Interview: Daan, family of five
Fictional. Written for the PRD Assistant demo. Daan and everyone he mentions are made up.
- Participant
- Daan, 41, secondary school teacher
- Household
- Daan, his wife Esther and their three children, aged 8, 12 and 15
- Shopping
- one big shop on Saturday morning, plus top-ups during the week
- Lists today
- a paper list on the fridge
Researcher: Tell me about the list on the fridge.
It's a notepad with a magnet. Whoever finishes something is supposed to write it down. The fifteen-year-old does, the eight-year-old draws on it, and Esther and I write over each other. On Saturday I take a photo of it before I leave, because the one week I took the paper itself, nobody at home could add anything while I was out.
Daan Researcher: What goes wrong?
Forgetting. At least once a week someone has to go back to the shop for one thing, usually the thing that was on the list but I couldn't read. And "crisps" is on the list every single day. I don't know who wrote it, or whether it's the same request three times.
Daan Researcher: How do you handle items like that today?
Mostly I guess. If I knew the crisps came from the twelve-year-old, I could decide for myself whether we really need them. But the list has no names on it, so every item looks equally important, and I end up buying all of it or none of it.
Daan Researcher: Would you want the children on a shared list app?
The older two, yes. They have phones anyway. The youngest can tell us. But I'd want to be able to remove what they add without a big discussion.
Daan Researcher: How would you want to hear about new items?
Not as they come in. A buzz for every item, with three kids adding things? I'd have it off my phone by the weekend. We tried an app that sent a notification each time anything was added, and I uninstalled it after two days. I look at the list when I'm about to go shopping. That's when I need it.
Daan Researcher: How do you move through the shop?
Same route every week: vegetables, bread, dairy, then the long aisle with tins and pasta, then cleaning products. The paper list is in random order, so I'm walking back and forth. If the list followed my route, I'd be out in half the time.
Daan Researcher: Is anything always on the list?
Milk, bread, bananas, coffee, the same yoghurt for the kids. I write them every week. It would be nice not to have to.
Daan