Divide your group into three distinct teams considering the case of a large manufacturer and online seller of sports clothing and health accessories called Ganymede Fitness. They manufacture and sell clothing including shirts, shorts, pants, headbands, and some fitness technology products. They are privately held, global company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, in the U.S., which has a corporate slogan stating, “Helping the world get fit, happy, and healthy, one person at a time.”

a. Assign team members so that there are an equal number of team members in each of the following three groups:

Team 1 Systems Analysts. This team should take the position of systems analysts who are have been asked to gather feelings of two groups—Team 2, the consumers of Ganymede Fitness products and their website content, and asking Team 3, the Ganymede Fitness ecommerce managers about the usefulness of recommendation systems and ratings systems for online shopping. Eventually, the analysts will be tasked with designing recommendation systems and rating systems for Ganymede Fitness.

Team 2 Ganymede Fitness product users and website users. This team is made up of avid users of Ganymede Fitness products (which are only available on their website), many of who have been with them since their opening in 2010. They have eagerly adopted all of the products Ganymede Fitness offered, most recently their fitness technology products.

Team 3 Ganymede Fitness Ecommerce managers. This team is composed of ecommerce managers who work for Ganymede Fitness and are charged with keeping the ecommerce portion of the website up to date. They would like to know more about their customers so that the website becomes more personalized with recommendations for purchases and ratings of their products. They would also like to find out from the systems analysts what the possibilities are for improving their website.

b. Each team should meet virtually or face to face and reaffirm their purpose as a team. During their initial meeting, Team 1 should prepare a series of interview questions for both Teams 2 and 3.

Team 1 of systems analysts should prepare a list of six open-ended questions for the users and a list of six open-ended questions for the ecommerce managers. Team 2 of product and website users should discuss and create a common list of sports clothing and health accessories they have purchased or would consider purchasing online, and what their favorite features of each product are. Team 3 of ecommerce managers should write six interview questions for Team 1 about what kind of support for online purchases, including ratings and recommendations, they can provide.

Team 3 should also prepare six questions for Team 2 about their website preferences.

c. Once each team has completed their assignment, they should meet face to face or in a monitored chat room (using whatever technology is available to the class) to role-play the tasks and perspectives outlined for each team in part

a. Team 1 should take the lead and begin interviewing members of Team 2.

Team 3 should join in asking any questions that have not yet been asked of Team 2, and also following up on the initial questions with probing questions. Team 1 should move to the next phase, and ask their prepared questions of Team 3 about how useful ratings and recommendations would be to the Ganymede Fitness website. Assigning a scribe or note taker for each team to write notes about answers will help move the process along for the last step.

d. Each of the three teams should meet separately (face to face or online) as a team to discuss what they learned in response to their questions. Each team should write a brief one-page report that includes: date, time of day, length of interview, and participants in the interview. The one-page report should include a summary of key information learned in the interview, and also include a list of any points that were raised but that still need to be clarified.