Market-Pull Innovation Idea Development for Students Report

Problem Observation

In the first stage of this report, the main focus is on observing the existing issues, using the two strategies – direct and indirect intelligence. According to the methodology for innovation development, the main emphasis at this stage is on determining the market and the market needs within it, which can be done through consumer observation. This report will focus on identifying the problem and examining all possible solutions for it.

Arguably, there are three main issues that exist in a students’ day-to-day life, which are: difficulty managing work and education tasks, adherence to a healthy lifestyle, such as regular exercise and healthy diet, and proper sleep. One can argue that the three activities have one root cause – the ability to plan and track tasks and assignments adequately. However, these are three distinct entities that affect day-to-day life, and a product that can help a student reorganize and structure one of these factors would be helpful.

In accordance with the indirect observation strategy, one should avoid directly engaging with the consumer. Instead, the prospective target audience should be observed through blogs, social media, and forums. In this case, one can decide to observe classmates and colleagues. One can gain a lot of insight into the issues that affect Master’s degree students on the website Quora, where people shared their concerns about time management and prioritizing (“How do top students use time management,” 2019; “What is time management 101 for students?” 2017). This thread and several others helped us gain a better understanding of the fact that most students struggle with time management because they are overwhelmed with the number of tasks they receive. Similar evidence was located for sufficient sleep over the course of studies and healthy lifestyle, sloth the latter appears to be a problem for other populations as well (“Is it realistic for me to keep my sleep schedule in college?” 2017).

Next, to explore the issue of adequate sleep, some research into the matter was conducted. According to Hudson, Van Dongen, and Honn (2019), sleep is crucial for students as it helps the brain rest and learns new information better. However, similarly to the previous market need, many of the observed students appear not to have sufficient time during the semester to get their seven to eight hours of sleep, especially during exams.

Direct intelligence implies engaging with a potential consumer and asking questions that can provide insight into the matter. This step was completed by writing down the answers to the three main questions – major frustrations, struggles, and expected outcome. The answers to these for the need for better planning are the inability to complete all tasks on time, struggle to keep track of assignments, and hope to get easy to implement the solution, which will not require reading books on time management and executing a completely new system into one’s day to day life.

For the second issue, adherence to a healthy lifestyle, the answers to the questions are lack of motivation, inability to make time for exercise, and hope to get a product that will help maintain a healthy lifestyle routine over extensive periods of time. The main frustration in the context of the third issue is lack of understanding of what constitutes a good and bad sleep habit, the main struggle is lack of routine, and an expected outcome is a product that can suggest adequate and scientifically correct schedule advice regarding sleep and activity time.

The needs that were found during this process represent an unmet market demand because the indirect intelligence approach showcases that many Master’s degree students have difficulty maintaining a good routine, including sufficient sleep, task management, especially if one has to work as well and healthy lifestyle habits. Although there are many articles, books, and videos online that discuss these issues, it appears that there are no products that would directly address each problem, particularly for students and the specifics of their schedules.

Problem Definition

The one-sentence definition for the problem is as follows – students of Masters Degree programs who also work have difficulty managing their time efficiently, despite many resources, online and offline, that explain various approaches to the matter.

Who?

While the initial issues were developed using personal experience, the research shows that a lot of students, especially those in the Master’s program, struggle with this.

What?

Arguably, the cause of the issue in question is time management and, in some cases, being overwhelmed with the number of tasks that one has. This requires prioritizing and a laser focus on the deadlines.

Why?

Harman (n.d.) explains the root cause of the problem as a planning fallacy, which is a concept describing the inability of people to estimate how much time is required for specific tasks. This is true even for functions that one has completed before. For example, if a student writes papers for an entire semester, it does not mean that they can correctly assess the time required for an essay in the following semesters.

Where?

This problem affects students of any university or college, online or offline, since the curriculums imply that one has to attend lectures and submit tasks on time.

When?

Since the problem is connected to obtaining a degree, it can be addressed during the semesters.

Idea Generation

During this stage, ten ideas for addressing time management for students were developed using the brainstorming approach:

1. A notebook that contains advice and designed for scheduling assignments.
2. An application that reminds about school tasks.
3. A smartwatch designed for planning and scheduling.
4. A set of video recordings that would explain the main principles of time management.
5. A mini-guide on how to balance work and education in the form of a book.
6. A pocket alarm that reminds one to study at a designated time.
7. Full-size alarm designed based on the tomato technique to allow for well-structured study sessions (each lasting for 25 minutes)
8. A tablet designed for studying and managing tasks.
9. A schedule board.
10. Task tracking poster with a coating that allows one to write and erase texts.

Idea Synthesis

There are four main groups of ideas that were generated during the brainstorming session – physical products, devices, educational material, and software. Concepts such as specially designed notebooks, posters, or boards are useful, but their main flaw is that a student can have difficulty tracking everything that needs to be completed since posters and boards cannot be moved around. Additionally, some people do not enjoy writing down their tasks and activities, and this approach does not mitigate the risk of underestimation.

Merging the digital device and software ideas can help develop a cohesive technology designed only for students, which addresses their time management and planning needs. In addition, the concepts that reflect the need to incorporate advice for students regarding adequate work, study, and leisure distribution should also be included in the final product, however, and it is best if these ideas will be the basis of design for productivity control device. In this way, one can create a smartwatch that can be controlled through a smartphone application, designed specifically for students to input their homework assignments, lectures and specifying the time when they will have to work.

Idea Evaluation

To determine which idea actually addresses the problem statement and its root cause, one must use the three criteria of evaluation. For each of the three tests, an evaluation scale of 1 to 5 was adopted, where 1 indicates the lowest level of addressing the issue and 5 the highest. The following list reflects the rating for each element of evaluation, while subsequent paragraphs explain in detail the rationale for such distribution of points:

1. A smartwatch designed for planning and scheduling (feasibility – 4; usability – 5; market opportunity – 5; total score = 14).
2. Task tracking poster with a coating that allows one to write and erase texts (feasibility – 5; usability – 2; market opportunity – 3; total score = 10).
3. Full-size alarm designed based on the tomato technique to allow for well-structured study sessions (each lasting for 25 minutes) (feasibility – 5; usability – 3; market opportunity – 1; total score = 9).
4. An application that reminds about school tasks (feasibility – 3; usability – 4; market opportunity – 2; total score = 9).
5. A set of video recordings that would explain the main principles of time management (feasibility – 5; usability – 2; market opportunity – 1; total score = 8).
6. A notebook that contains advice and designed for scheduling assignments (feasibility – 5; usability – 1; market opportunity – 1; total score = 7).
7. A schedule board (feasibility – 5; usability – 2; market opportunity – 1; total score = 8).
8. A mini-guide on how to balance work and education in the form of a book (feasibility – 5; usability – 1; market opportunity – 1; total score = 7).
9. A pocket alarm that reminds one to study at a designated time (feasibility – 3; usability – 2; market opportunity – 2; total score = 7).
10. A tablet designed for studying and managing tasks (feasibility – 1; usability – 3; market opportunity – 2; total score = 6).

Feasibility

Feasibility reflects the ability of a company to actually manufacture the product and an assessment of a market that exists for it. Hence, one should answer questions such as is it realistic, can a company win within the existing market using this solution, and whether the process of developing and manufacturing this product worth the revenue (“Assessing the feasibility of a new product,” n.d.). In this context, physical products such as notebooks, posters, and boards are the most feasible since the market and demand for stationery products similar to the proposed ones is well established. Other ideas, such as developing a video or book guide, are also easy to implement. The most difficult in this context are products such as alarms, software, and smartwatch because they require specific manufacturing capabilities, although they can be manufactured since similar items are offered in other industries.

Usability

The technological device solutions appear to be the most relevant. Currently, many companies develop innovational products that address a specific consumer problem since technology improves peoples’ ability to track their time and efforts. One example is fitness bracelets that already exist in the market and calculate the estimated amount of calories burned or steps walked. Hence, the main benefit of technology is the automation of the process. In addition, there are many applications and software solutions that allow scheduling tasks. However, not everyone benefits from them. The hypothesis with the proposed solution is that if a person regularly carries a watch and it sends them notifications about the tasks they need to complete, the outcomes will be better. In this case, one will not have to open a specific application or write down tasks manually.

Estimation for Market Opportunity

The overall concept of smartwatches was introduced to the market recently, and many startup companies were established to target a specific issue using this innovation. However, the market opportunity is obstructed by the price of the product since developing a hardware and software product requires significant investments. Other products offer limited capabilities to their users, meaning that the demand for them will not be as substantial. In addition, products such as notebooks. Even explicitly designed for students will face considerable competition with other stationery items.

Solution Implementation

Smartwatch that allows one to plan and schedule tasks and tracks the activities. Notably, the niche of smartwatches is not new within the technology industry. However, the products that currently exist mainly provide simple assistance such as tracking physical activity, alarms, assisting in calls, and some other applications. In this regard, partnering with an existing company that can provide assistance in designing the hardware and software will be beneficial since it will reduce costs when compared to developing the product from scratch. This solution is somewhat complicated, and one major issue that can arise is a well-established company introducing a similar smartwatch to the market. Overall, this report allowed us to identify a day-to-day problem of a Master’s program student and develop a product that addresses it.

References

Assessing the feasibility of a new product. (n.d.). Web.

Harman, J. J. (n.d.). Time management for students: A psychological explanation of why we struggle[Blog post]. Web.

Hudson, A.N., Van Dongen, H.P.A. & Honn, K.A. (2019). Sleep deprivation, vigilant attention, and brain function: A review. Neuropsychopharmacol 45, 21–30. Web.

How do top students use time management. (2019). Web.

Is it realistic for me to keep my sleep schedule in college? (2017). Web.

What is time management 101 for students?(2017). Web.