Design a washer/dryer for urban living.

Approach:

1. Ask clarification questions and align on the business goal

2. Define user segments and choose one

3. Identify pain points

4. Brainstorm solution

5. Prioritze solution

Clarification questions:

Candidate: I assume that urban living is characterized by limited space, so do we prefer small design size and medium load

Interviewer: Yes

Candidate: Do we build washer/dryer separately or do want to build 2 in 1 machine

Interviewer: Either

Candidate: I assume that washer/dryer is a physical product, hence we want to optimize for unit sales. Is that a business goal?

Interviewer: Yes

User segments:

A. Individuals/Couples

B. Large Family- couples with kids/ couples with parents

C. People living with room-mates

I would want to prioritize the group in terms of size. Since urban living is known for small apartments with one or two people, I would priroritize the houses with one or two people.

Map out the user journey

A. Purchase washer and dryer units

B. Install at house

C. Put used clothes in washer and add detergent and select appropiate temperature and wash duration based on the clothes

D. Move the clothes from washer to dryer and select temperature and time

E. Remove the clothes from dryer and clean the vent

Pain points

A. In a small space, it is difficult to fit in both washer and dryer; they end up taking size portion of the apartment real estate

B. User does not know what is the suitable wash temperature and suitable wash timing for the clothes; might spoil the cloth

C. User have to do separate cycle according to the color and material of the clothes; it takes more time

D. User have remove the clothes from washer and load them again into dryer; but sometimes users forget to do it for long time, then they move it to the dryer

E. User does not know the suitable wash temperature and timing; incorrect selection might ruin the cloth

Solution

A. I would design the two-in-one solution that include both washer and dryer in a single unit. it would deliver host of benefits a) takes less space b) reduces burden for the users to move clothes from washer to dryer

Effort: High, need to invent new tech to intergrate washer and dryer in a single unit

Impact: High, saves space and lowers burden involved in washing clothes

B. I would design sensors that identifies the cloth materials, cloth color, quantity of cloth, accordingly machine would select the temperature and timer. Also this machine comes with inbuilt detergent dispenser that needs to be replaced only one in several years and machine; this dispense can decide the detergent amount based on the stain and dirth

Effort: High, requires new senors to be invented and requires new design to develop a dispenser

Impact: High, automatically tailors the washing conditions based on the type of clothes; lowers cognitive burden in selecting the temperature and timer manually; maintain the clothes like new with intelligent wash cycle selection

C. Machine would have the ability to compartmentalize the clothes based on material and color, thereby optimize for clothe longetivity and cleanliness; any cloth that needs to be dry-clean will automatically be compartmentalized with the machine and dry cleaned within the machine. Thus no cloth will be spoiled.

Effort: High, need to develop a new technology to create different washing conditions for each compartments, within a same of cycle

Impact: High, saves times, creates convienience

D. Once the washing is done, the exact same unit will do the drying of the clothes, reducing the burden on the users to transfer the clothes. Also the machine will self select temperature and time based on the material, color. 

Effort: High, need to develop sensors to self-select the dryer conditions

Impact: High, reduces the burden in terms of transferring the clothes from washer to dryer and protect clothes by auto-selecting drying conditions based on the cloth material and color

E.   Machine will compartmentalize the clothes to dry several different types of items at the same time; saving users from running separate drying cycles according to the types of clothes and thereby saving time; protecting and maintaining the clothes like new for a long time

Effort: High, need to invent blower/dryer that can create mutliple drying conditions for different compartments in a same cycle

Impact: High, saves time by obviating the need to run mutiple cycles

Prioritization

If I were to prioritze one solution, I would choose the one to combine the washer/dryer technologies together. Because it will save space which is a very scarce commodity in the urban conditions and it will also lower the burden in transfering and running separate drying cycle.