Meeting Notes

 Meeting Minutes!

2009.03.31 - Info from Skype with Jeff[<BR>
2009.03.13 - Brainstorm recap, Talking about Pugh Chart|2009.03.13]
Info from Jeff phone interview

2009.03.03 - Team Meeting

Present:  Christine, Chris, Rebecca, Kimi

Action Items:

• Brainstorm 10 ideas for our project by our brainstorming meeting.

• Brainstorm meeting Saturday at time TBA in Baker Conference Room
• Christine:  Contact EWB and report back with times we should attend.
• Everyone going to EWB:  RSVP to them.
• Lab Assignments for Tomorrow's Class:
  • Christine: Project 4
  • Rebecca: Project 1
  • Tylor:  Project 3
  • Chris: Project 2
• Tylor:  Upload Design Assignment #1.

Discussion:
Great job with specs!

Agenda is important.
                Take 5 minutes to list things to do.
                Assign timekeeper, note-taker, facilitator, etc.

Gmail Attachment detector àWill let you know if you forget to attach things to emails.  Awesome!

Active Listening:
                We did active listening session.

Choosing our Lab Assignments:
                Tylor:  3, 3-D printing, casting, finishing
                Christine: 4  ,  Drilling, cutting, PVC and plastics manufacturing
                Rebecca:   1, Drilling, cutting, welding, water jet,
                Chris:   2, Sheet metal fabrication, water jet, spot-welding, fasteners

Lab Safety:
                Just ask.
                "Don't get hurt."

Trip to IDEO in the future!

Brainstorming:

One of us is facilitating.  Throw in ideas.  Ask leading questions:  "What could we do with dry chlorine?"
Problem Statement should give 10-20 ideas yourself.

Keep things to 1 hour to 1.5 hours.

Empty your head!  Nuclear fission + Velcro!

Don't try working out an idea in your head too much.  Just say it!

Don't judge ideas.  "Well that's dumb."  Defer judgment until end, but prevent avalanches of wild ideas.

When we're done,  "Is this physically possible?" 

Logistics of our session:

Separating qualities/needs?
Post-it notes with sketches        
Example:     Portable       ->           Modular          <-                Capacity
Kimi's idea:  Electrodes and hand cranks and electrolysis!
It's too early to marry!  Don't limit ourselves too easy.
Super rugged....or disposable and cheap?

An important question:  What do we do if our ideas are different from the specs of our client?

               Kimi's response:  Not counter to our goals or our consumers.  If we can come up with a convincing argument for an alternative.

               Feel free to feed ideas outside our design specs, and maybe research the idea outside the brainstorm.

Our problem statement:
                The problem statement, but feel free to isolate specs.
                Come up with at least 10 ideas.
                Baker Conference room.
                Some sample ideas:  "A bubble gum machine", "A scale", "Attach to tree trunk".

When we're finished...
                Sort through ideas and pick out the possible ones. 

                Each of us sketches 10 conceptual ones from our own ideas (personal brainstorming), and 5 from the group's brainstorm (different from each other).

Wiki Discussion:

Logistics of scanning drawings:
                Rebecca has scanner.  Chris has one, but doesn't know how it works.
                Post to wiki if you have the chance.

Meeting Notes àPosted in text and uploadable on wiki.

Homework Assignments -->  Post under "Design Assignment #_"
                Tylor:  Upload your Design Assignment 1

Note for Chris and Tylor:  Do not grow moustaches.  And don't wear headbands.

RSVP to Water thing this Saturday from 2-7 PM.   Christine will email to find out what times our most useful to us.

2009.02.27 - Team Meeting

Present: Tylor, Becca, Chris, Christine, Jim, Amrita

Action Items:

• Tylor and Christine will work on the problem statement and team contract
• Becca and Chris will work on design specs
• EVERYONE post on wiki by some reasonable time Sunday (10 pm?) , so people have time to edit/add

Talking with Amrita

• What does existing product look like?
• Container of plastic material with valve
  • Valve is cup with handle and it turns
• Manufacturing?
  • Valve is manufactured in the US
    • Hard to find valve that doesn't leak, doses precisely, and is robust
    • Large part of the total cost ($15-$18)
  • Housing
    • Cement base and housing with roof
    • Metal stand is quite pricey
    • Not so much concerned about theft now, but more sturdiness
  • Body
    • Made in Kenya
  • Chlorine
    • Made in Nairobi.
    • Can do it locally but the quality control is hard.
• Making it VERY VERY EASY TO USE is important
• Pricing
  • Right now it is free
  • Standard way to distribute chlorine is in little bottles à takeup w/o dispenser is about 5%
  • If you deliver for free, take up is high (
  • If you give people a coupon for 50%, take-up is less than 10%
  • à Both price and ease of use are very important barriers
  • Cost recovery would probably be through community collection (like a water committee, or local government, schools)
• Any jobs resulting?
  • There would have to be someone to be a refiller... how much income it would generate is still undecided
• How often will it have to be refilled?
  • Not more than once every 2-3 weeks, more likely once every month
  • That's for about 200 people... which is about 30-40 compounds (5 or so people per compound)
• Containers
  • Most people use 20 L jerry cans... some use 10, some use 5 (this is more than 90% of the containers).
  • But older people and young kids use smaller jerry cans
  • In India, people use smaller containers...
• Recontamination?
  • That's exactly why chlorine was used
  • Decay of residual chlorine is 24 hours, but people tend to keep their water for 72 hours
• What's limiting how much Cl is taste, not dosing
  • Taste effects kick in 1.5-2 mg/L
• What about getting Cl at this concentration into your eyes?
  • CDC (Danielle) says it's not a problem but we're not sure
• Can play with the dosing...
  • Increasing conc. decreases storage and transportation costs (transportation is the more important factor)
    • Expense in transportation is the last mile (to rural areas)
  • At this concentration it lasts for about 18 months
  • The bigger constraint seems to be having a place to store it at the end point
• How does chlorine get there?
  • Made in Nairobi at 1.25% concentration and transported to Kenya
• Do you recommend to the users that they use certain container size?
  • No
  • It's important but it's not a problem
    • Going from earthenware pots to plastic is hard
    • It's not an easy behavior change to change storage habits
  • In plastic containers Cl decays slower
• After Cl do they have to filter it?
  • No they don't - where they are working in Kenya the water is clear
  • BUT it would be useful to make it more widely usable (in turbid water?)
• Where?
  • Western Province
  • Really rural, people are really disperse
• What is the goal now?
  • The priority is scaling up!
  • How best to distribute it, where?
  • Pilot in different countries à Rwanda, Malawi, India
  • "We have a product that works... it would be nice to get the cost down..."
• The design -  what is wanted?
  • It can be a lot cheaper
  • Issues that clever design could get around
    • How do we make sure ppl use the Cl in the right way?
    • How do we make sure the refillers aren't cheating... tampering?
      • Siphoning off to use for bleach?
      • Suddenly the distributer decides to dilute the bleach?
    • This hasn't been a problem but it could be... if distribution model changes
      • Slums and small towns (urban and peri-urban areas)
      • Piloting the dispensers with them... they like it.  They're willing to pay for it.
      • Don't really need a stand
  • Any complaints from users?
    • No.  when is it coming to the town?
  • WANT TO KEEP AS EASY TO USE AS POSSIBLE
    • Elevated...
  • Flexibility in dosing is important... maybe not for now, but in the future
    • In W. Kenya, the container sizes are nice multiples... but not everywhere
  • The refill container is expensive...
    • Can look into cheaper?  Reusable?
• Distribution models
  • Currently distributed by IPA... IPA delivers the Cl.  Other models were looked at, like selling at half price.
  • Retailers sell at smaller containers and therefore higher prices
• Local
  • Nairobi - has a lot of stuff
  • Kisumu (closest large town)
  • Busia (small)
• Jim's summary:
  • Can't assume common carrying vessel, so people are either underdosing or properly dosing or overdosing
  • Standard in retail stores - 1.25 L. à expensive
  • Theft doesn't seem to be a concern
    • "Nobody has talked about attempts at thefts"
  • How many dispensers have been distributed?
    • 40, for months
  • Is tampering a big enough issue?
    • There is no evidence that it's a big concern
    • "All our instincts is that it will be a big concern as soon as Cl is being charged for"
    • So... this might be a problem if this is made into a microfinance
  • Encourage people to go every 24 hours.
  • Safety of splashing?
    • They haven't had any problems
• Required time for chlorination
  • 20-30 minutes
• Degradation?
  • Haven't had problems with degradation (help from CDC)
• In increasing concentration (smaller volumes of dispensing), harder to dose accurately
• Container
  • It's opaque
  • Is it airtight?
    • Not sure...
• Transportation Costs:
  • The further down the transportation chain, the more expensive.
• How often does the refiller check if it needs to be refilled?
  • Not sure... like once a week maybe?
• How do we deal with different sizes of populations using this?
  • Maybe design for extra so that there is residual when the refiller comes around
• Turbidity
  • Usually deal with this by adding 2x the normal dosage of chlorine
  • CDC estimate is that only 15% of water sources worldwide are so turbid that they can't be dealt with like this.
• Jim: list a series of possible attributes and prioritize
  • Amrita is concerned about effectiveness
    • Applicable in multiple contexts (so no need to redesign)
  • Other people say COST is most important
  • Priorities: (if you had $10... how much would go to each)

                                (nothing filled in means not a concern)  Teamwork Modules* Article:

• • Stages are true
  • Forming, Storming...
• When a team builds trust
  • Don't attack the person, just the idea
  • Think that everyone wants to do well, but it's just about organizing so that they can contribute
  • Open door policy - that's why mentors are here
• Jim says to front-load
• Open communication is CRITICAL
• Being really honest about what you can handle and following through
• How do we divide responsibilities?
• How do you go on if there's not 100% consensus
• How to get feedback
• Jim suggests series of bullets
  • Meetings will be ____
  • Minutes
  • Assignments
  • General principles
• Frequent checkups to see how everyone's doing
• CHECKING EMAIL IS IMPORTANT à bold emails and make summaries and ACTION ITEMS
• Meeting minutes:
  • Stick action items in text of email