Business Model Canvas

Key Partners:

  • UnitedHealth Group
  • Optum
  • Insurance Companies
  • Doctors
  • Caregivers

Key Activities:

  • Provide an ecosystem of three unique products that can work together in order to provide optimum tracking and care
    • Track health statistics of senior citizens
    • Monitor daily activities
    • Update family and friends on their loved ones’ daily lives
    • Alert emergency contacts in case of a health or safety crisis
    • Integrate all vital statistics and activities into one database
  • Improve the aging-in-place process of senior citizens

Key Resources:

  • Materials to develop technological devices
  • Software to integrate all devices
  • Technology adaptable to our devices in hospitals and doctors’ offices

Value Propositions:

  • Peace of mind
  • Ease of use
  • “One-stop-shop” to view vital statistics and activities
  • Constant connection
  • Effortless tracking
  • Preventative care
  • Lifecycle product that can be adopted later on in life
  • Lengthen independent living and improve aging-in-place

Customer Relationships:

  • Constant input from users
  • Users’ family and doctors are always in the loop

Channels:

  • Insurance companies
  • Personal doctors/doctors’ offices
  • Advertising

Customer Segments:

  • Market to middle-aged consumers with elderly parents. Ideally, they will purchase the ecosystem for their parents
  • Elderly individuals living in the home are the ideal users of this product
  • Doctors will be involved in the process by becoming part of the ecosystem and using the products to keep track of their patients
  • Family members and friends are crucial in the adoption process of the ecosystem. They will use the products to become updated on the wellbeing of their loved ones.

Cost Structure:

  • Research and Development
  • Marketing
  • Cost of production and implementation

Revenue Stream:

  • Low cost of production, can markup for value of service provided by ecosystem
  • Possibility of introducing a subscription-based pricing structure
  • Potential to lead to substantial savings in the healthcare industry

Prototype Feedback — Solution 1

To gather feedback on our prototype of the button, I decided to test the product on my elderly grandparents. This was a little difficult, because we obviously do not have the product in our ideal functional form yet and they live in a different state than I do, but I attempted to give them a version as close as possible to what the button would be like. In order to prototype this, I explained the project to my aunt, who lives in Las Vegas with my grandparents, and had her draw large red circles on a few different pieces of paper to show a rough version of what the button would look like. After I explained the product to my grandparents, I asked what metrics they would like to track during the day and where they would like to place the “button”.

My grandfather is currently taking pain medication, and my grandmother takes daily medication for high cholesterol, so we designated one “button” for each of them in order to track them taking their medication. They decided that they would want to place their medication-tracking “buttons” on the kitchen counter, and also wanted to place another button by the front door to mark whenever they left the house for exercise, socialization, or errands. To replace the actual act of pushing the button, I had them keep a pen or pencil by each button and make a tally mark on the piece of paper whenever they would otherwise push it. My grandfather made four tally marks on his medication button and one tally mark on his outdoor button. My grandma made one tally mark on her medication button and three tally marks on her outdoor button.

Useful Feedback:

  • Both of my grandparents saw a lot of value in our idea. They said that they definitely could see it becoming a habit for them if they had an actual button to use every day.
  • My grandma and grandpa both expressed a lot of satisfaction whenever they made tally marks on the “button,” and said that the thought of the button instantly “communicating” with my family made them feel happy and connected.
  • They gave some insight about the button location, and suggested that some other useful places to put buttons could be the bathroom, by a nightstand, or by a garage door.
  • Since this prototype obviously lacked the technological capabilities of our final idea, the only real “reminder” it provided to my grandparents was just being present in the chosen location. Both of my grandparents said that the large red circle caught their attention, but I asked them what the final button could do in order to more effectively remind them to push it and perform the chosen tasks. My grandma said that she would prefer as many reminders as possible, and suggested flashing lights and a buzzing noise or vibrating motion if it had not been pressed by a normal, pre-set time. This is an insight that we can definitely incorporate into our design.

Ideation Summary

Our team developed three products that ideally will work together, but can each be used separately. If used together, the products will comprise a tracking ecosystem, but each product individually will help an elderly person track his health and connect with his family. Each individual user will decide which combination of products best suits his needs.

Product 1 — Notification Button

This product will be the most basic of our offerings, and can be set up anywhere in an elderly person’s home. Users will push the button in order to notify loved ones about their daily activities and habits, so the product acts as both a reminder for the user to carry out essential tasks and a notification system for the user’s family. When the button is red, the user knows that he did not perform a task, such as taking his medication. As soon as he takes his medication he pushes the button, and a text or e-mail notification is immediately sent to his family members or doctor. We mainly discussed using the button as a way to track use of medication, but the product can be customized to fit every user’s unique needs and activities.

  • Entice — Elderly users will be enticed to use this product to keep in touch with their loved ones and doctors in with the simple push of a button. They will be able to feel like they are staying in touch with their family members and friends with basically no effort. The product will also make it easier for users to remember to carry out essential activities, so their desire to form effective habits will also entice them to use the button.
  • Enter — The “enter” point will be when the user decides how many buttons he or she wants, what activities they will be used to track, and where to place them in the home.
  • Engage — The user will engage with the product by pressing the button every day until it becomes a habit. They will press the button after they have completed various tasks, so the product will become a part of their everyday life.
  • Exit — The user will stop engaging with the product once he begins to need full-time assistance or cannot take care of himself.
  • Extend — Ideally, the user’s children will adopt the button once they become older. Because they will be familiar with the product from their reception of the notifications, the user’s children are ideal candidates to adopt it themselves.

Product 2 — Dashboard

Our second product is a sleek, tablet-sized dashboard mounted to the user’s wall. The dashboard will be a place for elderly users to track vital health statistics, such as weight, blood pressure, hours of sleep, and diet. If the user also owns the notification button and the wearable wristband, he can link these products to the dashboard for automatic integration. If the user only owns the dashboard, he will input his health statistics manually. The user’s family members and doctors will be able to access the dashboard in order to view and track all of his vital statistics.

  • Entice — The user will be enticed to use the dashboard because of its “one-stop-shop” appeal. Since it will be simple and easy to use, it will not intimidate users that are unfamiliar with technology.
  • Enter — After setting up the dashboard in his home, the user will personalize the product by selecting which statistics he would like to track and monitor. The user will also select which of his relatives and doctors he will share the dashboard’s information with, and connect the product to their contact information.
  • Engage — The user will use this product everyday to connect with his loved ones and doctor. The user’s activities and data will be entered either automatically, with the integration of other products, or manually.
  • Exit — The user will stop interacting with the dashboard when he starts to require full-time care.
  • Extend — The user’s children will continue to use the dashboard as they become older and have an increased desire and need to track their own health statistics.

Product 3 — Wearable Wristband

Our third product is a wearable wristband used to track and monitor an elderly user’s health. This wristband builds on the model of a fitness tracker by detecting falls and other inconsistencies in motion, tracking hours and quality of sleep, and monitoring changes in vitals such as blood pressure and heart rate. The product can be linked to the networks of family members and doctors in order to keep them updated on their loved ones’ activities and statistics, and can also feed into the dashboard described above.

  • Entice — This product offers peace of mind to the user’s family and doctors by providing automatic detection of falls and changes in vitals. The user will be enticed to adopt the wristband by its promise of automatic tracking. All they have to do is wear the wristband to benefit from it — their data is automatically tracked and updated, which is appealing to users who are unfamiliar with technology.
  • Enter — The user will connect the device with a network of family members and friends. They will become used to wearing the wristband on a daily basis.
  • Engage — By wearing the wristband every day, the user will be able to view his daily statistics by connecting with a report generated by the device. This report can either be automatically linked to the dashboard or sent by e-mail or text to the user and his chosen relatives and doctors.
  • Exit — The user will stop wearing the wristband if he needs full-time assistance and care.
  • Extend — The user’s children will adopt the wristband as they grow older as a way to track and monitor their own health and safety.

Guiding Principle #3

Taking Ownership of Health

One of the main goals of our project is to teach the elderly how to take charge of their health by tracking their own vital statistics in order to monitor change and take action with proactive initiatives. However, it is often difficult to convince people, especially the elderly, to begin tracking their health if they are not already used to doing so in their daily routines, or if the product is complicated and difficult to use. Ideally, we aim to help recent retirees monitor the health of their parents so they become comfortable with this tracking technology and can continue these habits when they are older. The sooner patients can take ownership of their own health, the more likely they are to pick up proactive habits that will improve their quality of life. These are three patterns we noticed within this guiding principle.

 

Need for Integration

“I would want something in the home to tell me if they’re taking their meds, if they got out of bed that day… and then could report those facts to a team of doctors, nurses, caretakers, and family members.” — Kathleen Murphy (expert interview)

Self-Health Interest

“Joyce (mother-in-law) likes to communicate, likes following her health. But my mom doesn’t want to know about her health because it will ‘stress her out.’” — Sandra McCarry (ethnographic interview)

Control Where You Can

“Yes, I would love to get updates on how he is doing so I could have that piece of mind, assist him in any way and prolong his independent living”. — Leslie Hinton (ethnographic interview)

Ethnographic Research — Expert Intervew

Ethnographic Research — Expert Interview

Conducted on March 3rd at the Saint Joseph PACE center by Sophie Brown and Therese McCarry

Kathleen Murphy

  • Female, 60-70 years old
  • Director of Marketing at PACE Saint Joseph Center
  • Background experience in healthcare — worked at Baxter, American Hospital Supply, and Bayer.

Our interview with Kathleen was extremely insightful. As the marketing director of the Saint Joseph PACE center, Kathleen oversees what she calls “the business side” of the organization. While she is still involved with patient care and seems to have strong relationships with many of the patients at the center, she describes herself as “all about the numbers” and focuses on fundraising for and publicizing the Saint Joseph PACE center. During our conversation, she explained the basic business model of PACE, walked us through the process of becoming eligible for a service like PACE, and explained her daily activities.

What drives Kathleen?

  • Kathleen explained that, in order to qualify for PACE, participants must be 55 or older, live in the Saint Joseph PACE area, and be considered eligible for nursing home care. This means that the participant must require assistance with at least three activities in daily living, meal preparation, medication and bathing. She told us that the typical PACE participant is on Medicare or Medicaid, and is often isolated or living in an impoverished environment.
  • Even though Saint Joseph PACE is only 10 months old, Kathleen has been working tirelessly to build up a strong patient base, so the center can help as many senior citizens as possible. She is driven by the large amount of underserved seniors in the area, and her desire to improve their lives as much as possible while still keeping them in their homes.
  • She is driven to show how much PACE is worth to the community by lowering costs for Saint Joseph’s hospital. By focusing on preventative and proactive care for PACE’s patients, Kathleen is striving to prove that PACE can help cut down on unnecessary or preventable hospitalizations in Saint Joseph’s most vulnerable elderly population.

What is Kathleen’s biggest point of pain?

  • Kathleen noted that, while the Saint Joseph PACE center is legally allowed to have 250 participants, the center is nowhere large or staffed enough to accommodate all of these people.
  • She is disturbed by the state of many senior citizens in the community, stating that many are lonely, isolated, and not living in the best conditions

Top 3 Learnings:

  • Preventative care is crucial for the elderly population. If smaller health issues can be dealt with early-on, larger health issues can be avoided or prevented.
  • The ideal health-tracking product for senior citizens would be an all-in-one dashboard with areas for personalization. She stressed the importance of uploading pictures or comments to add a personal touch.
  • Since senior citizens often cannot hear well, using an Alexa-type system might not be the best way to integrate IoT technology into their healthcare.

Key Insight: Since preventative care is so important for senior citizens, an IoT product that tracks vital stats every day could potentially be extremely useful in monitoring and detecting conditions in older people. This product must be simple, streamlined, able to be personalized, and accommodating of seniors’ unique needs.

Activities

  • Oversees marketing for Saint Joseph PACE
  • Spreads the word about what PACE is doing
  • Interacts with patients daily
  • Has conversations with patients during their lunch and leisure activities
  • Manages day-to-day business operations
  • Balances costs of care for patients outside of PACE (ex: dentures, home improvements, additional meals)

Kathleen talking with patients at lunch

Environment

  • Saint Joseph PACE
  • Clean, cheery, well-lit, enjoyable
  • Doctor’s offices with standard medical equipment
  • Physical therapy room with bikes and exercise equipment
  • Spacious lunch room with tables and chairs
  • Activity room with TV, Xbox Kinect, books, games, and puzzles
  • Nondenominational chapel
  • Conference room for business meetings

Interactions

  • Daily interactions with patients. Develops close relationships with them
  • Nurses and doctors
  • Physical Therapist
  • Chaplain
  • Business partners at Trinity and Saint Joseph’s hospital

Objects

  • Uses objects such as Xbox Kinect or puzzles to bond with patients
  • Briefcase and business materials for meetings
  • Reports with data about PACE’s status, impact, and costs

Users:

  • Elderly patients
  • Nurses/doctors/therapists
  • Professionals at Trinity and Saint Joseph’s
  • Family members who send their loved ones to PACE

Insightful Quotes

 

  • [Talking about Saint Joseph PACE’s maximum allowed number of participants, which is 250] “I sweat over that. You don’t want to ever overtax your team. We need to balance and ask ourselves, who can we really help? That’s the hardest thing.
  • “They literally fall in love with us. They say, ‘It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.’ We have a man who wears a suit here every day because going to PACE is so special to him.”
  • Everyone at PACE has been through the dementia simulation. Everyone needs to understand what the patients are going through.”
  • “Ideally, I would love an all-in-one dashboard to show vital stats, with a few quick buttons where you could put comments and pictures.”

 

 

Ethnographic Research — Individual Interview #2

Individual Interview #2 — Sophie Brown

Type: Individual Phone Interview

Date: 2/26/17

Subject: Walter Brown

For my second ethnographic interview, I spoke with my dad, Walter Brown. My mom and dad have very different opinions and habits concerning technology, so I knew that interviewing both of them would provide me with two extreme viewpoints from their demographic.

My dad is 57 years old, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with my mom. He is a lawyer, and has been working about 70 hours a week for the past 35 years. He loves his job and is not anticipating retiring anytime soon, but knows that it within the next 15 years or so, he will most likely retire. He travels, often internationally, a few times a month for work, and leads a very busy lifestyle. He is an avid user of technology in his professional and personal life. Both of his parents have passed away, so our conversation was mostly focused on his present use of technology, and his opinions about my maternal grandparents’ use of technology.  

Personal Technology Use:

 

  • What tech products do you use in your daily life, and how do you use them? My dad uses technology basically nonstop, at work and at home.

 

      • “I use my phone all the time for e-mailing and texting. I e-mail my colleagues all the time, and will text my closer friends and family. I’ll also listen to music on my phone or check social media like Facebook and Instagram”
      • “I have a desktop at work I use during the workday, and have a laptop I use when  I travel or am working from home. I’ll occasionally use the desktop at home just to read the news or browse the Internet. Other than that, I watch TV at home and read books on my iPad”
      • “I feel really comfortable with technology, and love finding out about new ways to use it. I get really excited when I hear about the newest, cutting-edge product, and I usually want it.”
    • Do you currently monitor any health statistics, and how do you do it? He uses the Apple Health app to track his weight, and has this app linked to an app called “Lose It,” which requires you to enter everything you consume in order to track calories and nutrition.
      • “I think this is a really useful process. The exercise of writing down your weight and intake forces you to be more cognizant and take better care of yourself.”
      • “Using technology makes it super easy because you can use it no matter where you are. If I’m out at a restaurant, I can just pull out my phone and enter what I ate at lunch in a minute.”
    • Do you think you’ll continue tracking your health as you get older? My dad said that he definitely will continue tracking his health as he gets older. Since is already in the habit of keeping track of his weight, using technology to track other aspects of his health does not seem like “that much of a stretch.”

 

  • Takeaway: My dad loves technology and uses it in basically every aspect of his life. He is currently tracking his weight with apps on his iPhone and is willing to continue tracking other aspects of his health as he gets older. He doesn’t find this process much of a hassle and thinks that using technology is really beneficial in his life.

My Grandparents/His Parents:

    • In your opinion, how comfortable are my grandparents using technology?
      • “Your grandpa basically doesn’t do anything with technology. I would say that your grandma is basically ahead of the curve.”
      • “I think it has something to do with the fact that they’re 10 years apart in age. I think the ability of a 70-year-old to adopt new technology is pretty different than an 80-year-old.”
    • Your dad passed away in 2009, which is basically a different era in tech compared to where we are now. So many things have changed in the world of technology since then, but how tech-savvy would you say he was in the last few years of his life?
      • “He was not really into technology it at all, and I think that has to do with the fact that he was pretty old by the time most modern technology became really popular. By the time the Internet was pretty mainstream, so in the mid-90s, he was already 81 years old.”
      • “I think a person’s willingness to adopt and implement technology has to do with whether they had to use tech during their working lives. Most people in their eighties never had to use most modern forms of technology in their jobs, so they were never forced to pick it up.
      • “Since I’ve had to use technology in my job, I was basically forced to learn how to use everything. Mom also stopped working when you were born, so she never really had to learn how to use modern computers or anything.”

 

  • Takeaway: My dad made a really good point about senior citizens’ willingness and ability to adopt new technology. He thinks that the amount someone has used technology in their professional lives will determine how comfortable they are using new products and implementing technology into their lives. This definitely corresponds with the difference in my mom and dad’s level of comfort with technology, because my dad has had to use technology throughout his ongoing career, and my mom basically stopped being force to use and learn new technology 20 years ago.

After our conversation, I used the 5E framework to examine how customers like my dad would react to an IoT product used to track their health.

Entice

The idea of new technology alone is definitely enticing to my dad, and it does not take much to convince him that a new product is worth his time and money. He already enjoys tracking his health so a product that promises an easy tracking system would definitely entice him.

Enter

He would “enter” the product experience by setting up and getting used to the product. I feel pretty confident that he would have no trouble getting accustomed to a new device, and would be able to figure out the new technology pretty quickly.

Engage

My dad is already pretty good at staying engaged with technology, and keeping up with a tracking system that requires him to provide input multiple times a day. I feel confident that he would be able to stay engaged with a product that tracks his health.

Extend

Again, I removed the “Exit” step in the framework. Ideally, our product would become an integral part of our customer’s daily routine as he or she moves through every stage of life. My dad also expressed willingness to continue tracking his health as he grows older, so chances are high that consumers like him will definitely extend their usage of this product.

Ethnographic Research — Individual Interview #1

Individual Interview #1 — Sophie Brown

Type: Individual Phone Interview

Date: 2/26/17

Subject: Denise Brown

User: For my first ethnographic interview, I chose to interview my mom. She is 57 years old and lives in the Bay Area. She has been a stay-at-home mom for my entire life, but before my twin sister and I were born in 1996, she worked at an insurance company for about 15 years. She has been married to my dad since 1988, and currently stays at home taking care of the house and my dog when my dad is working. She has been in more of a transitional phase over the past few years and is adjusting to having less day-to-day responsibility since my twin sister and I are both away at college. Both of her parents are still alive, but they live in Las Vegas so she only sees them in person 2 or 3 times a year.

During the interview, we talked about how she uses technology in her daily life, and her level of comfort with various technological items. We talked about her current health, and discussed her aging parents, and how she plans to move forward with their healthcare plans as they continue to grow older. We then discussed how she would feel about incorporating technology, IoT, and tracking devices into her healthcare plan for my grandparents.

Daily Technology Use:

 

  • What tech products do you use every day? iPhone, iPad, desktop computer, TV, car console

 

  • What do you mainly use technology for on a day-to-day basis? Mostly for entertainment purposes.
    • “That’s my #1 thing I use technology for”
    • “Not to help me during the day, but to entertain me during the day”
    • Fact-finding — news, asking questions. Day-to-day life — maps, navigation, weather
    • Still uses a paper calendar
  • How comfortable do you feel using technology? Far from second nature
    • “I’m kind of scared of technology. I don’t want to try to figure something out on my own because I’m afraid of breaking it”
    • Example — My dad wanted to buy a new Keurig machine. “I think we are fine with what we have and we don’t need it. I don’t  think it’s going to add anything beneficial to my life, so why not stick with the old machine? I’m never racing to get a new product and figure out something new. It’s kind of a hassle, and I don’t think that everything that is brand new is best. Unless something breaks, I don’t see the point in getting something new.”
  • Takeaway: Concerning technology, my mom would much rather stick with something that is comfortable and familiar. She likes to” know what the expectation is.” To her, consistency and reliability are important, and she values “not having to learn a new thing.” In my opinion, I think she gets intimidated by technology that she has never used before, so she would rather stick with something she knows, even if it means missing out on the benefits of new technology.

 

Personal Health:  

  • Are you monitoring or tracking anything concerning your health right now? Right now, she is not monitoring anything.
    • “If I were to go to a doctor, they would tell me facts like my weight, blood pressure, and things like that. But day-to-day, I do not really track anything.”
  • Would you be interested in using a device to track your health statistics?  
    • “I’m not interested in something that I would have to physically put information into, because it wouldn’t be sustainable. I would get sick of it after a few days. I would be more interested in something that [would track my health statistics]  automatically.”
  • Takeaway — My mom does not feel like she needs to monitor her health at this point.

Parents’ Healthcare:

  • What are your thoughts on your parents’ current health and healthcare plan? Overall, pretty comfortable and not too worried at the moment.
    • “I’m pretty comfortable with what has happened with [my parents] so far, and feel like they’ve been on top of everything. Us 4 kids have reviewed things during the process. They’re till pretty sharp mentally and have their faculties about them, so I believe what they tell me, and basically agree with what they’re doing to take care of themselves.
    • “I think the scale would be tipped if their mental capacities become diminished and they start not looking at their situation realistically.”
  • Do you think it would be beneficial for you to receive a daily check-up from them concerning their physical health? Would you be interested in receiving that? She does think this would be beneficial, and is definitely interested.
    • “I do think a daily check up is beneficial — not to keep track of me, but to keep track of my parents. It would help me keep tabs on them because they are so elderly and live far away.”
  • Do you feel like you have a good idea of their health, even from far away?
    • “I feel like I have a pretty good read on their health from far away. Also, having one of my  siblings there to see them Vegas makes me feel better and gives me a level of comfort”
  • When they have had surgery and medical issues in the past, have you ever been in touch with their doctors, nurses, or caregivers directly?
    • “No, I haven’t ever really been in touch with their doctors or nurses when they have had medical issues. I basically trust everything they tell me, and don’t really feel the need to check up with their doctors. At this point, I wouldn’t be interested.”
  • How tech-savvy would you consider your parents? How comfortable are they with technology?
    • “Honestly, my mom is way more tech-savvy than I am. She knows how to use social media, and I don’t really know it. I know more than my dad, though. He still has a flip phone.”
  • How receptive and able do you think your parents would be to adopt new technology?
    • “Dad would never pick up a new tech thing. My mom probably would faster than me”
  • I know this is a little bit down the line right now, but what would make you feel like they would have to move to a nursing home?
    • “The number one thing for me would be their physical safety, especially since they live in a two-story house. Right now they’re doing fine, but I could see that being an issue down the road. If I felt like they needed more constant medical attention or if I wanted them to be monitored constantly, then I might start thinking about it”
    • “They both still have each other, so social reasons would be way down the line.”
    • “I don’t really have any concerns about them taking their medication right now, and they don’t really have ongoing health problems, so I don’t see the need right now.”
  • Would you be interested in a product that would track their health statistics and send these to you and their doctors, kind of like the daily check-up that we were talking about? “I would definitely be appreciative of a product like this to track everything and connect them to their doctors. Especially because I don’t live with them, it would really give me peace of mind.”
  • Takeaway: Right now, my grandparents are in pretty good health, so my mom is usually not that worried about how they are doing on a day-to-day basis. However, she definitely thinks that a daily “check-in” would be really beneficial. She is interested in a product that would give her a quick idea of how her parents were doing, so she could have a better sense of their well-being from far away. Wouldn’t do it for herself, but would do it for her parents.  She feels pretty confident in my grandma’s ability to adopt new technology, and would be very interested in technology that would track my grandparents’ health.

 

After analyzing our conversation, I used the 5E framework to predict how my mom would respond to using an IoT product to help her monitor her parents’ health.

Entice:

My mom’s main “entice” point for using IoT would be to monitor her parent’s health. She expressed basically no interest in using it for herself, but would definitely be interested if a product could track her parent’s health statistics for her.

Enter:

Getting my mom to use the product — “entering” the experience — seems like it would potentially be the hardest part for us. She is very hesitant to adopt new technology, and often gets intimidated by new technology products that she has never used before. Our product would need to be very simple to set up and use, and not seem like too much of a “hassle” for my mom to learn how to use.

Engage:

Our product would optimally keep my mom engaged without requiring much effort from her. Since she is uninterested in deliberately tracking statistics and having to constantly “keep up” with a product, my mom’s ideal product would update her automatically without requiring her to do much.

Extend:

I chose to eliminate the “Exit” phase from the experience, because ideally this product would stay with my mom as she gets older as well. While she is a long way away from needing or wanting to monitor her vital health statistics, this product would optimally also be able to track her health one day. An IoT tracking product has the potential to become a vital part of a person’s life through many different stages, and can both track one’s own vital statistics and update on the health of loved ones.

Research Plan

Research Plan : “Aging in Place        Optum Team A: eVitalize

Week 2/13-2/19

  • Contact Pat to clarify target demographic
  • Archetype map
  • Design and choose theme for Team Blog
  • Complete Immersion Portfolio and Summary (due Monday 2/20)

Week 2/20-2/26

  • Contact and set up interviews for desired demographic (10-20 desired)
    • Focus on “rising” elderly (ages 50-65) and “settled” elderly (ages 65-75)
  • Organize and conduct Expert Interview
  • Brainstorm immersions for further research
  • Organize and publish background research notes, guiding questions, creative ideas to blog

Week 2/27- 3/5

  • Complete Summary of Card Sort, User Camera Study or Graffiti Wall(due Monday 3/6)
  • Conduct immersion research experience in community
  • Conduct analogous immersion research

Week 3/6 – 3/12

  • Prepare presentation for client
  • Present research thus far to client on Wednesday March 8th

Week 3/13 – 3/19 (Spring Break)

  • Complete Collage of observed and/or experienced innovation opps (due Monday 3/20)

Week 3/20 – 3/26

  • Prepare to discuss experience prototyping in class Wed. 3/22
  • Complete ‘Design Criteria’ (due Monday 3/27)

Week 3/27 – 4/2

  • Be prepared to discuss rapid desirability testing in class Wed. 3/29
  • Complete Prototype testing Plan (due Monday 4/3)

Week 4/3 – 4/9

  • Complete prototype feedback (due Monday 4/10)

Week 4/10 – 4/16

  • Reiterate prototype and incorporate feedback and updates

Week 4/17 – 4/23

  • Complete ‘Prototype and Persona’ (due Monday 4/24)
  • Finalize project and presentation