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Problem Statement

Parents today live busy lives outside the home, and then have to manage a household with children on top of it.  Parents often distribute some of this work to their children in the form of chores.  In busy multi-child households, there are often too many tasks being done by too many different people with different schedules to easily keep track of everything that needs to get done.

User Classes

Parents

Age: 25-45

- Tend not to plan chores too much, take things as they go

- Some have recurring tasks of varying importance

- In some families, not all chores always get done, and prioritizing is important

- Varying systems of incentivization.  e.g.. a control mechanism "tv and internet", verbal appreciation, or simply expecting them to do them because they live there

- Work around child obligations such as homework and sports

- Often rely on chores as an actual source of labor division in the house, not just "for character", though some parents believe that as well.

- Generally has access to technology, even if only a shared iPad

Children

Age: Roughly 6 - 18

- Put up varying degrees of resistance depending on family relationship

- May be very busy

User Goals

  • Track when chores need to be completed
  • Set a schedule for recurring chores
  • Assign tasks to family members
  • Reschedule due to schedule conflicts or changes
  • Prioritize chores according to importance
  • Add, change, and reschedule things "on the fly"

Observations and Interviews

1. The Girlscout Cookie-Selling Parent

  • Single shared device household
  • No structured solution for tracking upcoming, completed tasks
  • No concrete incentive structure: "You live here, you do this."
  • Two children, 8 and 17 both have questioned fairness.
  • Tasks: Laundry, checking on grandma
  • Tasks assigned based on parent's observations of child's schedule / busyness

2. MIT professor parent

  • Everyone owns laptop
  • Shared iPad
  • No solution, chores assigned randomly.
  • Two children, one in high school.
  • Tasks: snow shoveling, laundry, cooking, cleaning bathroom, walking dog. 
  • Tasks assigned based on daily schedule and what needs to get done.
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