Hack-a-vator

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Hack-a-vator

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hack-a-vator

Presentation for Hack-A-Vator competition

On Github NebuPookins / hack-a-vator

Hack-a-vator

Oleksii Tsai (oleksiit@), Oliver Wong (olivwong@), Tim Neumann (timmann@) — Amazon 2015

Why do people hate waiting for elevators?

(Hint: It’s not the length of the wait.)

S = P — E

David Maister, “The Psychology of Waiting Lines”, 1985

Queuing psychologists: three givens of human nature

We get bored when we wait in line. We really hate it when we expect a short wait and then get a long one. We really, really hate it when someone shows up after us but gets served before us.

Occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time

David Maister, “The Psychology of Waiting Lines”, 1985

Supplement/Replace posters

Public Service Announcements

Trailers

Polls/Simple Games

How do you feel about Brick-and-Mortar Amazon Stores?

Queuing psychologists: three givens of human nature

We get bored when we wait in line. We really hate it when we expect a short wait and then get a long one. We really, really hate it when someone shows up after us but gets served before us.
“Uncertainty magnifies the stress of waiting, while feedback in the form of expected wait times and explanations for delays improves the tenor of the experience.” Alex Stone, “Why Waiting Is Torture”, New York Times 2012 Aug 18

Show TP95% Wait time

Parameterized by time of day, day of week

How long do I have to wait for an elevator, given that it's Wednesday noon? “3 minutes”? Screw that, I'm taking the stairs.

Self-healing/Self-optimizing system

  • Busy elevators ⇛ High TP95 ⇛ Take stairs
  • Idle elevators ⇛ Low TP95 ⇛ Take elevators

Queuing psychologists: three givens of human nature

We get bored when we wait in line. We really hate it when we expect a short wait and then get a long one. We really, really hate it when someone shows up after us but gets served before us.

Anecdote

Don't show current floor

  • Algorithm is a black box.
  • Knowing the current floor doesn't tell you much.
  • All I care about is ETA.
  • Current floor is data that just infuriates you for no good reason.

UI Mockup

TP95: 47 sec
57°F

Need to move on with presentation

Further Incentivizing Stair-taking

  • Badge-in at door to stairs
  • Track scores
  • Leaderboard
  • Gift card/Phonetool icons

Evaluation Summary

(For judge's convenience)

Cost of implementation

Low cost, high return

  • A couple of LCDs + Commodity PC per floor
  • Already gathering the data anyway
  • Can scale software (poster, trailers, games, etc.) as simple or complex as budget allows

Ease of use

Instinctual

  • Watching trailers, so easy even I can do it
  • Anyone can understand "It'll take 3 minutes to get to the lobby if you take the elevator right now"
  • Most engineers at Amazon already familiar with TP95 terminology.
  • If you're not familiar, your guess-interpretation at seeing "3 minutes" on the screen is probably correct.
  • No training required, just have humans do what comes naturally

Value Generation

Low cost, high return

  • Morale significantly improved
  • Actual productivity improved
  • Improved casual information dissemination
  • Improved poll participation rates, paves the way for prediction markets

Uniqueness

???

  • Depends on other presentations

Quality of Presentation

Judges are blown away

  • QED.

Questions?

0