Observations & Interviews

1. Orientation Program Leader

Xu has been working with the Freshman Orientation program for two consecutive years of being an undergraduate at MIT. She genuinely enjoys meeting the freshman when the semester starts and sharing her insights on what it's like to be at MIT. She claims that it's the best part of her semester. Through the program she has engaged in several activities including dance performances, theater roles and various sports activities. The program sets up groups of roughly ten to twelve freshman assigned to one orientation leader. She especially likes nights when her group can go out to dinner across the Bridge or around Harvard Square.

Dinner nights can sometimes be impromptu. The orientation goes on for a week but halfway through the week, the schedule is more flexible and lenient. The week's schedule does not include a single mandatory dinner night. Rather, freshmen are encouraged to get to know others in their group by going out to dinner with them. On such nights when a group plans to go out with Xu, she says, "I never carry cash on me and neither do several of the freshman. I have a check book but I noticed the freshman aren't prone to use one either. For most of them it's their first time eating with a group of people they just met. Dinner can be at times awkward and it is up to the leader to make the freshmen feel comfortable.We try to be organized about how the bill gets paid but the worst case scenario is friends pay for friends and figure out who gets paid back later." She admitted that it could be a messy situation and has no idea how to make things work out much more smoothly.

Lessons learned

• during freshman orientation week, several groups go out for dinners
• these groups are made of newly introduced freshman, not yet friends
• freshmen usually don't carry cash on them, they naively sometimes expect free food all of that week
• friends end up paying for others and the billing situation quickly grows complicated and nested
• they need a simple way of paying each other back and avoiding confusion

User Classes

Students

• Students often enjoy having meals or shopping together with friends.
• Most students prefer paying individually by splitting the bill.
• Some teenagers do not have credit card or checking account so that they have to pay by cash, which makes the paying process even more inefficient.

Working Professionals

• Many working professionals hold group meetings during meal time
• They are usually very busy and they might be happy to use an efficient paying method

Clubs/Organizations

• Organizations often need to purchase public facilities, which should be paid by every member.
• The amount in the bill might be relatively large.

Needs & Goals

People who make the payment

• An easy and secure way for one person to make a payment and be reimbursed by other members of the group
• A way for a user to remind people that owe them

People who need to pay back afterwards

• An easy and secure way for a person to allow someone to make a payment and either deduct the money he owes from his or her account, or to create an IOU virtual receipt
• A way to keep track of payments and debts