1. School to Work Process
Prototyping and Testing
by
Ana de Armas y Villada
2. Three Selected Ideas
• The most practical idea: #1 & #2 (Update CV & send it to Universities at
USA to ask for a job of research fellow). This is the obvious solution to this
problem. My stakeholder has been working as research fellow for years
and she should look for a similar job now. It is an easy solution, and she
can have the support of her professional network.
• The most disruptive idea: #50 (Create a company in the collaborative
consumption market, focused on providing these services in her
neighborhood at USA). Collaborative consumption is a new trend at USA,
so the idea is not disruptive by itself, it is disruptive applied to my
stakeholder as it implies a huge change of job type for her!!
• My favorite idea: #52 (Design an on-line game to teach people how to
take care of their pets). Gamification is a new trend both in business and
learning, and I love it!
3. Prototype #1
Create a company in the collaborative consumption market, focused on
providing these services in her neighborhood at USA
Neighborhood where you live
Assets owned by your customers,
covered by the renting service
Your customers = your neighbors
Web page to provide
the renting service
4. + What worked What could be improved
? Questions ! Ideas
Risk: if the customers contact each
other personally during the first
transaction, perhaps for the next
transaction they will not go through
your web page, they will reach a
deal without using your services
and you will not win money.
The prototype provides a good
description of the idea, it is clear
enough.
How will you fix the prices for
renting each of the assets? Will the
owner of the asset fix the price?
Focus the business in a concrete
type of assets: gardening tools,
clothes, books…
5. Prototype #2
Design an on-line game to teach people how to take care of their pets
Web application
Dogs
Cats
Horses
Birds
Small Mammals
Five Games
I am
barking!
I am sad!
I am hungry!
I am ill!
What will you do?
Different choices
a), b), c)… for
each case study,
right answers
are rewarded…
Basic games are for free. Games
with advanced options are accessed
through a subscription fee.
6. + What worked What could be improved
? Questions ! Ideas
Good idea! People usually don’t
know how to take care of their pets
when they buy them!
The prototype provides a good
description of the idea, it is clear
enough.
Provide veterinary services;
Provide a dog’s trainer services;
Sell pet’s food under demand,
carrying the food to owner’s home;
Provide other services as pet’s
washing etc.
How will you implement the web
application? Will you contract some
specialists on gamification?
How will you motivate people to pay
for the advanced services that you
will offer? The business model is
not clear…
7. Reflection (I)
• What did I learn by testing my prototypes?
– Now I am fully convinced that to be in close
contact with my stakeholder is key to design a
good solution. So, the Empathy Map should be
updated once and again during the process, it
should be a live document.
– Ideas coming from the stakeholder are very valid!!
They should be considered to be part of the final
design.
8. Reflection (II)
• What would I do next if I were to continue
working on the project?
– First of all, I would update the Empathy Map and I
would review the problem statement, to check if I
should update it, too. If any of my prototypes have
been accepted by the customer, I would continue
working on them, to design the solution including
the received feedback. If the prototype would
have been fully rejected, I should come back to
the list of ideas to work on a different one…
