The Final Word

I have learned more than I ever could have thought I would this year. What I have noticed is that this is the first semester in my college career where I have been able to take classes and actually relate the material that I have learned in the past into every single one of my classes. This class in particular for me has been an extremely enjoyable learning experience. Mainly this is because of the group project that we worked on. The first thing I want to focus on that I’ve learned much better now is the research subject in general. Along with research, more specifically for this class, I learned the importance of gaining customer insights to then create products or services that will be successful in the market. In the beginning of the project, my whole group was worried about how we were actually going to get research for this project and then how we would develop key findings from this material. We decided to try our hands at a small focus group, which turned out to be an amazing experience. I can now see how easy it is to make assumptions about target markets and how wrong you can be about those assumptions. In my group, we assumed that high school girls loved pink; one of the biggest findings we got from the focus group was that they were over the color pink and on to bigger and better colors such as blues, grays, and greens. They described those colors as more natural. Also, in regards to research, I learned first hand how once you gather initial research, it is extremely important to then go back and delve deeper into that target segment to learn more. This was easy for our group to see because we certainly didn’t have enough findings from the focus group to understand what it was these teenage girls wanted. What we then realized we needed to do was to create a survey and ask them to create a photo journal for us to get a better picture of their rooms. From this data, we then had a clearer picture in our heads as to what would satisfy our target segment’s wants and needs.

Prototyping is another skill that I feel I have a much better understanding of now than before this class. In fact, I have never made a prototype for another class especially not one to the extent we did for this project. Our group tried to make our “Wave” product look as realistic as possible for the class to get the best idea of what we envisioned for it. I think the most interesting speaker we had come to our class was Michael Luchs. He taught us so much in such a short amount of time about how to make a product or service into something useful and unique. It was from this lecture that our group decided on our product which then led us to creating the prototype. As mentioned before, this was my first experience with creating a prototype, and now I see the importance of creating one especially when you are trying to get other people to see the product exactly how you and your group have imagined it.

This group project for me has been a roller coaster ride of emotions! Our group has a really great dynamic and we have truly worked great together ever since the beginning. The problem came when we had to start our research, and we couldn’t ever find a time when the whole group could get together to discuss research options. This is when frustration set in and I would say even some bad feelings came out. The good news was that we finally found a good schedule to get together and work that fit with everyone’s schedule. Then from then on out, the rest of the project went beyond smooth sailing. In fact, I’ve never worked with a group that worked together as well as we did. We were all very considerate of each others opinions and everyone pulled their fair share of the work to get our presentation ready. We even had enough fun to create a humorous skit that we hope the class enjoyed! I really think this project was helpful in learning the material in this class. Personally I learn best from experience and by putting us through this whole process, we have learned every step of the way how to create a product or a service. Also, I think Professor Walls has been an incredible teacher. This class has always been interesting to go to and all the outside resources we have used, have made learning the material that much more relevant to the real world. I was interested in Malcom Galdwell that I actually went out and bought the book The Tipping Point, which hopefully I can read over Christmas. Professor Walls has always been very open to the students, which has always made me feel comfortable in class. I have also always enjoyed chatting in office hours and getting to know him a little bit better outside of just class material. Overall, this has been a great experience for me and one that I will always look back to when I think of my favorite classes at UT.