This week, we went back and once again looked at Human Centered Design. We learned about the study of humans, ethnography. Taking a critical scientific perspective at humans, while at the same time maintaining an empathic connection with the people you are trying to help, has proven to be a fairly interesting dichotomy in hopes of solving a problem. 

Also, the notion that you don't want the "bells and whistles" is pretty far off from what I'm used to. I love the idea of added features and extra goodies, but I understand that in order to deploy a solution to a problem and have it help as many people as possible, the base functions of a solution have to remain intact while all the "bells and whistles" are stripped in order to either mainline ease of use or cut costs. 

Aside from that, I've found this week to be quite intuitive in what it's teaching. In order to solve a problem, you have to identify it, figure out who it impacts, what kind of effective solution can be deployed, and whether or not the people the solution impacts agree with it. At the end of the day, this is the same basic problem solving we were taught back in elementary school, but on a larger scale with many people being affected.