Blog Assignment -1

Meet Juan

1. What do you think and feel?

Juan likes to customize and individualize things. Like the quote from Full Metal Jacket says “This is my rifle; there are many like it, but this one is mine.” This is very important for him because he doesn’t feel something is his unless he can add a personal touch to it.

What worries him is for necessary items to stop working at an important moment, like losing his internet connection the night when he has to send out some homework via e-mail, or a car breaking down in the middle of nowhere. For Juan reliability is essential when making a decision.

2. What do you see?

Juan is a grad student in a B-school and he is constantly surrounded by people from all over the world who are very smart and have more than above average income. After all of his undergrad friends went their own way and ended up in different countries and even continents, Juan’s current group of friends are all current UT grad students.

Juan doesn’t like to follow news to keep informed about the latest trends and he learns about new offering in the market by hearsay. Juan believes there is usually too much going on to keep track of it so he prefers to ask people or google about solutions to emerging problems instead of trying to keep up with everything. Juan also likes interesting stores where he can browse and he finds that it is another good way of learning about new products.

3. What do you say and do?

Juan likes to stand out by being funny or saying something insightful in class. Whether he achieves this or not is another matter entirely. He is constantly frustrated as an MBA where looking boring seems to be considered a plus and he prefers to keep an appearance that while not extravagant, seems to differ from what people expect of business people at least with his casual clothes.

4. What do you hear?

Juan is not the kind of person who lets the majority decide for him and has no problem liking something nobody else likes; although if it’s too unpopular he will keep that information to himself. That being said, Juan will hear the opinion of people he respects, but that’s only a small group of close friends.

5. What are your pain points?

Juan’s biggest frustration is that he has to lose time every day in minutia and not put more time in his work or things that interest him. You could even say his biggest frustration is the lack of time he has to enjoy things. If Juan could stop sleeping and use those extra hours he would do it, but sadly that is not possible.

6. What do you hope to gain?

What Juan seeks is new experiences, innovation and things to make his life easier. If something manages to save him time or make his life more organized, that is considered a triumph.