The UltraMBA Owendrobe 3000
Are you tired of your wrinkled suit before that big interview? Sick of storing wet umbrellas in your lockers, or having to hang you umbrella on your locker latch? Do you wish you could shine your shoes before an information session, or drop off your dry cleaning? We have an innovative solution. The UltraMBA Owendrobe 3000 system that has dry cleaning drop off, tie rack, umbrella storage, shoe rack, shoe shine system suit hanging system all in one system that will include a mirror. This system will clean up the locker room and give students the opportunity to look their best.
The Austrian Trash Blocker
Have you seen the pile of garbage, club posters, dishes, and sodas accumulating on top of the lockers? It’s rumored that somebody even left a half-finished Dr. Pepper bottle up there over the entire summer break. Our project will be to devise an organizational system for the space above the lockers, which will have the benefits of creating a clean-looking space for clubs to store their things, provide a surface to display posters of past Owen events, and prevent people from leaving garbage up there. The system may include some form of cubbies, storage spaces with lockable doors, and removable crates. The system will also include framed posters and “Fake Plastic Trees.”
Bulletin Board “Beverly Hills” Facelift
Are you tired of scanning through ODN announcements for class swap requests and weekend happenings? Or finding it a bit challenging to remember all the new first years’ names? …Then we have a solution for you! The bulletin board in the locker room will be updated with a state of the art touch screen announcement board including such features as:
1. Owen Facebook – A helpful reminder for when you don’t have time to boot up the computer
2. Photo Contest of the week
3. Class swap requests
4. ODN Announcements
5. Joke of the day
I like the second idea. Getting rid of the trash on top of the lockers is something Owen needs. Also, creating more space for clubs to store things is a good idea since many clubs had to give up their locker space this year. A potential constraint would be how people would access that space since it is high up. Would there be a ladder or step stool in the locker room? Where would you store it? Also, how would you monitor/organize the poster display - how long will posters stay up there and who decides when they come down?
ReplyDeleteNevermind. I just walked into the locker room and realized the space is not that high. I'm just really short. It would only be me that needed the step stool.
ReplyDeleteHaha - I love your ideas.
ReplyDeleteI like your first option the best if it is truly feasible. I think that a lot of students would not only use this opportunity, but would really appreciate their services - very cool.
Your second idea seems the easiest, but I don't know how much it would really add to Owen.
The third idea sounds cool, but I might still just do the things that are listed on the "bulletin board" on my computer sitting wherever I am comfortable as opposed to in the locker room - just one opinion though.
Good luck with whatever you all decide!
I love the clean locker room idea! It could be done without lot of investment other than time, and would benefit club members. The only concern that I have is how to make it sustainable. It all comes to individual motivation. I could see three options here: make club members be responsible for clean space, since they are going to be the main users, educate MBA’s about how important is to have clean lockers (post posters with “take out your trash” etc.…., or ask cleaning staff to take away all trash every night, so students will be aware not to leave anything. I look forward for it!
ReplyDeleteI like option 1 the best, but worry about implementation. I'm not sure what the size of the Owendrobe 3000 is, but if there's space go for it!
ReplyDeleteI also think the Bulletin Board is a great option, but a tech upgrade cound be an improvement. Maybe a giant touchscreen computer display that allows people to make instant contributions and interact with the system (OwenHal 3000)? I have a feeling that may not be plausible due to time/budget constraints.
I'm not as hot on #2 as it seems like something that individuals can take upon themselves to do currently. It's still a good idea, I would just hope that if undertaking this option we consider using actual plants as opposed to fake plastic ones.
Ok, these are fantastic ideas!
ReplyDeleteTo #1 :I would love to have a dry cleaner drop off. This option is used in many hotels and would be beneficial for any local dry cleaner. I am not quite sure if this is the idea or whether you would have a student run business. Either way it is cool. I am not a big fan of the "system approach", but I am more or less picturing an "IKEA" shelf system that will eat up tons of space and thus pose severe constraints given the increased number of students. Would people share spaces?
To #2 : As part of the OSGA team, I have to clean up in there once a Mod, and I can tell you that it is not fun! I am excited to see this system to keep it clean up there, but cannot picture it at the moment. In my opinion, this is not anything that needs a system, but just people (e.g. locker owners) that actually care.
To #3 : Really cool idea. My concern would be budget constraints. Who would pay for this? I just participated in negotiations for study room screens and it is really hard to get funding. It would be also interesting to know how many people look at the screens in the lobby that show some of the announcements to see whether it makes sense to have an additional one in the locker room. what I find very appealing is the face book idea, since I run into people I don't know all the time. Would be very helpful!
I like the bulletin board idea. Owen needs more gathering places where we exchange information/ideas/conversation in person here in the school. This would be a great gathering point and a great way to share information.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having a dry cleaner drop off at the locker, may be who ever hangs the clothes outside the locker can be picked up by the local vendor every evening.Doesnt necessarily help the cause of cleaning the locker room but is a great utility.
ReplyDeleteIdea 2 in my opinion is a basic requirement any which ways but has a much smaller impact.
Idea 3 is great and could add much needed value , but budget and time constraints will probably make you chose against it eventually. But really something that the school can implement in the lobby of not the locker room.
These would all add value to Owen--great job!!
ReplyDeleteThe wardrobe system is very innovative--especially the dry cleaning drop off option and a dedicated place to hang things. Only constraint that I see is space--maybe you could partner with 810???
Also like the organizational system for cleaning up above the lockers--definitely needed but the onus remains on those who use the locker room. Still I think if clubs had a place to put their stuff, they would comply.
The third option would be fabulous and is very innovative. Would require an investment, but would be another opportunity to partner with 810--may draw people into that space!
First, I think I was the inspiration for this idea since I constantly have Tupperware and bags up there. The second idea is by the strongest idea and most feasible. It would allow students to continue their behavior but in a cleaner and more organized way so the locker room does not look like such a hole. Also the third, facebook idea, is a little bit incoherent with the rest and seems to serve an entirely different need
ReplyDeleteI would totally use the dry clean and shoe shine! Bulletin board is fantastic too. And I'd give anything for club lockers!!!! please, please, please give me a club locker (actually- I need 3 of them)
ReplyDeleteReally like the bulletin board idea. I never read ODN (it's the first thing I delete each morning from my blackberry). The touchscreen concept is awesome and would be a great way to provide more meaningful, real-time updates of what's going on around Owen.
ReplyDeleteIdea #3 is awesome. Like many students, I often deleted ODN before even reading it. If the cost of the touch screen is too high, the ODN could just be printed.
ReplyDeleteI vote we rip out all of the locker and knock out the wall between the locker room and the main lobby. Then we install nice COMFORTABLE leather furniture and a vent free fireplace. Lets make this space something we can be proud of instead of a junk pile.
ReplyDeleteI can't even picture where the current bulletin board is, how bad is that?! That demonstrates my mission to get in and out of that place as fast as possible because there's not much room.
ReplyDeleteFor #3, may I recommend that it also shows us the events for that day and names of visitors. I often walk into school seeing furniture rearranged and people in suits and have no idea what's going on. I caution you not to crowd the bulletin board with too much information. You want to make sure the words are big enough so people can scan it on their way in and out and not clog up the halls with people standing around it.
The Owendrobe 3000 is a cool idea, especially the dry cleaning drop off. If there is room, maybe you add in a private space to change clothes (i.e. change into your suit)?
ReplyDeleteI think the bulletin board idea is great, but I'd like to see this in a space that is more open (i.e. not the locker room). This could be a great addition to the lobby area, the 810 cafe, or even the fishbowl on the 2nd floor.
These are fine problems and suitable ideas for addressing them. That said I'm worried less about the innovation and more about the constraints to its adoption.
ReplyDeleteYou will want to be able to give a compelling "value proposition" to those whose money and energy you will be spending to implement these solutions. Consider that money is the most expensive thing that people have, so any idea/solution that you propose that uses "other people's money" is going to be a hard sell. Not an impossible sell, but definitely a hard one.
On #1: how often would these services like dry-cleaning and shoe-shining really get used? If it is fairly often, would the 8:10 be interested in offering such a service? If not, why not?
Could your trash-blocker take the form of some 24-hour rental lockers of a form-factor to hold suits / umbrellas (or diet Dr. Pepper cans)? Maybe if people put $0.75 in quarters in to rent it for 24 hours, the money could be used for upkeep and other services. Maybe there is an outside firm that would contract with Owen to run a service. (http://www.securacoinlocker.com/) This might also help the trash problem... I, for one, would not put $0.75 in in order to store trash.
More aggressive janitorial services may be another way to help that doesn't add cost. If the janitors felt empowered to throw everything away every time they cleaned, the space would get a real cleaning every other day or so. ((My suspicion is that the janitors worry that they'll get in trouble if they throw away something valuable by accident. If you students had a simple policy the janitorial staff could use in that space such as "when in doubt, throw it out" they'd probably clean it very differently than they currently do.))
Just my 2 cents!! Good work and good luck!!
Beverly Hills seems readily doable (I assume there is a display in the locker room already - if not consider giving it as a class gift). Why don't you mock up a "screen shot" of what you'd like to appear on that monitor and then ask the IT people what it would take to make that content appear on that monitor. Seems simple enough. Maybe a few pages of scrolling content. ((Maybe this could be the standard Owen screen saver..))
I am a big fan of idea 3. This is a great way to gather information and remove all the irrelevant posts on the bulletin board. Idea 1 is creative, my issue is that I can't really get a grasp of what you are planning to do or if it is possible to implement or not. Idea 2 really addresses a real problem for the locker room, it is really time to find a way to keep the top of the lockers clean. Even though the text doesn't really state exactly what the plan is, I think the suggestions thrown out there is a great start. I also think the group has done a great effort in trying to be creative.
ReplyDeleteI like the Bulletin Board Facelift. I think the current ODN announcements are not as easy to scan through as last year's ODN. I like the order that you have come up with. Go for it!
ReplyDeleteI must say, I love the touch-screen on the bulletin board. It would be a useful tool and, frankly, just hip. I also think we would treat the lockerroom better if there was such a cool piece of technology present. You can't leave a half-filled DP on top of cool technology.
ReplyDeleteI must say, I love the touch-screen on the bulletin board. It would be a useful tool and, frankly, just hip. I also think we would treat the lockerroom better if there was such a cool piece of technology present. You can't leave a half-filled DP on top of cool technology.
ReplyDeleteSo I love all three ideas, but #1 and #3 seem like they might be limited by resource constraints (i.e., $$).
ReplyDelete#2 seems most feasable, but this should be taken care of anyway by someone other than the students. What will happen in two weeks or two months? Who keeps the locker room from becoming a mess again?
Also, something to consider with #3 is: how many people use their lockers on a regular basis? Last year I did, but this year I don't go in there nearly as often. Would you see students use the touch screen board often enough or would it become a place to collect dust?