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Product sensestandard
Design a vending machine for a hospital.
How to approach it
Ask who buys from it and when. Night-shift nurses, worried visitors and patients able to walk have very different needs from the same machine.
How a strong answer opens
“A hospital vending machine has very different buyers depending on the hour. I'd like to focus on night-shift staff, who often have ten minutes to eat and nothing else open at 3 a.m.”
Outline of a strong answer
Try answering out loud for a few minutes before you open this.
- Clarify location within the hospital and hours of heaviest use
- Pick a user, for example night-shift staff with ten-minute breaks
- List pain points: unhealthy options, slow payment, empty machines at 3 a.m.
- Generate ideas: healthy hot meals, staff badge payment, restock alerts, pre-ordering
- Prioritize by impact on the chosen user and ease of rollout
- Measure purchases per shift and stock-out rate
Where this question usually goes wrong
Designing a generic machine with healthier snacks instead of picking one user, such as night staff or anxious visitors, and solving their specific moment.
Learn the method
Generate solutions worth discussing in Module 1, Product sense and design.
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