Problem Statement

MIT desk workers need to clearly and concisely share information with each other, and they need to access this information efficiently. MIT desk workers are also responsible for ensuring that the desk is covered throughout the day but this task is complicated by their various class schedule and shift preferences.

Interview Narratives

Interview #1 - Jane

Jane is a 20-year-old MIT undergraduate studying Brain & Cognitive Science. She likes Sport Pistol and has a couple small jobs around campus, one of which is working McCormick Desk. She’s been working desk for two years now and has done most of the roles at some point, which makes her a more advanced worker.

Her shift is on Fridays is from 4 to 6 PM, but she is supposed to arrive 10 minutes before the hour, and can leave 10 minutes before the hour when it ends, provided the next worker is there. This policy has sometimes made her late for class, because desk cannot be left unattended--if the next worker does not show up, she must stay at desk past the end of her shift to wait for them, and after 20 minutes have passed, she may close up desk and leave.

When I asked her about scheduling to avoid this problem, she said that scheduling happens at a semesterly desk worker meeting. Each desk worker fills out a spreadsheet, crossing out the times they cannot do, and marking their preferred hours. They also note how many hours they would like per week. The Desk Manager takes all this information and tries to come up with an assignment of shifts that works for everyone’s schedules and that keeps the desk covered throughout the day. With around 25 desk workers, this becomes a laborious task for the manager that is prone to mistakes, so she goes through a few drafts before striking the right balance of schedules.

Her shift always begins by reading the logbook- a 3-ring binder full of notes from other desk workers that goes back about a month. This is how they share information between shifts. Each page is for a different log entry, and contains a space for a log and a response; here desk workers write down something that came up during their shift that they didn’t know how to handle, something unusual that came up that others need to know about, etc. The entries range from small matters like running out of supplies at desk to bigger matters like a lost phone or ID, to even bigger matters like a missing persons report. As she reads each new entry in the book, she initials the side of the page to indicate that she’s read it; there tend to be a few new entries every day, so if you work once a week like Jane, you have 10-15 entries to read at the start of your shift. She likes the system in general, but said it can be hard to search through if you need to revisit an important entry, and that not everyone reads the logbook, even though it’s required.
Like most other desk workers, Jane does homework, eats dinner, watches shows, and hangs out with friends while working desk. It is a rather low-key job in this respect, but it also means the worker’s attention is divided.

Interview #2 - Tanya

Tanya began working desk at McCormick in April 2010 as a junior in high school. She is now 20 years old and goes to college in the area. Her background as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) makes her especially qualified for one unexpected aspect of being a desk worker: ensuring that impaired residents safely exit the building during a fire alarm. To her, dorm security is first and foremost in her job, and part of this is making sure that throughout the day at least one person is working desk, and that desk workers communicate effectively.

She noted that there are too many binders at desk, one of which is the logbook, and there’s an overall lack of internal and external consistency when working desk. The logbook is important to desk workers and she has to read it at the beginning of her shift to get updated on noteworthy events or decisions that happened on other shifts that might affect her.

When asked, she said she spends approximately 80% of her time on her own computer either working or watching TV, and only 20% of her work time on the desk computer.

Interview #3 - Helen

Helen is a 22-year old MIT senior majoring in chemical engineering. She first became a desk worker when she was a freshman in order to earn money. Her job entails five main responsibilities: checking in visitors to the dormitory, logging and delivering packages, sorting mail, checking out keys, movies, and equipment, and passing relevant information from one desk worker to the next.

Helen describes the job as having many periods of inactivity and often watches movies on the job. Whenever a guest arrives she looks their name up on a computer system to see if the guest is welcomed into the dorm. Helen pointed out that often times people forget to update their guest list which requires the guest to call the person he/she is visiting. Whenever she logs packages she simply uses a scanner and the data is entered into a system. The system details the carrier, recipient, desk worker who logged the package, and the closet it is placed in. Whenever a resident comes to check out a key, movie, or equipment she simply finds their name in an online system and marks the item as checked out.

As she discussed her daily duties I identified a few challenges with the system. I asked her how many shifts she works and when she works them and she told me that the desk captain asks for three data points: how many hours you want to work, when you want to work, and the maximum hours you are willing to work. When the desk captain schedules the shifts she manually schedules the slots and also takes into consideration seniority and people who are willing to work desk in the middle of the day. Helen is a good friend of the desk captain and told me she believes it takes significant time and effort to schedule shifts at the beginning of each semester and could be significantly improved.

Helen often has unexpected circumstances that require her to skip a shift and she is unhappy with the system. The current system requires her to e-mail out to all desk captains to request someone to take her shift. She states that many times people are more than willing to take over her shift because shifts are paid. However, she believes that the system can be improved. As I was interviewing, I noticed a sticky note on the computer telling the desk captain that many people were confusing the name of a current resident with that of a previous resident. Helen informed me that the sticky notes are the main method of passing on details from one worker to the next.

Interview #4 - Sanya

Sanya is a senior at MIT majoring in computer science. She has been working as a desk worker for Bexley Hall for three years, seeing it as an “awesome way to make money.” Sanya is currently enrolled in 6.813, but she did not know the intentions of the interview until after the interview concluded.

Sanya spends most of her shift “just sitting” but her duties include letting guests in and handling packages. When the doorbell rings, the desk worker has to walk around the corner to open the door. She admits that the current policy is that residents are supposed to receive their guests, but this policy is not followed closely.

Receiving packages is a process that is susceptible to human (desk worker) errors. When packages are received, they are logged on a computer using a recently implemented system. The desk worker logs the delivery company, the name of the resident, and the number of packages received. The system then emails out to residents who received packages. Outgoing packages require desk workers to email out to all other desk workers that there is an outgoing package.

There is no way to log whether a package has been picked up or not. This has lead to people not finding packages after they received an email saying a package has arrived. The reasons for this include (in order of frequency) a desk worker not searching for a package in the proper place, the email being sent by mistake, or theft. There has never been a confirmed case of package theft, but some packages have “disappeared.”

Scheduling for desk workers at Bexley Hall involves the desk captain sending out a Google Doc where desk workers submit the hours they are working for the entire semester. Seniority (semesters working) dictates how many hours can be taken per week. If a desk worker cannot work his shift, he emails out to all other desk workers and the first person to respond picks up the hours.

Special cases that Sanya noted included “concerned parents” and “people on official business.” When concerned parents call Bexley asking about their child, a resident, the course of action is to email the resident and no further action is taken. When people on “official business” such as contractors or facility workers come in, desk workers are often confused and the interaction there varies.

User Classes

We have identified three main user classes: student workers, desk captains, and desk managers.

Student Workers

• High school/college students
• Have busy schedules
• Work few hours per week
• 18-22 year olds

Desk Captains

• Represents desk workers in house government
• Responsible for scheduling desk shifts
• Dorm resident 18-22 years old

Desk Manager

• MIT employee
• Non-resident
• 30-40 years old
• Long-term employee
• Authority on desk problems

User Needs and Goals

Information Sharing: Access and update information; maintain persistence of information between desk workers and across shifts

• Student workers: at the beginning of each shift, need to check notes from other desk workers (ex. lost/found items brought to desk, outgoing packages)
  • leave new messages
• Desk captain and desk manager: 
  • need to handle issues that other desk workers didn’t know how to deal with
  • delete outdated messages

Scheduling Shift Assignments: Create a schedule such that all shifts are covered and seniority is maintained; reschedule shifts in a timely manner

• Student workers: 
  • need to be able to submit schedule preferences
  • need to be able to have shifts rescheduled
• Desk captain
  • create schedule that takes seniority into account

Ensuring Safety of the Dorm: Limit admittance to dorm; report incidents or issues to appropriate parties

• Student workers and desk captain:
  • make sure non-residents sign in and are received by a resident
  • report dorm issues (ex. broken facilities)
• Desk manager:
  • ensure follow-up on dorm issues