HarvardxDesign: Defining your product vision

Parsa KamaliDirector of Design

Josh WexlerCo-Founder and CEO

Define, design, and develop software products from start to finish.

What do we do?

How we do it.

Vision Definition

Explore, clarify, and

prototype an idea

before writing a line of

code.

Build the MVP

Develop the first version

of a web/mobile app

and validate it with

users.

Launch & Scale

Drive business impact

by releasing a product

that grows with its

users.

Who we’ve worked with.

NYU

Harvard

Flatiron

TEDx Harvard

LeanUX

Qcon

Agile

We teach.

Go through our work-shop for turning ideas into tangible solutions, so you can apply the methods to your product or technology ideas.

Today.

Why Vision Definition?

Communicating ideas is difficult.

car car

People think and talk differently

And they don’t usually know what they want, until they

See it.

Try it.

Experience it.

Because of this,

Gathering meaningful feedback is difficult.

Vision Definition

Explore, clarify, and prototype an idea before writing a line of code.

The value of Vision Definition

Creates a common language.

1


Surfaces our assumptions.

2



Makes the abstract real.

3





Makes the abstract real.


Allows for real user validation.

4

Tell me something.

And I will forget.

Show me something.

And I can remember.

Involve me.

And I will understand.”

“

Chinese Proverb

It’s our first step in Prototype Driven Development

Vision Sprint Build Sprint

Vision Definition Workshop

Prototype and Iterate

Technical Recommendations

Plan

Deliver

Prototype Validate

Story Capture

Code & TestRelease

User Testing & Analytics

Elements of Vision Definition

Goals

Problem

Inspiration

Customer Groups

Personas

User Narratives

Paper Prototypes

Mylo

Goals

Problem

Inspiration

Customer Groups

Personas

User Narratives

Paper Prototypes

1-2 sentences that describe the issue (or need) of a person or

group.

Mylo’s Problem

Students don’t know that there is a process-based way to write well, and even if they do know about it, it is hard to practice without explicit instruction.

Mylo

Goals

Problem

Inspiration

Customer Groups

Personas

User Narratives

Paper Prototypes

Other systems that attempt to solve the

problem or inspire us with their design and/or

functionality.

InspirationMural.ly

http://mrl.li/mo98n7N1

Mylo

Goals

Problem

Inspiration

Customer Groups

Personas

User Narratives

Paper Prototypes

Results the solution should achieve.

Goals

Students can write

an entire outline in

the system.

Help students

formulate better

thesis statements.

Have checklists to

help with writing

a rough and final

draft.

Help students to

analyze quotes

with the SQUIDS

approach.

Teacher will be

excited to use the

tool with their

students.

Facilitate better

teaching of writing

by allowing

teachers to give

feedback.

Provide the same

level of writing

instruction that a

private tutor could

offer.

Give a platform

for writing tutors

to provide easier

instruction.

Help students to

get essays done on

time.

Students will get

better at writing

by not having

to relearn the

structure.

Guide students in

the entire writing

process.

Help students track

where they are in

the writing process.

Mylo

Goals

Problem

Inspiration

Customer Groups

Personas

User Narratives

Paper Prototypes

Groups of people who feel the pain of the

problem and might use the solution.

Customer Groups

Students in 8th to 11th grade in private schools in NYC.

Mylo

Goals

Problem

Inspiration

Customer Groups

Personas

User Narratives

Paper Prototypes

Characters that represent each customer group.

Persona

Name

Mylo

Background » Motivated to do well in class » Struggles with putting ideas into sentences » Loves technology » Uses a laptop for writing assignments » Parents and learning specialist help him with writing » Struggles to take in information

Wants » Independence: depend less on others to write effectively » Do well in school » Feel a sense of accomplishment

Pain » Reduce his anxiety and stress » Avoid negative feedback from teachers

Age

13

Customer Group

8th grader in private school

Mylo

Goals

Problem

Inspiration

Customer Groups

Personas

User Narratives

Paper Prototypes

Step-by-step breakdown of how a persona would use

the solution.

Narrative

BackgroundMylo read Lord of the Flies for English class. He participated in class discussions and answered weekly response questions. Mylo’s teacher just assigned a final essay project, and he chose a topic to focus on.

NarrativeSet up new doc1. Mylo logs onto system2. He sees a dashboard (including projects, progress, help, etc. )3. He creates a new assignment 4. He specifies the kind of essay he needs to write as literary response5. He sees a set-up wizard that asks which book(s) the paper is covering6. He inputs Lord of the Flies, and the book is pulled into the system

Idea/topic phase1. He’s then asked, “What’s the main question/prompt?”2. He inputs, “Which boy is best suited to lead the society on the island and why?”3. He is prompted to write an idea statement, but he struggles to think of something4. He accesses the help page where he can read about the characters

Mylo

Goals

Problem

Inspiration

Customer Groups

Personas

User Narratives

Paper Prototypes

A hand-drawn version of the user narrative that shows the

user interface.

Paper Prototype

Hi,

Let’s prototype for a minute.

Problem.

Solution.

It is hard to know when to leave for the airport when you have a flight especially when it has been delayed.

An app that gives users a trusted time for the airport considering time (persons schedule) traffic (rush hour considerations), weather, and flight delays.

Hi, we’re prototyping.

BackgroundPersona.

Name

Sandra

» Works for a consulting firm so is on the road a lot » Always schedules meetings close to her flight times » Does not care about costs (firm picks it up) » Her home base is NYC

Wants » An accurate understanding of when to leave for the airport

Frustrations » Flight delays are common in NYC airports but it is hard to trust when to leave even where a flight delay is known

Age

32

Customer Group

Millenial, well-to-do worker who is always busy.


Narrative.


Sandra has a flight from Chicago to NYC to come home on a Thursday night. She is working at a client site. It is winter and the weather is not looking good. She is just wrapping up her last meeting of the day.

Narrative1. She gets a notification that she should start to think about leaving for the airport2. Opens the app and sees her flight information and that the flight is delayed by 20 minutes do to traffic at LGA3. She taps on a button to see her options for getting to the airport

Sandra has a flight from Chicago to NYC to come home on a Thursday night. She is working at a client site. It is winter and the weather is not looking good. She is just wrapping up her last meeting of the day.

Narrative

1. She gets a notification that she should start to think about leaving for the airport2. Opens the app and sees her flight information and that the flight is delayed by 20 minutes do to traffic at LGA3. She taps on a button to see her options for getting to the airport

SandraProblem » Works for a consulting firm so is on the road a lot » Always schedules meetings close to her flight times » Does not care about costs (firm picks it up) » Her home base is NYC

WantsSolution » An accurate understanding of when to leave for the airport

Frustrations

» Flight delays are common in NYC airports but it is hard to trust when to leave even where a flight delay is known

It is hard to know when to leave

for the airport when you have

a flight especially when it has

been delayed.

An app that gives users a

trusted time for the airport

considering time (persons

schedule) traffic (rush hour

considerations), weather, and

flight delays.

Thanks!

Questions?

[email protected] [email protected]

A note on fidelity.

Fidelity.

Low.

Fidelity.

Medium.

High.

Fidelity.

Tools.

» Google Docs/Sites » Mural.ly » Prototyping » Index cards » Evernote » PowerPoint/Keynote » Axure, iRise, Invision, Balsamiq » Development » Webflow » Bootstrap/Foundation » Ruby on Rails

HarvardxDesign: Defining your product vision

Technology

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