THE FRUSTRATION OF MISCOMMUNICATION
One of the biggest problems faced by the team is their failure in communicating with one another. From our cultural probes we learned about the lack of structure within the team when it comes to getting messages sent and received by all teammates. Since our interviewers included the team leader among the teammates we were able to properly assess this dilemma. When interviewed the team leader showed us his frustration of communication using facial expressions (frowning). Additionally, he pulled out his smartphone and showed us his notepad of players names which he uses to keep track of their attendance. Even then he mentioned he didn’t have all the players’ names on his list. It was same issue for team members who were frustrated by the lack of communication from the team leader regarding practice sessions and matches. Our informance helped us understand the level of emotional stress that the team leader is under as he’s being bombarded with messages with excuses while trying to make a list of players that are going to be there so he can properly make a team line-up.
LAST MINUTE PLAYER CANCELLATION
Role-playing this scenario gave us further insight to the other major frustration mentioned by the team leader during interviews. This happens when he gets a good idea of the number of players who can make it to the game and what position they occupy, he can then access if there is even enough players to play a full game. More often than not there isn’t and he’s forced to begin the slow process of calling each and every one of the part-time substitute members. In contrast to our first scenario now he’s doing the opposite of what he was doing before as he’s directly communicating with singular members, as opposed to just receiving and replying to messages. Trying to find subs to play in the game leads into new issues such as subs not replying to messages, or being able to play only half the game because of prior arrangements, which forces the team leader to look for additional subs to fill in the gaps. This informance shed a light on the amount of pressure and work the team leader has to go through every week for just a soccer match, and it gave us enough perspective to begin brainstorming design decisions to make the process simpler and streamlined.
HAVING TO DENY SOMEONE A SPOT IN THE GAME
This scenario is an emotionally charged one that actually occurs more often than it should because of miscommunication and double booking. During game day all players show up, including the team leader, as well another teammate who thinks they’re participating in the game when they’re not. When this happens the team leader has to politely refuse the participation of that player because the position he thinks he’s supposed to play is already taken. This leads into an embarrassing and hot-headed conversation between the two individuals where the team leader takes a stand concerning his participation, and the player tries his best to get himself in the game. The conversation almost always ends of with both of them sad, angry, and embarrassed. This situation occurs when the player initially says he’s not going to make it, but then later on at the last minute changes his mind and decides to join. By then it’s too late as the team leader has already found him a substitute to occupy the player’s position, and does not receive the player’s message in time because he thinks he has everything sorted out. Role-playing this scenario encouraged us to acknowledge and understand the emotional state in which these individuals are having a conversation where someone would feel hurt no matter what the outcome, and assisted in deciding options to avoid this from happening again.
Fantastic Four Fingers 