Stage 1: Empathize

Personal Vision

I'm interested in cybersecurity and computer science. I value success, and I want to solve everyday problems that impact students the most.

Project Topic Selection

Your chosen topic: Students with busy schedules often have to wait in line just to order food for most of their lunch period, taking time away for studying, homework, or other tasks.

The “Why”: As a student myself, I want to address this issue because it impacts me and I believe that students could be more successful if they did not lose time standing in line to order lunch.

Initial target audience: This problem affects middle and high school students.

Initial Assumptions

The “Who”: My target audience is middle and high school students. An example where the lunch line could be a problem for them is: a student is tired and starving, they have to go make up a test in 20 minutes, but they end up standing in line for 15 minutes, causing them to lose time for studying and negatively impacting their performance on the test.

The “Why”: The deeper motivation driving students to get lunch is the need for energy to continue a tiring school day.

The Status Quo: This problem is currently being solved by having to stand in a long line while waiting to get food, preventing them from doing most other tasks while standing in line.

The Emotion: The feeling most students have while standing in line is inconvenience.

User Interviews

Interview with Quintevis

Q: Do you recall the lunch line waits in your school, if you had any?
A: Yeah.
Q: Just for context, how long was your lunch period?
A: Lunch period was about 30 minutes.
Q: On an average day, how long would you stand in line, waiting for lunch, if you did that?
A: For me, there were two lines, however I would always go to this one line that was right near the right side of the cafeteria. It would take like 5-10 minutes.
Q: Did you know any other people in school who had to deal with long waits?
A: Yup, I was in the line right next to them.
Q: How did the long waits impact whatever you were planning to do during that lunch period?
A: Basically I would be tempted to be impatient and walk around and go to my table full of other friends and then go back, but I couldn't, so I had to sit there and wait, just enjoying. Some people would cut the line and then people would call them out and then they would have to go back, and it was so great.
Q: How would standing in line for a long time impact the rest of your day, if it ever did?
A: If it ever did, it would be like, for the rest of the day: "God man, I wasn't able to do literally anything or talk to my friends as much as I wanted to." I think there were times I was like, "There's already 10 minutes left?! Why?"
Q: What was your predominant feeling while standing in line?
A: Bored, tired, hungry, impatient.
Q: And then the last question is: what kind of workaround or temporary fixes did you make to deal with the long wait?
A: Uhh, basically I remember just finding one of my friends in line, and asking them, "Hey, could I be right here?" and they'd say, "Sure." Or sometimes, some random person would be like, "Dude, you can go ahead of me", and I was like "Oh, hey thank you!"

Interview with Giah

Q: Do you recall the lunch line waits in your school, if you had any?
A: Yes
Q: And then, just for context, how long was your lunch period?
A: I want to say 30 minutes.
Q: Okay, and on an average day, how long would you stand in line, waiting for lunch, if you did that?
A: At least 10-15 minutes.
Q: Did you know any other people in school who had to deal with long waits?
A: Yes.
Q: How many?
A: Everyone.
Q: And then, how did the long waits impact whatever you were planning to do during that lunch period?
A: It gave the shortest time to sit down and eat and go to the bathroom.
Q: Okay, and then, how would standing in line for a long time impact the rest of your day if it ever did?
A: Me personally, I would like go to the bathroom after finishing eating so I would be missing class to go to the bathroom.
Q: And then, what was your predominant feeling while standing in line?
A: Anxiety, frustration.
Q: Okay, and then last question: what kind of workaround or temporary fixes did you make to deal with the long wait?
A: On occasion, if you got out of the classroom fast enough, you'll be like the first, second person to get into the line.