...
- Redundancy of resident systems that
2. User Classes
- House Managers Managers
- Interviewee HM #1:
- Desk Workers
- House Masters
3. Goals
Interview Notes:
TM (Grad House Manager)
- "She says they use Excel spreadsheets for keeping track of tasks, but I don't know the details."
- "She also said she prioritizes tasks in her head,"
Deskworker
---
“No one really knows how it works and it's tough to learn. When new people moved
into the dorm and we needed to add people to the software, no one knew how. And no one
could figure out how.”
! does this problem extend to all dorms?
! experts know how to do the common tasks
! how often do people need to learn how the software works (even the common tasks) -- deskworkers aren’t hired often
! IS&T handling this?
*current desk-managing software is hard to learn. Can we make it more learnable (especially for new deskworkers/housing managers?)
“No undo functionality. Errors have to be manually inverted”
! does this problem extend to all dorms?
! experts know how to do the common tasks
! how often do people need to learn how the software works (even the common tasks) -- deskworkers aren’t hired often
! IS&T handling this?
*current desk-managing software is unsafe. Can we make it more learnable (especially for new deskworkers/housing managers?)
Jeff
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Bridgette Kelly - Undergraduate Housing
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“...I keep track of via a regular to-do list, written out and crossed off every day. Not high-tech, but gets the job done.”
“I’d say the biggest frustration is just the fact that MIT is so segmented as an institution, and for every thing that has to get done, there are multiple steps involved and multiple people involved.”
Michelle
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“Apparently it is a pain to give card access to students at the beginning of the school year so he has to enter every individual into the billing, access and housing systems.“
“Facilities and housing don't really communicate so if power goes out in the rest of campus or steam is having issues, the house manager doesn't necessarily find out till later or after hte work order is filled out.”
“Communication between different dorms is different so he has to gear his emails to different audiences (e.g. Mccormick vs. Bexley). This doesn't seem like something that we can easily solve.”
“The way that fixit works is that once someone files an order, an email gets sent to him and the mechanic. The mechanic has to then deal with each one of the orders and then close it himself.”
“As House Manager, he is in charge of having to deal with students (e.g. desk workers), mechanics, plumbers/electricians, upper management (who apparently is new). He has to think about budgeting, when something is broken or needs to be maintained, making sure that people are happy at their jobs, etc. It seems like a lot and he says that it takes time to build these relationships.... he said his boss (Dan) is new and is trying to figure out the system but don't know how to do it.”