The complex cockpit interface seemed to be a problem, which was our reason to start this project.
So we collected ideas of how we could improve the cockpit and how a next generation plane might look like. As soon as we conducted the first interviews however, things changed:
User research showed that pilots were pretty happy with their cockpit controls. There seemed to be much more problems in between the flights. Two of the three pilots we interviewed pointed out, that fatigue was a hazard that pilots had to deal with quite often.
The solution we initially thought of was looking for a problem instead of solving one.
Tailoring flight plans to match the alertness of each pilot sounded like a great concept.
Assuming that fatigue was the main problem, we dove deep into researching the human sleep cycle and eventually came up with the idea to tailor flight plans specifically towards the awakeness of the pilots, that should be measured by having them collect their sleeping data.
As this concept was also part of our midterm presentation the feedback received from other students and also our supervisors was pretty positive. So the next time we met up with the pilots, excited to show them what we came up with, it hit us hard:
When we showed our concept to pilots, they weren't interested or impressed at all, but instead downright irritated by our concept idea.
In retrospect, their strong reaction indicated a substantial underlying problem, however we didn't realize that at first.
We realized that pilot fatigue was just the symptom of another, deeper lying issue.
Although pilots had pretty much destroyed our already second approach, there clearly seemed to be a problem given how strongly they reacted, which aroused our interest. So we conducted a phone interview once again, this time prepared to dig deeper.
The method 5-Why finally put an end to our cluelessness - by asking for the reason multiple times in a row (ideally five times - hence the name) we got down to the real reason responsible for pilot fatigue - a lack of trust within the company.
It wasn't until then, that we discovered the real problem - a lack of trust between pilots and management.
With the challenge finally clear, we could go back to the drawing board and start developing.
After conducting scientific research on what trust actually is and how it can be strengthened, we figured that we couldn't just „design“ trust, but that it had to be built by the people themselves during a certain period of time.
What we could do, however, was to design a tool that would lay the foundation for building a trustful company culture - which we envisioned as a platform to improve the communication between different departments.
We conceptualized a platform that enables employees to exchange expectations with one another.
Would you formulate your expectations towards your company if you could do so anonymously?
The answer you just gave, might have proven that our concept needs yet another iteration.
We haven’t had much time to further iterate on the concept that we developed and verify it through user testing. This was simply because figuring out the actual problem took us most of the time.
What we wanted to do in the end, is mainly to sensitize people of the problem of trust within large organizations and to present our concept as one approach how such a platform might look like.
See how we tried to make the issue of trust clear to people at the exhibition.
