Final Reflection 

Before

Before this class, I thought that change was hard. Really hard. But definitely not impossible. Though, I did have a very narrow understanding of behavior change and how to create change; I thought you either wanted it bad enough or you didn’t. If you really wanted it, you would’ve changed by now is what I always told myself. So I was excited to come into a class full of individuals wanting to create real change for themselves and others. 

Some of My Experiences

Throughout the course of the class I’ve learned a few things that will stick with me even as I go on to work in industry. I found that I don’t have to like or use every method/tool that we used in this course in my design process every time. I loved that we were encouraged to not work linearly and flip between different maps or diagrams as each flip led to some sort of new insight or at least a conversation that could be had amongst my team. One thing I appreciated was that I came into the course so hyper focused on a behavior I wanted to change, but was able to come together with a team of strangers working collectively towards a whole different behavior. I also wouldn’t say there was anything I hated, but one thing I disliked may have been how little time we actually got to spend with users (tough to recruit quickly and reach diverse people).

One thing that will stick with me ten years from now would be Sketchnoting. It was such a relief to have a class where I was encouraged to visualize my thoughts rather than try to scribble down as many notes as possible. Truly, even from books and other content I consume, I only take the core ideas and sketchnotes put a heavy emphasis on this. To me, this is the most sustainable way to continue learning throughout life.

Tools and methods I would use again: connections circles, connection circles, and connection circles. I have never used connection circles in any design project. Before, I would simply think through things so linearly or just talk it out with a team, but connections circles helped me visualize how all pieces of the ecosystem come together and interact with one another. It’s so simple yet so powerful. Another method I found to be extremely helpful was brainstorming individually then coming together. Traditional brainstorming favors the loud and I am quiet. In an environment where this is practiced I felt as if my voice was actually heard rather than just the two loudest people bouncing ideas off of one another.

One thing that I feel is still unresolved–and I would like to explore in the future–is how personalized notifications can continue to be generated as a product scales. In our case, users receive personal motivations based on the info they input, but what happens when the info runs out or it becomes so repetitive that it loses its meaning? Would love any resources the teaching staff has on this topic!

Ethical Considerations

Our project primarily nudged users by sending personalized text prompts to a user so that they will be more likely to reach out to their desired family members. This nudge isn’t manipulative because it doesn’t violate a user’s autonomy; it doesn’t prevent the user from choosing to ignore the notification or contact their family member. Though, I do believe one of our other nudges could be manipulative to some users. Users in remindful have a plant associated with each family member and these plants wilt or grow depending on if you are meeting your contact frequency goals. This could be manipulative to users who are prone to more short term rewards and they may lose sight of the long term intrinsic reward that comes from bonding with family. They may just reach out to keep seeing the plant grow at times.

Remindful respects users’ privacy by utilizing the least amount of personal information possible. The definition of privacy I am relying on focuses on informed consent and being completely transparent with what info is being used and how it is being used. Remindful utilizes a contact book import, however, once the user selects their desired family members all other contact info would not be stored or used in any way. Another thing discussed was adding a brief notification of how the contact data would be used prior to the import. The rest of the information is manually inputted by users so they can choose what to share, and currently the product is not designed to share any of this information with others. Possible future uses or developments of our project where privacy may no longer be protected is if personalized ads were introduced in order to provide us with revenue. This may be avoided if we can find other ways to monetize without jeopardizing our users’ privacy. For example, we could create in-app purchases focused on selling personalized flowers or other plants users can purchase to represent their family members.

After

After this course and project, I feel my thoughts on behavior change have evolved. It’s not just as simple as having enough motivation, there are many behavior change strategies that can help. One of my favorites is habit stacking. I already have a set of habits and behaviors that I do daily, so why not build off of this. This is one I have personally used this quarter to create real change. In the mornings after I put in my contacts I immediately begin making my pre-workout meal and this allowed me to go to the gym first thing in the mornings. This strategy is so powerful because you can just keep creating chain reactions or stacks. Now, I truly believe there isn’t a habit out there that I can change with all that I’ve learned.

Looking Forward

Next time when faced with a similar situation I will be sure to take the core behavior strategies I have learned as well as various tools and methods along the way. One thing I would do differently though is to practice the ethical considerations and go beyond the discussion, especially as I begin working as a program manager.