Week 8

1. List ten non-obvious assumptions about your target customers (or organizations) that you need to validate

  • Customers will value products made from recycled material as equal or greater value as products made from non-recycled material
  • Customers will be buying the products locally
  • Organizations will want to partner with us to promote recycling
  • Customers will value these locally made products to support local business
  • **I had to stop here because I’m just not sure what are other assumptions we need to validate for this project. I hope that a little further on in the project we will be able to fill this out more but for right now, most of my efforts have been geared more towards how the machines work, what plastics are usable, and how to run a workshop.

2. List ten hypotheses about your project that you need to test during fieldwork.

  • The machines will work
  • We will have ample power to use the machines
  • We will be able to easily collect plastic waste to recycle
  • We will be able to make marketable products
  • We will have enough space to create products
  • There will be people willing to buy recycled/upcycled plastic goods either in an artistinal or industrial marketplace
  • The women we will be working with will be able to learn how to use the machines
  • The women working there will be able to harness their creativity and create new products
  • We will be able to make partnerships with professionals in the Philippines
  • We will be able get a good read on what products will be viable in a Filipino market

3. What do you think you bring to your team? How has your perception of your own strengths and weaknesses changed over the course of the class? Please be specific.

I think that one of the things that I bring to this group is commitment. When I first got involved with this project through my sustainable development class I didn’t know what I was getting into. However, since then, I’ve committed to an extra hour of meetings per week as well as the field work in the Philippines in July this summer. I am really passionate about the environment as well as womens’ rights so this project is right in my wheelhouse of what I want to focus on.

Before working on this project I always thought of myself as extremely motivated and proactive. I got almost straight As in high school and am a high achiever in classes and athletics. However, since starting a project that doesn’t have as many hard deadlines like traditional classes, I am finding myself start to have a hard time keeping up a good pace. Once the structure went away, I had a hard time adjusting to the new setup. I noticed this a few weeks ago, and to combat this I am taking some steps to combat this. Instead of waiting a week to ask Khanjan a question, I am trying to ask my questions immediately after coming up with them. I am also trying to be better about asking what to do next if I don’t know the next step.

 

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