Reflection:

There are interesting considerations when developing a connected device. One consideration is that both users need to be on a similar page in terms of how often and in what context they would like to interact with each other. For instance, in the scenario of Ted and Mike, this product wouldn't necessarily work for a person who didn't want to be reminded of when their friend was having a drink. Any connected device needs to be reciprocal in terms of usefulness. Moreover, it was a challenge to uncover how to solve simple interactions in the physical context. For instance, accounting for affirmation that Ted's coaster is working, affirmation that Ted knows Mike's coaster is working, and vice versa. There are many edge cases that we discovered and were curious about, for instance, what if a third friend wants to join in, and what if both users are holding their drink at the same time - does that cause interaction problems?