app to do that. You should probably buy one of these too, Sati. Grey would look good on you.

I will check it out, Jay. I am up for any technology that takes a back-stage wherever possible and pave way for human-human interactions.

“I am up for any technology that takes a back-stage wherever possible and pave way for human-human interactions.”

I liked what we did last time we came here. Do you want to do that again?

Sure. Let me tie up my laces.

*It was dark and the sky has cleared the way for the half-moon light and some photons from million light-years ago looking for a place to settle. On the count of three, Jay and Sati started running. They ran and they ran….untill their stomach started gasping for oxygen. They almost completed one full round. Sati slowed down, started jogging, followed by Jay. Both of them closed their mouth, trying and focusing to breathe through their nose. They walked for a bit on the lawn towards the football goal post, stopping beside the football nets. Next moment, like a pine falling during the storm, both of them fell on their back over the grass. They stretched their hands and legs to relax. The moist whispering air seemed to quench their thirst for the moment. Both of them looked at the moon, the dark sky, and stared at the stars.*

~Rahul vignesh Sekar

P.S:
To Professor Daragh Byrne,
For teaching how to think ‘IoT(Internet of Things)’ products.
For introducing me to Mark Weiser’s ‘ubiquitous computing’ vision.
For being the kick-starter to get me to think about a future where technological products could co-exist with humans in a more enchanting way.
Most importantly, for being a source of inspiration and light to the rhinoceros innovators of MIIPS, CMU.

This article is an outcome of the prompting questions and conversations with Mukesh Raja, Jeykumaran, Ria Jethmalani in response to my previous post ‘To all the boring stuff we (still) do’. Special thanks to Jyothi krishnan and Jennifer Sydeski Hurd for getting me to explore ethical dilemmas in product design.

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These articles might interest you:
* Defining ‘Facebook’ through mark Zuckerberg’s words over the years.
* Why we can only maintain 150 relationships
* Technology should take a back-stage wherever possible is something I learned after reading the iconic paper on ubiquitous computing by Mark Weiser(paper originally titled as ‘The Computer for the 21st Century’).