Problem Statement

Babysitters and parents have trouble finding each other and coordinating jobs. Babysitters want to maximize the number of jobs they get; this is both a search problem and a scheduling problem. Parents want to find someone who is available to babysit their children and whom they trust. Both may have hidden flexibilities in their schedules, or may need to cancel at the last minute, making the scheduling problem trickier.

Observations and Interviews

User A: Parent of a toddler

User A is the associate housemaster of an MIT dorm, who has a toddler. She said that she has had a lot of difficulties coordinating schedules with babysitters. Often she schedules a babysitting job a night in advance, and then the babysitter has to cancel at the last minute. She said that finding a babysitter at the last minute is often very difficult. Also, she is sometimes flexible about exactly which night she needs a babysitter for, and that can make scheduling more complicated. She uses 3 babysitters, but prefers 2 of them much more than the third. She said that she would be willing to adjust her schedule if it meant she would be using one of her preferred babysitters.

In order to find a babysitter she went through an agency that had done criminal background checks. They provided her with a list of people that met her desired requirements. She wanted people that could speak Spanish and were legally allowed to work in the US. After that she interviewed people, getting them to interact with her child and checking their homes in case her child would be spending time there. Based on that initial vetting, she made a list of babysitters that she calls when she needs one. Her list includes her three main babysitters, plus a couple more in case none of those three are available.

User B: Babysitter for family friends

User B has worked as a babysitter for family friends. She said that she dealt with many logistical issues while working as a babysitter. One issue she faced was that sometimes two families would request the same night, and then if the first one canceled she would lose the opportunity for the second job. She said that she had trouble finding enough jobs, especially because of scheduling issues. She said it was difficult to communicate schedules, especially because sometimes the parents don’t care which night, but she might have a preference of which night because she is trying to maximize the number of jobs she can work.

Her process for finding a babysitting job was very one-way. A client would call her and ask either if she was free at a specific time, and she would respond yes or no, or if she was free any time in the next week or so, and then she would respond with the best date for her. As a result of this process, she didn’t really get much control over her schedule.

User C: Babysitter for several families

User C started babysitting in 8th grade with several families, and continued babysitting for a new set of families when she started studying at MIT. She has faced a lot of scheduling issues with families she worked with. She said she often received a lot of last minute requests that she had to turn down because they didn’t fit in her schedule. She also says that communicating her schedule to parents is especially difficult because it is constantly changing.

Once she found families to babysit for, her process of scheduling a job would be to wait for a family to contact her, and then email back and forth until they work out a time that works for both of them. Sometimes they would work it out with only a few emails, but sometimes none of the suggested times work and they would have to keep emailing back and forth until they found a time or the parents found another sitter.

User Classes

Babysitters

Business Babysitters

• Might be managing many families that they babysit for
• May be seeking more families
• Possibly don't drive
• May have frequently changing schedules

Casual Babysitters

• Managing a few families
• Possibly don't drive
• May have frequently changing schedules

Parents

• May be less familiar with technology
• May also have frequently changing schedules

Needs and Goals

Babysitters

Core tasks:

Business Babysitters

• Find jobs that fit their schedule and other constraints (distance, age of kids, individual preferences for or against given families)
• Maximize number of jobs they can do, and money they make, despite scheduling changes and uncertainties (on their side or the parents' side)
• Communicate with parents, both beforehand to schedule and negotiate terms, and during the job if problems come up
• Organize important information about the children of each family

Casual Babysitters

• Manage their babysitting schedule and resolve scheduling conflicts easily
• Communicate with parents, both beforehand to schedule and negotiate terms, and during the job if problems come up
• Organize important information about the children of each family

Additionally, perhaps:

• "Give" jobs to friends
• Let clients know if a date they originally wanted opens up

Parents

Core tasks:

• Find a babysitter they trust to take care of their kids (perhaps vouched for by others, or one they've had good experience with in the past)
• Schedule a time to go out when a trusted babysitter is available (the exact date may or may not be flexible)
• Avoid having to cancel plans due to babysitter's scheduling issues

Additionally, perhaps:

• Narrow down babysitters to proactively contact, if they're in a rush to find someone
• Coordinate a babysitter-managed play date with family friends