Design Challenge Brief

Go to school, get your degree, get a job. Does this traditional path from education to
employment make sense today for the hundreds of millions of learners around the world?
Let's find out using the design thinking process.

Your challenge is to redesign the school-to-work transition.

We are giving you this widely framed challenge because the design thinking approach starts
with exploring the problem space. You will be focusing on the perspective of one person of
your choosing who has an important stake in the school-to-work path: he/she might be a
student who will soon graduate or has recently graduated and is looking for work. Or an
employer seeking to hire someone. Or an educator. There are many possible stakeholders and
perspectives. And, since there are thousands of people in the course working on the same
challenge, it will be exciting to see what common themes emerge, and the diversity of
situations around the world.

Our philosophy is to learn by doing, and our goal in this course is for you to experience the
design thinking process first-hand through your work on this challenge. To help you do this,
we will spend the next three weeks breaking down different aspects of the challenge, such as
identifying a problem, generating ideas and testing them.

Here is the roadmap for the challenge:

This week - Empathize and Define: Youll learn to examine the challenge through different
lenses and stakeholders. Talking to these stakeholders and learning about their perspectives
will help you discover unique problems you will be able to tackle.

Next week - Ideate: Now that youve identified an interesting problem that reflects the need
of one of these stakeholders, well show you how to generate a wide range of solutions.

Week after that - Prototype and Test: Well walk you through creating fast, simple prototypes
that make your solutions tangible in order to test how they work.

With thousands of engaged members, this class is the largest design thinking team in the
world. Our diverse backgrounds and experiences will allow us to approach this big challenge
from many angles, while we learn new strategies. We cant wait to hear about your
experience tackling the challenge. Lets dive right in!

Empathize and Define

This weeks assignment is about developing empathy for someone who has a stake in the
school-to-work transition, and defining a problem or need (*) he/she has related to the
challenge.
The work for this weeks assignment is divided in four sequential steps:

1. Prepare for the empathy work.

2. Go out and talk to people.
3. Process the data gathered via interviews using an Empathy Map.

4. Craft a problem statement.

(*) Note that we often use the terms PROBLEM or NEED interchangeably. With both, we are
referring to some aspect of the experience of a person that can be improved (this
problem/need may not always be perceived or articulated by that person, that is, it may be
implicit).

Step 1. Prepare for the empathy work.

Start by determinining who you might interview (a student, a graduate, an employer, etc.) and
think of questions or areas of conversation for the interview. It is strongly suggested that you
interview more than one person (2-3), to then select one interview to move forward.

If you need inspiration to think about who to interview and what questions to ask, go to the
EMPATHY FORUM, and look for the CHALLENGE MINDMAP thread.

Step 2. Go out and talk to people.

If this is the first time you will be interviewing someone, don't worry! This is NOT the typical
formal interview that often comes to mind. Think of it more as a conversation. Your goal is
to find out as much as you can about the other person's experience related to the school-towork transition. Explore what his/her experiences have been in the past, how he/she felt
during key events (for instance, job interview, first day of work, etc.), what aspects were
enjoyable and which ones could be improved. Explore the practical aspects of the experience,
but dont stop there, and also inquire about the emotional aspects of it.

A suggested time for each interview is 10-30 min.

Who should you interview? The easiest is to ask an acquaintance, friend or relative who has
(or had) some stake in the challenge. You can also go out in your neighborhood or to a
university or school, and find people who are willing to have a conversation with you about

this (explain that you are working on a class project, and you will be surprised how many
people will be happy to talk to you).

For more resources on how to conduct good interviews, visit the Toolkit: Empathize and
Define page.

Step 3. Process the data gathered in the interview using an Empathy Map.

If you did more than one interview, select ONE of those interviews at this point to move
forward.

In order to process the data you gathered in that interview you will create an Empathy Map
for that person. The guidelines in the Toolkit: Empathize and Define page will help
you create a good empathy map.

Step 4. Craft a problem statement.

Your job in this step is to narrow down the initial challenge to a more actionable problem
based on the data gathered in the interview. Your Problem Statement will have the following
components: a STAKEHOLDER (PERSON), a PROBLEM/NEED and an INSIGHT.

Toolkit: Empathize and Define

I. Guidelines for Interviewing
These guidelines will help you set the tone for the interview and get the most out of it.
1. You may bring a few prepared questions, but the most important thing is to maintain a
connection with the interviewee and show that you are listening to what they are saying (ie,

look at them, not just at your notes). Also, you should always follow up on interesting
answers, instead of mechanically moving through a list of questions.
2. Take notes or record the interview. Capture on paper the persons own words whenever
possible, instead of rephrasing during the interview. If you record the audio of the interview
(with permission), you will need to extract quotes from the recording later.

3. Start the interview by introducing yourself and the project you are working on, and
start with lighter, more general questions to establish a connection and put the interviewee
at ease.

4. Listening is as important as talking (your interviewee should talk about 75% of the
time). Also, showing that you are really interested in what the other person has to say goes a
long way. Think of the interview as a conversation.

5. Ask open-ended, non-leading questions: What do you think about that school? is a
better question than Dont you think that school is great? The former doesnt imply there is
a right answer.

6. Be curious and ask why? often, even when you think you know the answer. Many
answers will surprise you. Always follow up on answers that sound interesting, or whenever
the interviewee says I think... A good way of doing this, in addition to asking Why? is to
say Tell me more about that.

7. Ask for stories about concrete events. Instead of asking people how do they "usually" do
things or how do they "usually" feel, ask them about the last time they did something, or the
most memorable moment (in fact, do NOT use usually at all).

8. Dont be afraid of silence. Resist the need to ask another question when there is a pause.
The interviewee might reflect on what he/she has just said and say something deeper.

*Bonus points* If you have access to observing someone during an event that is relevant to
the challenge (for instance, writing a resume, looking for jobs on the internet, etc.) and can
talk to them while observing them in action, that would be extremely valuable to get insights
about the challenge from the point of view of that person.

More resources:

Demo interviews on the EMPATHY forum

The value of different types of questions on the EMPATHY forum

Interviewing for Introverts: http://ethnographymatters.net/2012/03/22/interviewingfor-introverts/

II. Guidelines for the Empathy Map

Using the Empathy Map framework you will process what happened in the interview, make
inferences about the thoughts and feelings of the person based on what they said, and connect
the dots to identify a need or problem he/she has related to the challenge.

We suggest that you spend about 20 to 30 min creating the empathy map (longer if you need
to transcribe an audio recording of the interview).

Go through the sections of the empathy map in this order:

SAY section. Write down here all the quotes from the interview that catch your attention as
you review your notes. Be as literal as possible (as opposed to rephrasing what they said in
your own words). The number of quotes you have here will depend on how rich the interview
was, but think about 10-20.

DO section (optional). If you observed the person in action, describe here behaviors you
saw. You can also combine interview and observation, by asking the person to walk you
through what they are doing. **Note that you may not have anything in this section if you did
not have the chance to do observations**

THINK and FEEL sections. Here is where you will make inferences (educated guesses)
about the meaning of what the person said. You need to write down here what you infer the
person thinks and feels (from their point of view) based on what they said and did.
What if you are wrong? You may very well be, but if you dont take a leap and make
inferences, you wont get at deep unexpected needs. At later stages in the process you will get
more data that will allow you to refine your understanding and definition of the problem.

III. Guidelines for the Problem Statement

With the problem statement, you encapsulate concrete problems related to the challenge for
the person you interviewed. In the next stage (IDEATE - next week), you will creatively
solve them.
Since the person you are designing for might not articulate any needs/problems related to the
challenge (these would be implicit needs), its your job to make educated guesses about those
needs, based on the stories and data you gathered in the interview.

Write Problem Statements in this form:

STAKEHOLDER needs a way to ________(PROBLEM/NEED)____ Because

____(INSIGHT)_____

STAKEHOLDER: Here you should describe the person you are designing for (one you
interviewed). Use at least 5 adjectives to describe that person. Make sure you add enough
information to paint a picture of the person to someone who has not met him/her (A
detailed-oriented, reliable, degree-holding accountant, who is curious and able to work in
teams, as well as collaborative and creative).

PROBLEM/NEED: Use VERBS instead of NOUNS to define the problem/need. Nouns

are often already solutions: as an example, contrast Joe needs a better pencil with Joe
needs a better way to write or Joe needs a better way to capture data. In the first case the
solution is already implied in the problem statement, so there is only opportunity for
incremental innovation. In the latter frames, there is an opportunity to come up with
innovative solutions that may go beyond an improved pencil.

INSIGHT: Here you provide a justification for the need you stated. The insight often comes
from connecting the dots between different elements on the empathy map.

In order to get a good Problem Statement, craft more than one and then select one that is
not too narrow (eg, Joe needs to get a job as accountant) nor too broad (Joe needs a way to
improve his career) to continue the process.

Here is a template that contains and Empathy Map and Problem Statement:
1. PDF (Slideshare): http://www.slideshare.net/EpicenterUSA/dtal-template-empathy-mapand-problem-statement
2. Prezi: http://prezi.com/emjizfk53ex-/?
utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
http://prezi.com/user/leticia/

Results
Current Education System in India. Does this Work ?
inShare
By Pravash Kumar Jena

Tags: education learn system India history modern world Real life usage
Outdated

Current Education System in India was framed a century back and was mostly framed by the
British keeping an eye on the world of that time. There have been changes to the framework
in some or other way but it does not sound to be complete from any aspects. More focus was
on external world and very less was on internal own history of India. People in India today
aware more of the international figures and have forgotten their own ancient figures and
history. The foundation of Indian history and pride is based on the achievement of Indians in
the past as India was considered as the epicenter of learning and there were scholars from all
over the world visiting India in search of knowledge and spirituality. The great phyloshopher
of worlds have described this in various writings they have contributed to the world history.
Is modern education has taken such a shape, where we have forgotten our own glorious past ?
Yes. Why ?
Education is no more considered as a Knowledge Seeking instrument or process. It is now
considered as a means to get lively hood by developing certain skill which shall work for
domestic job as well as international job. When food, clothes and shelter (3 basic needs) are
hard to find here, how one can focus on Knowledge seeking any more.
To understand, how education can be made work so that, it can serve the very purpose of
1) Knowledge Seeking
2) Earning lively hood
is the subject, on which I wanted to focus. I interviewed 3 people (4th standard student, High
School Class Teacher, Head of Dept of an Engineering college) to understand their take on
this subject and the problem they say as the problem in the current system.

Above is the Empathy Map prepared for this purpose.

http://prezi.com/qjreckld4hhk/copy-of-dtal-empathy-map-template/?
utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
http://prezi.com/cdle5xc08h4a/empathy-map-and-problem-statement/?
utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Seamless School-to-Work Transition

It was a great experience to know firsthand the perspective of stake
holders involved in School-to-work transition. The three key stake
holders are the school which grooms the students, the corporate who
create the work place and the students who are at the common center
stage.
The interview process culminated into a conversation. A unit head of
an IT company, a senior director of a B-School and a company executive
in Telecom sector were interviewed.

The best part was the commonality in the view points of the corporate
executives and the school director. What emerged is that there needs to
be innovative methods to foster a seamless transition from school-towork. This would promote students aptness to the work requirements
and bring up happiness.
Thanks for a wonderful tool kit!!!

Becoming doctor

empathy map and problem statement

inShare
By ana beatriz santoro

Empathy Map and Problem Statement

inShare
By Johanna Schubert

Say
There is a difference between university and the society
one way until high school graduation
the society is focused on application, a university student learns theory
students have a wide knowledge, not specific enough
at university you learn how to study, not how to do things

my major is only offered by universities, not by vocational schools

the big companies are focused on the level of the degree
all students want to go to big companies because the salary is high
learn application from a mentor in an internship which is the first phase of your new
job
knowledge from my major is a little helpful, but not very
you don't know what you want after high school, life is a gamble

Think
university doesn't prepare me well for my professional carreer
everyone is too focused on an academic carreer, specialization doesn't work very well
a lot of what i have learned in university might be useless
i would like to have the chance to aquire more specific, job related knowledge
a strong focus on grades isn't helpful in preparing students for a professional carreer
perhaps, some kind of vocational school might do a better job in teaching my major
than a university
the informations companies have on the quality of their applicants are very limited
the share of jobs offering good conditions is not too big
a prestigious degree is the requirement of being provided job related knowledge in the
responsibility of a company
getting the degree is more important for finding a job than the knowledge i have
aquired
there is a mismatch between my major and my current goals for my professional
carreer

Feel
university education partly is a waste of time

the pressure of having good grades is too high considering that they have little practical
relevance in the end
being hardly prepared for a job makes me feel nervous
studying at a prestigious university gives me confidence
my hard working of the past will pay off
I should have chosen a different major entering the Bachelor level

Problem Statement
A cheerful natured, communicative, down-to-earth, sharp-observing, target-oriented, selfreliant master of engineering student who considers social questions a lot needs a way to
better integrate job preparation into university education because he would like to combine
the benefits of job training offered by vocational schools with the high university degree.
A Helping Hand For Employability
inShare
By Sudarshan R

SAY

DO

THINK

FEEL

http://prezi.com/j2p3c9unmrff/jim-bartolotta-graduate-transition-empathy-map/?
utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

The Dance Solution

inShare
By Jitendra Pandey

Descriptor of the stakeholder

A 18 something high school graduate who is about to start her own Dance studio. She works
with a dance company in the evening and attends school in the morning. She is academically
a brilliant student and stands apart from rest of her peers. She is 5' 7" and atheletic.
Empathy Map:
Say

She is passionate about everything she does in life say it is dance or

academics.

She enjoys reading but her busy schedule hardly gives her time to read.

She trains students in the age group of 10-13.

She finds it difficult for teach them because according to her it is difficult
for her to understand the nuances of teaching.

She suggested that she feels kind of pressuresied all the time due to lack
of time and finds it difficult to do other things.

She submits her assignments on time inspite of all the work.

She compared her situation like sailing in two boats.

She mentioned again that it is not the dance that tires her, though it is
physically straining, it is all the organizing that tires her.

She mentioned that she gets the process of dance but she is many a times
unable to teach or pass it on to others.

She figured her organizational difficultly and have made a space for her at
the dance class to store her everyday things.

She would want to take dance up as a career, but she still wants to explore
this further, according to her she is still at the tip of the ocean.

She was very articulate and freely used her hands and the space to
express herself.

Her facial expressions showed fatigue and exhaustion.

She had a cramp in her leg while teaching a lift to a student.

Do

Think & Feel

She feels lost because of her inability to connect to the students.

She is somehow able to manage time but would love to understand her
students.

She feels that she need to have a better connect with herself to convey
the process of dance to her students.

She was able to organize her thoughts and understood that her problem
was not time management but mastering the technique of dance and the
communication patterns within her and with the outside world.

Problem Statement:
Lucy needs a way to understand the technique of teaching because she wants to convey the
message of her choreography with effectiveness
http://prezi.com/6gpifnsq2ncf/empathy-map/?
utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

TRAIN INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

inShare
By Maria Teresa Campos

Tags: skills train Laboral INSECURE

EMPATHY MAP

SAY

His opinions about schools and university are:

schools dont train them globally

university gives them to specific knowledge

the most important in a person is the attitude

The person is:Positive, assertive, has personality

The interviewed asks many questions about his future job

He likes people who he needs the work

University and schools should train them in interpersonal abilities,

train in administration aspects

Schools should have courses that train them in work interpersonal

relationship

Also in aspects how to overcome frightens

hands one over the other

Right hand on mouth

Eyes up, no corporal movement

Hands playing with wedding ring

left Hand on forehead

smiling

slight stretching

moving only right hand as he talks

moving both hands as he talks

stands up

goes away

Do

THINKS

It is difficult to begin working

You are not prepare

What we learn at school and university is not of much use at work

A recent graduate is not of much use

It is better a person with experience

It is important how a person handles his relationship

It is important a person who feels comfortable and is proactive

We need to be prepare how to handle relationship at work, with pairs and

superiors.

We need experience before beginning to work,

FEELS

Uncomfortable

Unsecure

Being evaluated

Anxious

Trying to do a good performance

Begins to relax

Comfortable

Expands himself

Feels secure

Did a good job

He goes satisfied
STATEMENT PROBLEM
A rational self controlled 62 year entrepreneur, educated , gentle, who is starting a new
business needs a way to hired a person who has experience ,good interpersonal relation sand
knowledge because it is difficult for him to relate to people

Empathy Map and Problem Statement

inShare
By Alessandro Filizzola

Tags: Empathy Map prolem statement

http://prezi.com/kdtdentebveu/present/?auth_key=frzsygt&follow=jiglhw-vhqvd
BASIC GUIDE QUESTIONS
How do you see the educational quality on the universities today?
How the students are been prepared for a job reality after graduated?
What could be done to improve the employ chances for the new comings?
There is some case or personal experience that you would like to share?
SAY
There are good and bad institutions and students as well.
The best resumes are highlights.
Traineeship phase during the course is very important.
To be just certificated is not enough.
Good relationships are helpful.
Employers are more interested in who has job experience.
Good professors demand efforts from his students.
We use to learn theory on university. The practice come working.
If I quit my job right now would be difficult to find another job in a different area.
I started working on banking services thought a school internship and by a friends indication.
The employers are not interested in build skills and improve capabilities on their employees.

When you start a traineeship on a firm you have more chances to develop a career on it.
DO
Sorry, no direct observations here. L
It was a face to face interview, but not following a classroom or a job seeking situation.
THINK
The student has the obligation to do great efforts to make things happen.
Good methodologies are related to exercises, demands, corrections, explanations and a lot off
efforts.
Sometimes getting out of the classroom routine and outdoor activities are helpful practices
for the educational process.
The University offer job opportunities to his students.
Doing internships is more important than getting a certificate.
To get a degree is an obligation that not necessarily means get a job.
FEEL
Employers want from the new comings to be senior professionals.
The job experience during the professional internship phase is what matters the most.
The class practices and language are not updated to the employers and students reality.
There are not enough job placements to everyone. Just the best ones or the ones with good
connections have good opportunities.
STAKEHOLDER
Young pretty girl between 20-26 years old
Coursing administration but just a few chars because she believes the course is not that
important to her job
Recent formed in radiology but does not work on it because the employers demands practical
technicians, not bachelors.

She sows to be a bit shay, very practical in her point of views and seems to be a little
alienated and vague in her sentences.
NEED
Needs a better way to improve her educational experience and by doing this be able to
highlight her skills to employers and develop her career in a better and pleasant way.
INSIGHT
She feels like not well prepared and sufficient competitive to apply to a different and better
jobs than the one she has been working actually.
She doesnt think too much about educational environment and methodology.
She looks like a little bit conformed even though not satisfied with her situation.
Shes not optimist about her chances to find a better placement.

SCHOOL-TO-WORK TRANSITION EMPATHIZE AND DEFINE

inShare
By Michele Messina

School-to-Work Transition Empathize and Define

Michele Messina. Ago. 5, 2013
Empathy Map
Stakeholder

Ben is a very active 28 years-old man, undergraduate degree holder in

electric engineering at SFSU gained in in 2011, with several interests and
very happy with his job at a top-level car manufacturing company.

Say

I started looking for a job quite late compared to other friends, one month
after my graduation.

The job seeking process lasted almost 4 months.

Phase 1 Focus on top companies

I was determined in getting a very exciting job.

I first made a list of the top companies in which I was interested.

I contacted all these companies, those that had vacancies and those that
did not.

Only few companies responded and I was not granted any interview.

One of the companies that I contacted is the company with which I am

working now, my dream company. They did not reply to my letter.

Phase 2 Lower expectations

I lowered my expectations and started applying to jobs based on the

competencies that companies were looking for and not necessary my
interest.

I learnt that there are many companies out there that are not well known
but do a very interesting job. It was nice finding them.

I had 4 interviews and was offered 2 jobs. I did not accept the offers
since--after the interview--I realized that I was not interested in the job.

I realized that I was not interested in typical jobs offered to electric

engineers. I wanted to work in manufacturing.

I learnt a lot from the interviews.

Phase 3 Determination in working with the dream company

I requested a friend who was working with my dream company to help me

in connecting with HR.

My friend put me in contact with HR in my dream company, I applied for a

job, had an interview and received no feedback.

I decided to apply to a post as technician, for non-graduate. During the

interview, one of the interviewers told me that I was overqualified and
informed me on another vacancy for engineers. I applied to the new
vacancy and eventually got the job.

It was not the job that I wanted but was a first step in the company. After 6
months I finally managed to join manufactory team.

General

I started the job search with an arrogant attitude. I was sure to get a job
with one of my top companies.

After phase 1 went bad, I had to lower my expectations.

I was concerned. I had to earn a salary. It was hard facing the reality.

My partner was putting pressure on me to find a job and lower

expectations due to the crises.

I contacted a total of 27 companies.

I used typical job posting websites: Monster, Direct Site, Craigslist

HR officers of few companies were very responsive and helpful. Some

even gave me tips on how to continue my search. Nevertheless the most
of them were totally unresponsive.

My dream companys HR was very slow in responding to me in all

occasions, even when I got the job. It was very frustrating.

I finally met the HR officer of my company and learnt that he is very busy.

I consider myself very lucky. I told that to myself every day during months.

I did not use job fairs because in my college electric engineering is very
small and the fairs did not attract any company that I was interested in.

During my studies I always worked and made several internships.

In school I focused on content, not on tests. My grades where low

especially during the first two years. My final GPA was low.

Some companies, like mine, do not ask for GPA if a person has previous
work experience. Other do and they do not accept people with low GPA.
One in particular rejected me despite a very good interview because of my
low GPA.

In my college they did not prepare us for job seeking. They did not explain
how to write a CV and cover letter, how to prepare for interviews, etc.

I found out about specialized recruiting companied and headhunters

during the process.

Think

I lost self confidence due to unresponsive HR. The lack of responses was
not related to any lack of competency.

People less persistent than me would have lost the opportunity to work
with their dream company due to ineffective HR processes.

College is not doing enough to prepare students for job seeking. It would
be very useful being introduced to interesting companies, taught how to
write CVs and cover letters, prepared for interviews and explained HR
processes.

Companies HR should be more responsive and committed to candidates.

GPA should not be considered as a key indicator during recruitment

processes.

Having information on less known companies would be very helpful.

Any school within a college should have access to interesting job fares.

Feel

He was frustrated with HR processes.

He lost self-confidence during the process.

He felt particularly bad when his dream company did not respond to him.

He really wanted an exciting job and was not ready to compromise.

He felt ready to sacrifice salary and position in order to get a job with my
dream company.

Despite finding interesting companies, he felt that he wanted to work with

his top one.

He clarified his wishes during the process.

Problem Statement

Ben needed a way to efficiently connect and interact with potential employers, conducive to
an exciting job with a dream firm. On one hand he was not well prepared to face the job
seeking process. On the other hand HR processes of the companies that he contacted neglect
job seekers needs, which almost prevented him from achieving his dream job.

Connecting college to work

inShare
By Ruqayya Rizwan

Tags: better job experience utilizing skills and information

Stake holder: Zainab Khokher, associate professor at Indus Valley School of Art and
Architecture, teaches part time and works at an architectural firm as a Project Manager
Say:
Education hands out information or learningafter graduation it is upto individual students
as to how they use it it is their own quest
Many a times students complain that the class room exercises are not relevant. Challenge
them with real-life, real-time tasks and they are lost!
On the other hand employers feel that the severity of real projects is necessary for students
to apply their knowledge. They learn faster on the field by making mistakes. Also rewards
and consequences are far more real like being taken off a project or getting no raise, or worse
still, getting fired!
For starters, to improve and bring in qualitative learning, ratio of student and teacher in a
class makes a big difference, not run educational institute like an industry
Secondly certain amount of field work/ internship makes a good transition, where one has to
interact with teams and other people involved in the project. You have to respect others, your
seniors ideas and methodology.
Choosing a mentor or taking someone under your wings, so to speak, is helpful in making
the transition. It is also good to know that others made the same mistakes, being able to relate
to others is also important
She thinks currently employer has to bear with a training period for fresh graduates that often
results in disillusionment. She thinks due to lack of technical know-how fresh grads begin to
confine themselves and creativity is compromised at various levels.
Do:
There were two internees at her office who were drafting drawings of bathroom tile layout.
Another junior architect was also doing the same while keeping in mind the plumbing, tile
size, slope etc.
Ms. Khokher had to remind the internees to refer to pictures and notes from the actual
construction site, and go over plans with plumbing, electrical and civil contractors for a better
understanding of how tiles of certain size were laid out best.

Next she was making them do a mockup of floor plan with card board sheets cut out in the
exact size and shape of tiles. This would give them a near accurate idea of how much wastage
each layout would give them.
Feel:
Ms. Khokher feels very strongly about the kind of education, skill and learning that is
dissipated in college and through her. She wears two hats at same time (to her advantage),
one of being the educator and the other of being a supervisor to those she has taught in
college. She feels that currently individual intelligence plays an important part in a students
ability to grasp more; intelligent students are more focused and waste less energy in
distracting activities. They are better planers and have sharp time-management skills. She
encourages students to interact with other team members on the project and benefit from their
expertise and also address their concerns. She also feels that the way students receive
information relates to how much they retain. She feels that individual attention given to
students can improve their assimilation of knowledge, where as mentoring and internships
can improve their performance on the job.
She is looking at education as a wholesome learning experience, not restricted or confined to
lectures in a classroom. She is also broadening the class environment to the field and to
workplace where peers and seniors can further enhance a persons knowledge. For more
specific development she suggests mentorship.
Her main concern is to enable students to not only acquire knowledge, apply it, adjust well
but also to continue with creative, out of the box solutions at work and in live projects.
Think:
She thinks mentorship along with exposure to live projects is a starting point for students to
have a better on job experience. She also thinks with live projects students get a sense of time
and people management.
Having a broader and more embracing vision for her students she suggests many practical
ideas, like making a mock-up of bathroom layouts. She is also enlisting help of experienced
and specialists as a vital source of information.
She is suggesting a redefinition of how knowledge is taught in college, separating students
retention powers from content.
Description of the stakeholder:
Zainab Khokher is in her 40s. She has been teaching for last 10 years. She is compassionate
about her students and cares deeply about their career choices. She is also patient and
understands the demands of changing lifestyles and an evolving youth. Zainab works as a
project manager and is very meticulous about meeting deadlines and schedules. She is a good

communicator and team leader. She loves to read about architecture and is up-to-date on
latest trends in design and technology related to her field. She takes her time absorbing the
questions before answering. Her words are spoken clearly. She welcomes new ideas and often
smiles at emerging possibilities.
Empathize & Define: Zainab needs to explore new learning paths for students to gain
experience while in college because this will ease the transition into their first job without
hampering creative process.

http://prezi.com/ltlzua3fnjkm/empathy-map-rauls-school-to-work-transition/?
utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

http://www.slideshare.net/AndroGedon/assignment-03-empathizeanddefine

Dear Madam or Sir,

Please accept my submission for the Design Thinking Phase "Frame the Problem: Empathize
and Define"
Presentation with collected information is available via the link
https://www.slideshare.net/AndroGedon/assignment-03-empathizeanddefine
In case presentation is not accessible I attach results of the interview and the problem
statement to this submission.
For such activities I use MindJet MindManager very powerful tool allowing structural data
collection during and after the interview and meetings.
It is pity that it is not possible to attach PDF directly to this submission it would be much
easier from the preparation prospective.
Sincerely yours,
Andrey Elagin
----------------------=== Assignment 03 "Empathize and Define" ===
4 SAY
4.1 "I've moved to Fachschule as it was boring in school"
4.2 "I want to go to University"
4.2.1 STAKEHOLDER does not say it directly, but it comes out of the conversation relatively
quickly
4.3 "I do not know what can be interesting for me in the future"
4.4 "There is a lot of information about different professions, but it is too broad, too much to
get a grasp out of it"

4.5 "I do not want to go back to School because the only ones who have good memory can
have a good grades"
4.5.1 "As I do not see this system fair I do not want to play according to these rules"
4.5.2 "I am ready to sacrifice entire live / future because of these lack of fairness"
- FEEL: it looks like it is not really the case, it is rather a mask to avoid a real problem
statement
4.6 "I have plenty of options"
4.6.1 go to army
- easy option
- provides variety of possibilities from 8 up to 23 months of services before long contract is
signed
- it has series of options where
- lack of real understanding how does it work
4.6.2 go to Zivildienst
4.6.3 start working right away
4.6.4 get into Practicum
- requires 1 year of service
- no one company wants to give 1 year of service / 1 year contract
- possibility to take 2 practicum 6 months each requires an approval/clarification at
Fachschule
4.6.5 return to Gymnasium
- requires 1 year of hard work
- the knowledge required to continue partly has been lost
- the way how the Abitur score is calculated it is still possible to get up to 1,5 for majority of
key disciplines
4.7 "I could not find practicum for 1 year"
3 DO
3.1 I am thinking about different options
3.2 I am looking in the Internet here and there
3.3 ...
2 THINK
2.1 STAKEHOLDER has bad feelings about school as it was not really successful in the past
2.2 STAKEHOLDER has made not educated chose by stepping out of Gymnasium to
Fachschule
2.3 STAKEHOLDER has lack of confidence in continuing education even having a desire to
do so
2.4 There is already a year since STAKEHOLDER has stepped out of Fachschule, during this
year STAKEHOLDER has not been able to find practicum to finalize Fachschule education
2.5 Possible STAKEHOLDER has not really evaluate available options in details
1 FEEL
1.1 High "external" pressure demanding to make another step

1.2 STAKEHOLDER has a feeling to be cornered by external pressure requiring next step
1.3 STAKEHOLDER has lack of confidence in h(er/im)self
1.4 One year without real work has eroded desire and reduced self confidence
1.5 Army is an option imposed from outside and not really intrinsically accepted as an option
----------------------=== Assignment 03 "Problem statement" ===
4 Problem statement
"STAKEHOLDER needs a way to get confidence to come back to Gymnasium because
STAKEHOLDER wants to continue education but lacking confidence that it will work"
3 STAKEHOLDER
3.1 Young person ~19 years old
3.2 Not confident in h(er/im)self
3.3 Wants to continue education in University
3.4 Has a passion to work with renewable energy
2 PROBLEM / NEED
2.1 STAKEHOLDER needs a support to get a confidence in making next steps
2.2 STAKEHOLDER needs a support in making decision about next steps
1 INSIGHT
1.1 STAKEHOLDER has made a mistake not spending enough time in school doing the
home work
1.2 Feeling that no homework is needed at the beginning of education has eroded the
discipline to make a homework
1.3 at some point of time due to no home work STAKEHOLDER has "lost the track" in
school education and was left behind
1.4 lack of success in finding the practicum has decreased self confidence
1.5 STAKEHOLDER feels external pressure to make a next steps
1.6 Most of available options are not desirable for STAKEHOLDER resulting in reluctance to
make a decision
1.7 Available option to go back to Gymnasium is interesting, but fear of failure prevents in
making this step
1.8 There is no real pressure to make next step: "Home, food and other things are available why to bother"

Problem statement:

John, an very empathetic, inteligent, focused, optimistic, thoughtful director, needs a better
way to reach the right person for a job vacancy at his company, because he counts basically
on the good name of the company to get sufficient applicants that fulfill the profile.
Or on the empathy map (if it doesn't work at Slideshare):
SAY

Next opening for a job on Johns training company: he needs a new trainer will help
in new content development, and delivering this and other content in a high quality
level.

An empathic person, that relates to the companys mission and values. An great
communicator, with experience in the area, a person that is always up to date

It is not necessary to explain with detail the job tasks in the recruitment add, to get
applicants

Last time they recruited someone, the person he chose didnt reach the expectations
(for another kind of job); he also didnt get many applicantions. They send the add to
a restricted list of contacts

This time he will post in the Facebooks company page, linkedin and will send by
email marketingto all the contacts they have in data base.

There are people for whom the financial conditions are a big issue in a job

The company has an coherent image: tries to be and do what it teaches.

Gives constructive feedback with points he thinks are good, and points/ideas to do a
better job

Behaves like a catalyst

DO

THINK

It wont be easy to find someone with this profile

A person with the needed profile will want higher financial conditions

It is not important the specific academic background to do a good job

the right attitude and learning habits are key to succeed

If he uses more common ways to make public the job vacancy, he will have too much
applicants and wont be able to choose well

His company has high quality on delivering training

FEEL

He is very dedicated and is not easy to find people like this

A person that identifies with the companies mission and values would like to work
there

People should show iniciative

Empathy map

inShare
By Gabriel Aizcorbe

Interviews:

High School girl

University boy who study and work

Young university teacher

Stake holder:

University boy who studies medicine and work as a nurse

Say:
1. I have friends who doesn't know what to study because they don't know
what they want to do, and that's because education is disconnected from
real life
2. Lot of my fellow students are going to study what their parents told them
to study or the same thing as grandpa, father, etc. because is a family
tradition, and is difficult to decide when you don't have all the resources to
do

3. My father is unhappy with his work and his career because he wanted to
be a math professor insted he thaught to be an accountant would be good
and better paid
4. I love to help people to be good and happy
5. Education must be a tool to reach your target not the target itself, when
you choose your career relative to the education then you are choosing
between difficult and easy and not what you want for your life.
6. If I can only "taste" how my career will be in "real life" when working then I
could decide properly that's why I wanted to work in a hospital, to see
from the inside!
7. I need to have the ability to build my way according to my skills
8. From the school up to the university I've never been tested to discover my
strenghts neither helped to develope them
9. Educations seems to be a check-list to be accomplished completely
disconnected from reality, when you arrive to your job for the first time
you find you know nothing about how to do it
10.Much theory and so less practice disconnected from the concepts makes
you forget everything
11.They teach you recipes and you need to learn how to learn and to think by
yourself.
12.Theory is nice in the classroom but in real life I almost never saw someone
applying the theory you are almost always doing workarounds for some or
another reason
13.When students ends the education cycle they are like in zero state we
can't face real life, lot of what we have learned is obsolete, real life moves
really fast and educations is a bit quiet in the same place
Do:

He studied a two year course of nurse to work in a hospital and see how
the real life work looks like

He talk with medics and ask them "why's" to understand why the practice
is so different to the classroom

He is looking in which field he feels more comfortable, when he reached

the university at first he wanted to be neurosurgeon but now discovered
this would be boring and is more interested in general medicine

With each new topic in class he doesn't stick only to the recommended
books, he also research in internet, participates in forums and also

founded a small group of study where everybody has to read and teach
the others new things.
Think & Feel:

He thinks that education plans needs to be reviewed and adjusted more

often

He also thinks that education need to be more dynamic

He feels a big gap between classroom education and life education

He thinks if education would be more involved in real life process students

would be better prepared for work

He feels it's difficult to decide a career (and a work) because education

paints a perfect picture on which we make decisions and when you reach
real life things doesn't look like in the books

He feels much people are working in something they don't like because
they weren't involved in their jobs from the beginning of their education.

Problem statement:
Stakeholder

A courious,
innovative,
needs a
selfteaching,
way to
restless entrepreneur
young boy

Needs

Insight

reality is much
different than a class
research and put
so
in practice
becau
becomes very difficult
everything he
se
to get adapted to
learns
work and do a good
job