Lessons Learned

This semester we had covered the got to experience the long process of product creation and all ups and downs that come with it. Along the way, and through each step our group experienced things that we did not expect, however, we also learned a great deal. Something that was learned early on was how much preparation was needed for a successful end product. The research needed is much more important than many people think. Without conducting user interviews and survey you have no idea if what you intend to make will even be useful to the public. We also saw that analysis tools like the affinity diagram are very effective for organizing the qualitative types of data that is not easily visualized in graphs. From there we learned the different how necessary the varying types of prototypes and the assortment of user studies are to the design process. Each iteration our application changed the design and even functions as we saw what worked and what didn't. In summary, our groups biggest lesson is that iterations and changes aren't always a team’s enemy. If research shows that something isn't working a team has to know how to adapt or the product you create won’t work when presented to the world.