My Bug List

“My Bug list”

1.       One of the things that bothers me the most is when we are in football season (Fall semester) and no matter if you purchase a Full Season ticket or a single game ticket, the line for picking up the tickets is ridiculous. But that’s not all, if you are a civilized person and you wait in the line, you will be there for at least 2 hours! People merge in the line, the windows where the personnel are giving the tickets close out of a sudden and it is a complete mess which finally ends up messing everyone up.

Why?

Because the people that organize the event either don’t have the tools to manage this type of situations or they just don’t care. I believe that there is a simple solution for this which is based on having guards that control the people, and also well underlined procedures that everyone who is looking for a ticket must follow. There is also an opportunity of providing each buyer a specific card for the games. This means that the people that bought the tickets online don’t have to pick up any tickets because they are all included in a card that is “swiped” ate the entrance or gate of every game.

2.       Sometimes going to the gym at UF can turn your day upside down. One thing that bothers me the most is when there is just too many people in the lifting section at the Southwest Recreation Center. The maximum capacity might be at the most 90 people, but there are times in the day (almost every evening) where there is more than 90 people in this section of the gym, which finally makes your workout a challenge and almost a race for every lifting machine you would like to use.

Why?

This happens because the personnel at the gym don’t have the resources or the permission to close this section for a moment until some people go and there is more space available for the people that has being waiting for their turn. Another option could be to give specific bracelet that indicates that he/she can be at the lifting section for a maximum of 2 hours.

3.       I live in a complex composed by small townhouses. Many of my neighbors have pets, which are typically dogs and cats. There is not a worst beginning of the day where I have to walk to get to the bus station and in my way, I can perceive the presence of animal waste, which without any doubt comes from my neighbors’ pets. It really bothers me that these people don’t care about their communities.

Why?

This reason why this occurs is because there is nobody forcing them to obey the law. The solution is either to hire someone in charge of watching around the condominium. Another alternative could be to provide the neighbors with “waste bag posts” that must be used by the neighbors when they are walking around with their dogs. And finally, a penalty (ticket) should be applied to any neighbor that infringes the rule.

4.       The University of Florida is ranked as one of the top 50 Universities in the country, and it is the best when talking about colleges within the State of Florida. There is no doubt about this, and I can say I fell proud for being here. But I’ve had some experiences with a couple of professors that I believe should let the new generation of teachers to start teaching. In other words, I believe that one of the big challenges for the University is to look for new teachers that are at the level of those who have provided their excellent teaching skills throughout many years. I believe that we all must understand that every beginning as an end, and something that bothers me is that in a couple of classes I’ve felt that the classes I’m taking are not worth  the tuition I’m paying.

Why?

This happens because long-term professors are basically tied to the University. There should be another option for them to still be tied to the college. A good example of this could be to assign this professors to only teach online classes which at the end would open the possibility of a new job for the upcoming generation of professors.

5.       So far, it has been one of the coldest Spring semesters that I’ve experienced since I moved to Gainesville two years ago. It is a great advantage that students are able to take the bus for free, but when you have class at Heavener School of Business and the closest the bus can get you is The Hub, you are basically doing cardio. Walking from the Hub to Heavener could be the reason why you get to your 9am class froze and irritated, and this is due because there are no bus routes going by Heavener.

Why?

This happens because there are no routes that pass by Heavener school of Business. This could be a good option for a creation of job for new drivers, which at the end would produce satisfaction in a large group of students.

6.       As you become a new freshman year in any University, one of the most ridiculous cost you want to avoid are textbooks. But not because they don’t sell them at the University’s bookstore, the reason why I believe is a ridiculous and nonsense expense is because you can find the same textbooks at a much lower price somewhere else! In other words, something that bugs me is that we come to a new environment, where most of us pay a lot of money in tuition and we are not provided an accessible source for our textbooks.

Why?

This occurs because we are not informed about the options we have. I believe that this could be a great opportunity for creating a new smartphone application where anyone, either freshman or senior, is able to look for textbooks using his or her phone.

7.       There have been times when as soon as I finish up the milk gallon bottle or the soda, I said to myself that I have to buy a new one in order to replace it. Of course it’s not science right? We all do that! But one thing that messes me up is when, even though I know that there is no milk for the next day, I still forget about it and I remember it as soon as I open the fridge the next morning.

Why?

The only reason why this happens is because I have many things to do throughout the day which at the end makes me forget that I have to buy a new milk. This is an opportunity for a new smart software, tied to a phone application that can help you remember all the items you are missing in your fridge.

8.       When you are a college student, there is a lot of information about amazing activities going on on-campus which even though there’s information available for you, you may never know about them. Something that annoys me is when there is people on-campus talking about some amazing event that happened recently and I missed not because I didn’t have the time to go, but because I didn’t know about that event at all.

Why?

This happens because the students are not well informed about the different activities available for them and it is a great opportunity of the creation of a smartphone application that can help you understand what social events are going on in your area.

9.       I have a car and I drive it sometimes to go to my afternoon classes. But let me tell you that driving in Gainesville can be like an obstacle race because the streets are old and they need an urgent maintenance.

Why?

This might happen because the authorities don’t have the resources to fix and maintain the streets or they don’t know about this issues. This is another option for an application tied to the local government’s webpage in which the local government receives notifications of any circumstance that can harm the daily life of the citizens in a certain way.

10.   I am sure that most of you guys will agree with this. There in not a worst feeling when you wake up in those awful Monday mornings, where you look for what clothes you are going to wear for the day and then you figure out you forgot to take out your clothes from the dryer or even worst, you forgot to put your clothes from the clothes washer machine to the dryer! This happens because we are all humans and we forget about things, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t irritates those horrible Monday mornings.

Why?

This happens because we are all human beings and we can forget things in a couple of minutes. I believe that the smartphone technology could help us in this case. A software or smartphone application can be developed for a washer/dryer that is focused on reminding you that you left your clothes in the washer or dryer.

11.   There is no doubt that in terms of technology, The University of Florida has the most updated technology offered and intended to make things easier for its students. But it is really annoying when you find seat in the middle of the classroom and you realize you have low battery on your laptop, and there are no outlets close to you. This may not only cause anger in you, but can also affect your notetaking for the class lecture.

Why?

This happens because there are no outlets close to you. Even though the most logical solution is to build more outlets around the classroom, it can be a good hint to the creation of unlimited batteries or Bluetooth chargers that could help you in those instances.

12.   One thing that bothers me is when I go to look at my mailbox, which includes a 500ft walk in a winter weather, and as soon as I open the mailbox, there’s nothing there. I believe that nowadays, the technology could help us know when something has arrived at the mailbox.

Why?

The reason why this happens is because you might have expected something to arrive to your mailbox but it is still on its way. It could be solved with the creation of a software and a smartphone application focused on informing you if you have new mail at the mailbox.

13.   There is no doubt that the Southwest Recreation Center offers all the resources for the students to have an active and healthy life. One of the features of the Southwest Rec. is that it offers personal lockers and showers that can be used by everyone while being either at the gym or playing some sport. But something that bothers me the most is when I finish my workout and I go to the showers and there is people with their shoes on doing something inside the showers (I really don’t know what they can be doing if there is a locker room where you can change clothes and its right by the showers). This activity can spread foot fungus and other infections because the shower should be one of the most sanitized places of the gym. I believe that there’s something that the Southwest Rec. personnel can do in order to keep this section to be sanitized.

Why?

This happens because there is no regulation or control in the showers. This is a possibility of a new position for a Southwest Rec personnel, who would be focused on controlling how the students are using the showers.

14.   Something that I find really annoying is that in football games, there is people standing in their seats, which is completely fine since I can stand on my seat too, but suddenly there is a security guard or a policeman telling me to get down of the seat but he or she doesn’t tell the other people to get down too. I believe this can be solve easily, but I’m not sure if the organization cares.

Why?

This happens because there is little or no control inside the Stadium. This is an opportunity for a new job position for security guards who would be in charge of providing fair an equality for all the spectators in the stadium.

15.   I live off-campus and I need to take the bus or drive my car to get almost everywhere I want to go. Something that bothers me is the fact that the decals offered by UF in order to be able to park your car are way too high. I believe that this aspect could be solved by either stablishing reduced prices or maybe building a new Parking lot.

Why?

This happens because there are few parking spots available for students and it can be solved by either building a new parking building or by providing specific times for every student to park his or her car on a specific day of the week.

16.   There are specific times during the day where there is an excessive amount of people inside the bus, and there is even people that are not able to take the bus just because there is no extra place for more people to fit inside the bus.

Why?

This happens in rush hours and it is also a consequence of the shortage of buses. The solution could be focused on buying more buses and hiring more drivers, or it could also be based on assigning more buses on critical routes on specific times of the day (rushing hours).

17.   The Dollar General store is one of my first options when thinking about anything that I need to buy, it doesn’t matter if its groceries or school material, I always think on Dollar General as my save-money choice. But this store could be a way better competitor within its industry just by providing a better customer service. Something that really bothers me is that many times there is only one cashier in charge of the store. This really messes me up and I see the discomfort on the other people I the line too.

Why?

This happens because they don’t have the resources to hire new people or because the hired cashiers are doing something else in the store. The solution could be done by either hiring more people or offering the well-known self-checkout cashier service for the clients.

18.   Something that really bothers me is when there is basically a monopoly established in an industry. Cox is a great example of why this messes me up. They provide the worst customer service because they don't solve your problems as you hope they would. One major reason why this occurs is because they don’t have an opposition, or if they do, the opposition is not stablished as well as Cox is.

Why?

I believe that the only reason why this happens is because of monopoly. Cox should be focused on providing the best customer service they can, so when competition arrives, they would not be facing the turnover of many of their clients. This could be solved by hiring well trained customer service employees.

19.   Since I am 21 years old (about a year ago) every time that I go out with my friends to try new bars and/or clubs, I’ve realized that there is a really low control (or not control at all) of the limit of alcohol that a drink must include. I’ve seen that bartenders either overserve or underserve alcohol and they don’t do the same thing with their prices!

Why?

This is a dangerous problem that can lead not only to customer discomfort, but it could also result in health problems. I believe there is an opportunity for innovation in this matter, for example a “smart glass” can be created which indicates the amount of alcohol each drink should include.

20.   Something that messes me up are really hot foods. We all know that waking up is a struggle for both your mind and your body. In fact, many times in the morning we are not able to react as fast as we would in the middle of a day. In addition to all this struggle, there is not a worst feeling but to prepare a “hot” coffee which at the first moment that you try it, it literally feels like you’ve destroyed your upper-lip which at the end adds an additional frustration to those horrific mornings.

Why?

This happens because the opposite of a microwave has not yet being invented. This is a great opportunity for technology and customers like me, who like hot food as much as they like cold food.

Reflection

This assignment was a real challenge for me because I didn’t know that there could be 20 problems that I face on a daily basis, and above all I didn’t know that I could think about possible solutions for all these problems. I believe that this exercise opens your eyes in the sense that you not only look for problems, but you try to invent a new and genuine solution that can help you solve the problem. As I was looking and thinking about possible solutions, I realized that the solutions I provide could also help other people that might have the same “bugs” that I do, which at the end releases a possibility of innovation and a new business opportunity. This exercise turns your mind into a complete “entrepreneurial mode”, which I really enjoyed