At MyA, we are using all tools at our disposal to help families build the habits they want to build. We report on week 2 of a 4 week pilot with the Lees (see week 1). In this week, we saw a 11 point drop (90% to 79%) in overall reliability, but continued success in achieving well being based on interviews with family members. In the article, we describe the wins of the week, the issues we encountered and associated remediations.

Week 2 wins: Well being improvements sustained

All members of the family report that well being continued to improve.

Some notes:

1. (+) Mom and dad noted that the reduced need to nag kids continued into the 2nd week

2. (+) Dad noticed many improvements to well-being: reduced decision-fatigue, mental load, brain scattering and stress levels; increased peace of mind, satisfaction and productive momentum; and more time dedicated to and progress on professional pursuits

3. (+) The 10yo girl seamlessly adopted the new responsibilities (related to assisting grandma) delegated to her, leading to a better balance of workload in the family

4. (+) With additional time from the delegation above, dad increased his rate of exercise (to 3x vs. 2x in week 1) this week and recorded a slight decrease in blood pressure (early days, but it’s in right direction)

5. (+) Care for grandma was sustained at 100% (96 of 96) compliance vs. the week before and family continued to get peace of mind from it

6. (+) The kids continued to enjoy using the app and getting recognition and rewards for their work. The 8yo started including the MyA app on a drawing of the home screen her “dream smartphone” ( screenshot )

Week 2 Issues: Reliability and Inaccurate check-offs

Issue 1: Reliability took a dip

While overall, the family noted continued positive impact in week 2, the data indicated a small decrease (90% to 79%) in overall reliability (see table below)

The family and MyA team brainstormed the following root causes and potential remediations:

1. The novelty of the process began to wear off ⇒ This is systemic and we will be systematically mitigating against it

2. Incentives were not paid at the end of week 1 (an execution failure) ⇒ This has not been automated in our MVP yet, but we have instituted a reliable process to ensure execution during the pilot

3. The family is forgetting to log into the app on time ⇒ We will institute SMS / Whatsapp reminders (not a part of the current MVP) to mitigate this though we also are aiming for the family to build the habit and not need reminders

4. Parts of the MVP UI are clunky (having more info and requiring more UI actions than needed) ⇒ We will build a next version to streamline the UI flow (though this may not happen in time for the 4 week pilot)

5. All family members dealt with sickness during the week and mom had a birthday, throwing the kids’ routines off ⇒ This is a part of family life and we expect that some amount of unreliability will need to be accepted for it

Issue 2: Inaccurate check-offs

In one scenario, mom found that one of the daughters had checked the “do homework” task without actually doing homework.

To remediate, we adjusted the task so that a photo of completed homework was required to mark the task complete.

Generally, the parents are monitoring the fidelity of check offs manually but in cases where it is beneficial to do so, we have the option of requiring digital evidence (e.g., photos and videos) in order to check an item off.

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About MyA

MyA is a platform for Trusted Execution. Trusted Execution is the ability to do things on time, correctly and with confidence, either by you or someone else and we believe more of it will make the world a better place. Our mission is to create performance and well-being in homes through Trusted Execution.