Let’s get physical!
Oh hello, there curious reader... Are you wondering about what team X-FOURS has been up to in Sprint 4? Well, let me take you a bit back to sprint 3 to refresh your mind.
Rewind time 🕰
In sprint 3 we made 4 different prototypes that we tested at an Exodus house. We also had translate sessions with various experts on different fields to brainstorm and get useful feedback on our prototypes. From the new insights we gained, we came up with the idea of a 3-step tool to track data that will help make participants more aware of their behaviour. We want to do this by tracking data from the physical world, converting this into digital data and then representing the data in physical form. Physical ➡️ Digital ➡️ Physical
We also really want to have a working product that we can demonstrate at the big Showcase. But to implement all the functionalities we and the client want within 2~3 sprints is simply not feasible. So we updated our previous goal into:
“Creating a prototype that brings the participants to the Quantified Self movement with an inclusive system build to their needs”
Quantified self means that a person collects data on their own initiative to learn about themselves. That is the general idea of what we want to achieve. Because we think that getting the participants to change is to start making them more aware of their behaviour. So now we have to make this
happen! 💪
A goal starts with a plan 🥅
So where do we go from here? First off we started with some sprint planning. Because we discussed during the previous retrospective that it’s hard to keep track of each other’s tasks, so we decided to work with the wooden Scrum board. It turned out to be quite helpful. If only we would’ve known so from the 1st Sprint… But I guess some things you just have to discover along the way.
“Discovery is the journey; insight is the destination”
— Gary Hamel
Work, Work, Work 🔨
For this sprint, we decided that we would split up the tasks between the physical representation, the app and the wearable. Anushree and Roxane were going to work on the physical representation, while Alec would work on the wireframes for the app and I(Ginger) would start working on the database.
Internet of People event 📱
Next big thing ahead was the Internet Of People (IOP) event. So our teammates Alec and Anushree worked very hard on the presentation because they were going to present our project. One of the representatives of our client present at the event said that he liked it and was impressed. So safe to say that they did well! (proud teammate here!🙋♀️)
Meeting the most connected man on earth 🌍
The following Monday we had a meeting with Chris Dancy also known as “The most connected man on earth”. No for real, try googling that and he will pop-up (try it!). The group had a nice and enlightening conversation with him and it was pretty inspiring. He gave us some nice insights and he seemed interested in our project as well so we hope to meet him again…
See the moon shining through the trees…🌜
During this sprint, we also celebrated Sinterklaas (a.k.a. Saint Nicholas)! Everyone that participated got to exchange gifts and poems anonymously. There were Sinterklaas snacks and music. It was nice that we had to think of a present and write a poem for someone of the DSS group. And I think everyone had a good time and enjoyed this evening as well.
(Shout out to Anisha from team Future Farmers for organizing the fun event!)
Review and wrap up 🌯
Up next was our Sprint 4 review. And this review was a very important one because a representative from the Dutch Parole Board was joining. And she was not involved with the project before so we had to explain to her everything that happened up until now. We prepared a presentation explaining all the findings from the previous sprints and explained what we will be working on the upcoming sprint. She was very enthusiastic about our project which means we made a good impression, which is good news for us!
We wrapped this Sprint up with a retrospective at Bar Bukowski where we discussed our goals for the next Sprint. We all want to show something cool at the Showcase so we’ll continue working hard on making our product work during Sprint 5! And that’s pretty much it for now folks!
Stay tuned for updates!
X-FOURS out! 👋
If you want to follow our process through this project, follow our Tumblr page. If you have expertise in a field relating to behaviour modification, wearable tech, or anything you feel is related to our topic and want to help with this project, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
The Digital Society School is a growing community of learners, creators and designers who create meaningful impact on society and its global digital transformation. Check us out at digitalsocietyschool.org.
