You are a product manager for a startup focused on productivity tools. Observe and interview people as they schedule tasks for themselves, plan their day, schedule meetings with teammates, engage in deep work, make joint decisions with collaborators, and$/$or perform another task related to productivity.

Conduct a contextual inquiry in which you interact with at least two people in one or more settings of your choice. You should select settings that are representative of the context of the prompt, accessible to you, and, ideally, interesting to you. Here are some examples of ways to position yourself in a relevant setting:

Sit with your friend as they work on an assignment for another class. Gain an understanding of how they approach the task, maintain focus, and handle distractions if they arise.

Attend a lab or project meeting $($virtually or in$-$person$).$ Gain an understanding of how teammates coordinate around shared projects, schedule meetings, and assign subtasks.

Shadow someone as they plan their tasks for the week, using either a physical planner or a digital tool. Gain an understanding of how they prioritize, how they categorize their tasks, and how they manage their time.

This is not an exhaustive list $$ you$$re welcome to use choose any setting you can think of that is related to productivity. The only exception: Do not observe someone doing work for this class.

A reminder: Regardless of what setting$($s$)$ you choose, make sure that your research is ethical and minimally disruptive. Obtain informed consent from all involved parties, and, if necessary, seek permission from an authority who oversees the setting $($e$.$g$.,$ the PI if observing a lab meeting$).$

You may choose to split up the work however you see fit. You may want to each conduct one interview and then compare your findings, or you may both want to be present for both interviews with one person leading the inquiry and the other taking notes.

Recall this slide from class:

Title of slide: "How do we get this information?" Body: Step $0$: Have a sense of what you think you will do$.$ Step $1$: Watch, listen, and talk to a bunch of people. Collect a lot of detailed and sometimes contradictory information about what they are doing, what they are struggling with, what they want, etc. Step $2$: Make sense of the information they provide. Use techniques like affinity diagramming and card sort to identify themes. Step $3$: Reevaluate your early vision from Step $0.$ Is your plan the right one? Does it meet people$$s needs? Is it meeting people$$s needs in the right way? If any of these is a $$no$/$maybe not$$: Refine the idea, return to Step $1$

This assignment is part of Step $1.$ Therefore, you need to start with a Step $0.$

Start by coming up with an initial set of assumptions. This should not be a design, an interaction or anything resembling a proposed solution $($you don$$t know what the $$problem$$ is yet, or if there even is one!$)$ it$$s simply a capture of the starting point for your information gathering process, and it shouldn$$t take more than a few minutes. What needs do you think people might have that isn$$t being met by the current state of the world? What goals do you think people are trying to or might try to achieve $($not necessarily consciously$)$ around productivity?

Once you$$ve made note of your assumptions, develop a plan for your contextual inquiry. Contextual inquiry involves both observing and asking. As you observe the user in their $$natural habitat$,$ you interrupt at appropriate times to ask them questions about what they are doing, what they are thinking, and how they are problem$-$solving. You should come in with a set of questions that you intend to ask, but bear in mind that you may or may not end up asking them in order.

Take detailed notes on what the people you interact with say and do$.$ These can be handwritten or typed, but bear in mind that you will be asked to digitize them later. You will not turn them in as part of this assignment, but you will use them later in the class.

You may choose to record the interviews and take notes after the fact if that is easier for you. If you do this, by Massachusetts Law, you MUST obtain the consent of the person you are interviewing AND anyone else who might inadvertently be recorded. This is true whether you are meeting in$-$person or virtually. It is not enough to ask only the permission of the authority overseeing the meeting to record $($to revisit the lab example: you must get consent from every lab member, not just the PI$,$ to record$).$ Therefore, it is wise to only record if you are in a private location where it is easy to obtain the consent of all recorded parties.

Plan to spend $30-60$ minutes on each of the two interviews.

What you$$ll turn in

Your final submission should take the form of a single $2-3$ page report $($one document for the both of you$)$ of your contextual inquiry exercise. The report should address the following:

What