I live in a house with 47 of my friends, and in this house is only 2 sets of washing machines and dryers. I believe that there is a conflict for each individual residing in the house whenever they need to wash their clothes. There never seems to be an open washing machine because there are so few machines for the amount of people they serve.
I first interviewed myself by reflecting upon the four questions in part 4 of this assignment. I found that I think of this need for more washing machines at the end of each week, when my laundry basket gets full. I then begin to regret having to wait for the washing machines to be open so I can wash my clothes. I first realized this was an issue after the first few weeks of moving in last fall semester. To fix this need, I typically go up to the laundry room to see if any machines are open before I haul my entire basket of clothes up two flights of stairs only to find the machines are full.
Next, I interviewed my roommate. He had very similar answers to me but differed in a few responses. He claimed to think about the fact that we don’t have enough washing machines almost every time he looked at his laundry basket sitting in our room. He too checks the laundry room before taking his basket of dirty laundry all the way upstairs.
My next interviewee was someone who lives upstairs near the laundry room. Their answers to my questions differed more than my roommate and I’s answers, but not by much. He claimed to have been aware of the issue since moving in as well; however, he does not worry about when he will find an open washing machine because he can just check the laundry room at his convenience because he passes by the door every time he goes to his room.
Finally, I interviewed our house mom. She has been aware that there are not enough washing machines since becoming our house mom. Her room is the farthest from the laundry room, so she faces the most difficulty having to travel across the entire house to check if any machines are available. The one thing that stood out to me was that she is working to purchase more washing machines and dryers for our house to ease this issue.
After interviewing several of the people I live with and getting their feedback, I have altered my solution. Originally, I felt that simply adding more washing machines in our current laundry room would be sufficient. I now feel that it would be even more efficient to make another laundry room downstairs, allowing the upstairs to not be so congested with people walking up and down the stairs with their clothes.
This exercise has revealed to me that it is important for entrepreneurs to be able to adapt their visions to meet the needs of everyone, not just themselves.
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