Week 5: Value Proposition
Analyzing and synthesizing users’ pain points
New here? Check this post and catch up!
📌 Introduction
We were assigned to create value propositions according to the pain points we found this week. This required (a lot of time) going back to past interview notes, grouping, and synthesizing my findings.
But before we dive into the analysis, let’s take a look at the people I interviewed this week.
🎤 Interviews Overview
Some of the areas I was able to tap into belong to the composting industry, food industry, and education institutions. This opened the door to new perspectives on waste in general, which helped me understand what businesses/institutions need and can provide.
As usual, below are the profiles of this week’s participants. I have to admit I feel an urge to share context on the interviews, as I think it gives you, the reader, a better picture of the interviewees. Let me know if you find it helpful and would like me to continue giving more context as I did on Week 3.
I know, there should be an insights’ paragraph here. But, I took a different approach this week. After making last week’s assumptions, I took the time to group all of my interviewees’ pain points and drew insights accordingly. So, let’s see how this goes.
Beware: Lots of mapping going on below this point
😣 Pain Points By Generation
Apologies for the quality in advance. Make sure to zoom in on the image to see information in detail.
As you can see, there is plenty of information to show. This exercise allowed me to lay out all of my notes in one place, which I later grouped by problem area.
😩 Pain Points By User Groups
After close consideration, I created new user groups based on the industry perspectives I had collected. And let me tell you, outlining this wasn’t easy. I’m not sure if this is even correct. But it works for now.
The way to look at this map is by first understanding the problem areas. Wastage is the general area I am focusing on, while food waste and recycling are the main focus areas. The branches coming out of both represent the industry perspectives I’ve received so far and the individual ones (AKA ‘City Dweller’). Lastly, the post its have been color-categorized by generation and placed from the previous mapping exercise.
You probably noticed the ‘Sustainability in General’ on the right. Everything below it doesn’t pertain to food waste or recycling; it pertains to either both or something else –a bigger issue, maybe?
🤔 Assumptions & Insights
Now, let’s finally take a look at the assumptions and insights together! Keep in mind that this board will keep developing as I interview more people.
Once I had all this information laid out and clear, I followed by tackling this week’s assignment: Create value propositions according to the pain points.
I am a neat freak, so I categorize everything. Below are the main categories — food waste and recycling — with their major pain points supported by interviews’ context, value propositions, and potential “solutions” I brainstormed.
🌟 Value Propositions Related to Food Waste
🌟 Value Propositions Related to Recycling
😬 Lessons Learned
What is a thesis without mistakes?! These are some of the lessons I learned through my work this week. Please don’t make the same mistakes I made and be prepared.
💭 Final Thoughts
Phew! Hopefully, I didn’t lose you after all that. These exercises were very time consuming but totally worth it. I follow this same system for anything I do, from organizing my house to my digital files: everything has to be out in the open and classified.
I am nervous about how close we are to midterms (next week) and what I can deliver. Election night is also taking a toll on me, but I’m trying to remain positive and keep pushing through my work.
Anyway, stay safe and healthy! See you next week.✌🏼
Thank you for taking the time to read through my post.
To connect or share your opinion, please reach out to me via email at crussoherrera@sva.edu.
