Every fall in the Studio, leading startups, companies, and organizations pose product challenges to Cornell Tech students. These challenges, in the form of a "How might we..?" question, go beyond a problem to solve or work to be done. Students across seven Master’s programs work in multidisciplinary teams, conduct user research, create a strategy, and develop and test prototypes of a new product or service that responds to the challenge.
The Studio team and faculty will spend the next two months working with more than 200 companies to solicit “How might we…?” questions for your Product Challenge in Product Studio.
- Companies submit a “How might we..?” challenge and identify a Company Advisor to work with a student team to ensure they have whatever access or information is required to respond to the challenge.
- The Studio team spends the summer reviewing all challenges and works with companies to refine the challenge if needed.
- On August 12th students will receive a list of all of the vetted challenges and a survey to rank their top 10 in order of preference.
- Dreamteam, a matching algorithm developed at Cornell Tech, is used to form teams of 4-5 students and connect them to challenges, optimizing for student interests and multidisciplinary teams. Students will find out their teams on or before August 25th. Challenges will be announced on August 27th.
- Teams conduct user research and develop and test prototypes of a new product, meeting with the Company Advisor at least four to five times during the semester.
- Teams deliver a final presentation and demo to their companies.
MONDAY, AUGUST 12TH:
You will receive an email from Leandra with a PDF of all of the Product Challenges and a link to the rankings survey. You should spend some time reading over all of the challenges and think about which ones are interesting to you and why.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 13TH - FRIDAY, AUGUST 16TH:
Virtual office hours will take place to address any questions or concerns you have. You can join any of the following sessions at any point to ask a quick question or listen to your classmates' questions.
- Tuesday, August 13th from 10am-12pm and 3pm-4pm
- Wednesday, August 14th from 10am-11am and 4pm-5pm
- Friday, August 16th from 10am-12pm and 2:15-4:15pm
ZOOM LINK: https://cornell.zoom.us/j/887682412
MONDAY, AUGUST 19TH:
Product challenge ranking surveys are due by 11:59pm EST.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 20TH - FRIDAY, AUGUST 23RD
The Studio team will run Dreamteam, an algorithm built by Cornell Tech alumni, that will create the Product Challenge teams that you’ll work on for the fall semester and match you with a challenge. The algorithm will take into account your background, skills, and program, optimizing for your preferences and multi-disciplinary teams. Teams will consist of 5-6 students.
YOU WILL FIND OUT YOUR TEAMS ON OR BEFORE AUGUST 25TH.
MONDAY, AUGUST 26TH:
You’ll get a brief introduction to the Studio team and how Product Studio works. Immediately following the introduction you'll spend time getting to know your team through team building and get-to-know-you activities. It will be really fun, we promise!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 27TH:
We'll do a deeper dive into the full Studio curriculum and you'll have time to work with your team on establishing norms and best practices for working together.
At the end of the day you'll participate in a team challenge and we'll reveal which challenge your team matched with!
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29TH:
This is the first day of Product Studio: Introduction / Tackling Design Problems.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6TH:
We will host a Kickoff Breakfast for Company Advisors. You will have the opportunity to send a representative from your team to meet your Company Advisor if they are able to attend.
Q: What types of companies can submit challenges? ... A: We encourage all leading startups, companies, and organizations from across the globe to submit a challenge. ...
Q: Do you guarantee I will match with a certain company? ... A: We can only guarantee that you will match with one of your top ten choices. It is important that you select ten challenges that you would be excited to work on. You may get your first choice, but you may also get your tenth choice.
Q: How does Dreamteam work? ... A: The Dreamteam algorithm operates under a set number of constraints in order to create multidisciplinary teams that are capable of building a technical product. Some of the contraints might be "no more than 2 MBAs, at least 2 technical students (determined from a tech survey), no more than 1 Parsons student, no more than 4 students per team unless there is a Parsons student, etc". The algorithm does take student preferences into account. The objective is to form teams and make the penalty cost of each student as low as possible. A penalty cost of 0 would mean someone got their top choice. The higher the cost, the worse the outcome. The teams that are formed represent the best possible outcome for the entire class. This means that if you ask to switch your team (note - the answer will always be no), you are asking us to make the outcome for your entire class less optimal.
Q: Can I change my ranking after the deadline for submission? ... A: No, any changes to rankings affect how Dreamteam works and will also disrupt the entire matching process for all students.
Q: Can changes be made after company matches are done? ... A: No. The teams that the algorithm generates represent the lowest penalty cost possible for each individual student under the set constraints that we've determined for this project. If we were to change anyone's assignment, even if it seems to be a simple swap out for someone's higher choice, it actually makes the penalty cost higher for everyone. In other words, the teams that were generated are actually the best possible outcome for the entire student body.
Q: Can I change my team after matching? ... A: No. Part of the Studio experience is learning how to work through teaming issues. There will be class instruction as well as Studio support should your team encounter any issues. If your team is having issues, we encourage you to reach out to the Studio team immediately so we can help support you in being successful.
Q: Are there more examples of “How might we...?” challenges that matched with student teams from previous semester s? ... A: Yes! To view examples of previous challenges, take a look at our Buildboard here: http://buildboard-10044.cornelltech.io/fall-2018/ ...
Q: What is the relationship between the companies and student teams? ... A: Product Challenges are not work for hire or internships, but real-world learning opportunities for academic credit. You are not an employee of the company, you are a student working on an academic project that a company posed. You should not list the company as an employer on your resume or LinkedIn profile. You can reach out to Career Services if you want guidance on how to articulate this experience in your job search.
Your team may pivot from an original idea to best address the challenge, or even reframe the challenge itself in the context of the Product Development curriculum (and with approval from your class instructors). The Company Advisors are not meant to influence product development, but rather serve as domain experts and mentors.
Q: How is Intellectual Property (IP) handled? ... A: The primary purpose of the project is the education of the student. Organizations and students should define projects that are learning experiences and expose students to real-world challenges and opportunities within the organization. The ownership of any intellectual property (IP) that may be created during the project is public domain. The project is for educational purposes and any resulting intellectual property is openly shared for public benefit. IP, along with other legal matters, including confidentiality, pertaining to the project, are agreed upon at the outset of the project using the Cornell Standard Project (CSP) agreement [https://tech.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/legacy/CSP-EC_Agreement_v1.8a_04-13-2017.pdf]. Companies that are matched with a team agree to use the CSP without modifications or revisions.