Suggestion Box and Titual

A suggestion box in which the organization members to write suggestions anonymously to whoever they want to address with the purpose to reduce misunderstanding between the members.

Design

A suggestion box in which the organization members to write suggestions anonymously to whoever they want to address. The suggestion box could be placed at any place that is convenient for the users and the letters in that box should be locked for the confidentiality. The day to open the box to distribute the letters should be set on a regular base. On that day everyone will gather together and receive the letters if there is any letter addressing to them. People who got the letter are supposed to read and reflect individually on the suggestions that they have received for better improvement.

Call to action

At first I was told to create a small group system by my pastor. He has difficulty recognizing people's faces. This limited him to welcome or keep in touch with the irregular comers and new comers. So he wanted t create a small group system where he has people that he knows who are the regular comers to assist him with reaching out to irregular and new comers.

New comers introduction, Judson Myanmar Church

Building Relationship

I decided to help him. I went to church more regular than before so that I could gain friendship and trust from them. Later on, they become comfortable to share anything with me. They started to talk about internal issues to me.

There I learned about misunderstanding between them about expense on food. When they saw me, they talked about it to me individually. They sounded like they have different opinions on this issue. Some people blamed the others and so did the others.

I found it very unhealthy for a community like a church. So I postponed my plan on designing a small group system and shifted to solving misunderstanding problem because I felt like this was more urgent to solve.

Prototype and testing

Prototype

I thought of suggestion box ritual for communication. During Executive Committee Meeting, I proposed this to them and explain how it worked.

They rejected my idea because they thought that they didn't need this kind of anonymous addressed letters to communicate between them. They also saw this misunderstanding problem and lack of communication. They also took it serious and opened up for face-to-face conversation on that meeting. They thought that face-to-face conversation was better in clearing suspicions and misunderstanding as they all were "brothers and sisters".

Executive Committee Meeting

Conclusion

This design failed to address the problem of the targeted users. At first it was aimed to create a new ritual that could reduce the problem caused by lack of communication among church members. Yet it turned out that this design was rejected by the targeted users. However, this design can be used in other organizations that consists of people who are not close to each other and uncomfortable to share their opinions with each other face to face.

This project taught me things that I couldn't learn in guideline books. I learned to not to assume the problem of the participant. I learned how to deal with rejection. I learned how to be careful with interpreting things. This failure has taught me more than my other successful projects.