1718T2 Silicon Valley/Reflection/Day1

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REFLECTION

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Reflections

Student Name	Facebook & Instagram	Daylight	VISA
Adeline Jong
Andrew Tay	“The technology industry landscape in Singapore has not yet matured to the the state of Silicon Valley where there are ample opportunities available”	“Never go to a meeting without a prototype. It doesn’t need to be a final design. It could be a paper prototype or a sketch and have reactive feedback from the user.”	“A large part of what we are doing is through human centric design. That is to demonstrate the desirability, desirable and viability of the product.”
Benedict Wee
Claire Teo
Clara Chong	People get energized by their strengths: I love what Sean said about Facebook being “strengths” focused and that it contrasts greatly with how in Asia, most workers are expected to “get better” at their job by improving on their weaknesses. It’s part of what differentiates Facebook and makes it a great place to work at!	Fail often to succeed faster: Sven shared “Instead of saying what’s a good idea? It’s better to go out there and try and fail early to succeed sooner.” And I couldn’t agree more! Yet, between failing and the success that hopefully follows, lies mastering how to pick oneself up after multiple failures and I believe Daylight Design has done that extremely well.	Innovation is in the way we look at things: “Innovation is not always about using new technology but can also be about using existing technology in different ways. “ - Natalie, Visa Visa may not be at the forefront of fintech innovation but one cannot deny that they have innovated in ways that make them relevant and still, the largest payment network of today!
Clarissa Poedjiono
Derrick Lee Ming Yang	“The opportunity for development is everywhere, it’s up to the individual to take ownership for development”. I took down this quote in particular because I agree with it as a developer myself. Many times I hear friends and people saying that they can’t code or do certain things because they don’t have the resources to do so. However, I find it very untrue because If i could do the things that they wish to do just by “googling” for resources and tutorials, I don’t understand why they can’t do the same as well.	“If the same problem keeps coming back in different ways, there’s usually a larger system at play”. The point of contact gave a very good analogy regarding how the same problem always come back. I find this quote intriguing because it can be applied anywhere. For example, my girlfriend and I always fight, and I see each fight as the same problem. After today, I know that since we keep fighting, there’s usually a larger problem at hand (i.e. larger system). But question is, how do I know what the larger problem is and how do i fix it? I believe I would need advice from good old married man like my father, but his advice to me was “don’t try too hard”. So perhaps someone can help me? “Your team should never be bigger than a school bus” I believe that this is very subjective. For a startup/boutique consulting firm like Daylight itself, it could be very true. However, from a business point of view, it doesn’t really make sense. By not expanding on the team, there is only n numbers of projects that they company can fulfill. Having n numbers of projects means they have only a fixed amount of profit. It might work for them because they’re fueled by passion. “Never go into a meeting without a prototype”I learnt the importance of prototyping when I joined a Business-IT competition called Innovate IT back in 2011. I led a team from ITE to clinch their first prize. I believe that we stood out from the other teams only because we spent the time to actually develop a prototype, which impressed the panel of judges.	“New ways to pay are emerging to meet consumer and retailer needs”. The use cases and possibilities of blockchain and tokens are endless. However, one must note that many times the media portray these technology as disruptive and a “scam”. But we must not forget that those are the black sheep misusing the technology. There’s a saying that the solution to money laundering is through blockchain. Perhaps in the near future, we’ll see the true power of blockchain.
Eustace Zheng	Giving everyone in the world community a voice through the plethora of products and services in the company’s arsenal.	A business with only profits in mind is easy to achieve but a business grounded with principles and sticking to them with values is what make things meaningful. Quote: “We always ensure to match values of the customer with ours”	Enabling payments with a human centered focus and bringing in the revolution of different mechanism and methods of payment for all of VISA’s customers. Quote: “We are not simply enabling payments but we are enabling experiences”
Felix Wu
Student Name	Facebook & Instagram	Daylight	VISA
Goh Jia Yi Timothy	FB: Diversity of culture that broaden my world view and how a young Mark Zuckerberg idea at his Havard dorm room can change the world. Through the different cultures and diverse communities in Facebook, we get to experience knowledge from across the world plus the food there is amazing! Instagram: Fun creative work environment that fosters out of the box thinking methods and styles to encourage new ideas and growth to the company!	Design thinking that focuses on consumers as a priority and knowing their needs and wants and executing them accurately .This helps to give what the consumer really wants and helps to change the world!	Internet of things is applicable throughout our life from cars to our homes and creating a whole new experiences that can be available for much more purposes such as data analytics that can help improve our lives! In addition plastic credit cards may be irrelevant to our life soon!
Goh Jin Qiang	“Meetings is to update people and not for problem solving”. Any prolonged discussion/ problems needs to be taken offline for productive meeting, to maximise people concentration and prevent wasting their time.	Every successful product has to be inspired by people. Talk to people, observe them and understand their needs. Doing it right is more important than doing it better or differently.	Innovation is the key to improve people’s life. Innovation is not about doing things differently or finding new technological breakthrough. Using traditional methods or old technology can also improve user’s life and their experience. “You do not always have to find a new dinosaur to have new discovery”
Jacquelyn See
Jamie Chew	“At Facebook, there is no such thing as stupid idea. Every idea counts.” Today, it is hard to find a single idea that has not been thought of. Many times, we place unnecessary pressure on ourselves to come up with the best idea, and are afraid to speak up whenever we are not confident of what we have brainstormed. By dismissing “stupid” ideas, we may actually miss out on opportunities. After all, many great companies that we have today actually came from ideas which most people thought were “crazy”.	“Don’t sit on your idea for too long, get your hands dirty and do a prototype to test out the idea.” It was encouraging to hear from Daylight that they do not believe in launching the perfect product. I too, believe that design thinking is an iterative process. Instead of coming up with the best solution, we should always push out “good enough” products quickly to gain feedback and to learn on how to be better.	“Our innovation lab is based on human-centric design principles - we design for users, like you and I.” Seeing how a large company adopts a creative approach to problem solving by putting people first, and developing innovation solutions to suit their needs is truly exciting, as I believe that the best resources are put in to create new and innovative solutions for consumers. I also feel incredibly privileged to catch a glimpse into the future of driving through its Visa-connected car prototype in its Innovation Lab.
Jared Sim	There are many more opportunities here compared to Singapore, all the major tech companies are here.	Think about the whole system rather than just solving the problem	Enabling commerce to happen at scale
Jeremy Bachtiar
Jolyn Yio	Today I learned that Facebook and Instagram have amazing offices and working environments with lots of autonomy and free food. However, they do face several problems that users like us do not see. One of which is the recent privacy controversy that led to a trust deficit between users and the company.	And at Daylight, a design firm where design thinking is the heart of the company, the whole process enables Daylight to solve their customers’ problems by always putting their customers first.	Lastly, VISA was an amazing place to visit. The way they transform the whole payment experience by making it really trustworthy and secure. All in all, I learned that that different companies face different issues everyday and by tackling each issue, they too make money on it.
Jonathan Chew	While Facebook provides the platform and resources for learning and growth, one should take ownership and responsibility for their own learning, growth and progression. There is an emphasis empowering your own employees and trust in the abilities of your employees to improve themselves and the company.	“We do reject some clients because we want to ensure that our values matches well with that of our customers.” In design, constant communication and goal alignment requires both parties to work together closely to achieve the solution together.	“We’re not just in the business of enabling transactions, we’re also in the business of enabling experiences.” It was interesting to see that Visa is actually exploring more than just traditional methods of payment, but integrating it to our daily lives through IOT.�
Moses Fam	“Deficit of trust has impacted the ability to communicate” The issue of privacy has created an impact that has caused the trust of consumers in using facebook and as such people who used to use Facebook without the fear of their information getting lost are more wary and has such hindered the way things communicate. That is something that is important for businesses to work out. The trust is something that can be destroyed over a day but not built over a day.	“Fail early to succeed sooner” Having the need to prototype in design thinking, failure is part of the process. No matter how many failures it maybe, having to fail early would mean that through more experience , i’m able to succeed sooner. A unique perspective that i find special to me.	“Physical Retail Space is Reborn” Sometimes stepping out of the usual space is good for companies to actually move forward in their approach and their business. Just like physical retail space, with possibility of having shops coming in shops and driving towards consumers, constant innovation is important for other companies as well to continuously move forward.
Remy Ng	Focus on whatever you are strong at, that energises you and take it to the next level	User-centric problem solving	Distribution as a differentiator
Student Name	Facebook & Instagram	Daylight	VISA
Rizudin Bin Jalar	Opinion: I guess Eugene was right. Most of the times, we always do not believe in ourselves and think we can't do it. We should start believing and start doing!	People always come first! Opinion: Your idea is only useful when it brings value to people! Hence it is true that people always come first cause if we never think of the users and empathize them, our ideas will fail cause the users do not want to use them.	We have to always improve. Nothing except change is permanent. Opinion: Though Visa is a huge company, the company continues to improve and innovate to keep ahead of its competitor. Keep changing and keep innovating!
Shilpa Suresh	The culture at both is quite similar and focuses on talent that is inspired and able to innovate. A quote that stuck with me was “everyone who works here really wants to make a difference. Sounds corny but that is the best way to describe us”	Very interesting company. Maintaining a sustainable size to keep up the quality was and interesting and definitely logical move.Their focus on simplicity and minimalism is reflected not only in their work but also in the way their company is run. The activity made me think about how I can come up with creative solutions in my life.	Very open culture with employees being brutally honest about the quality of their product. If there’s a limitation,they’re not scared to talk about it. They’re focus on the consumer when adapting cutting edge research is something that brings immense value not only for the customer but also to the greater scientific community.�
Tan Jian Hua
Tan Ming Sheng
Tay Wei Xuan
Terence Yeo
Wong Zhe Yin, Treasa
Xavier See
Zhuo Yunying (Kaelyn)