A presentation I gave to the Action Design NYC meetup in March of 2014. Discussion circled around what RunKeeper is, what we've learned over the years, how we go about changing fitness behaviors, and what our process looks like to get there.

1. Changing Fitness Behaviors

2. AGENDA
• What is RunKeeper?
• What we’ve learned
• Our process
• How we change behavior
• Q&A

3. THE PROBLEM

4. 80%OF AMERICANS WATCH OVER
3 HOURS OF TV A DAY

5. 1in3ADULTS WORLDWIDE ARE
OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE

6. 1.5BPEOPLE WORLDWIDE
ARE PRE-DIABETIC

7. AREAS OF HEALTH & FITNESS
Exercise
SleepNutrition
Daily Movement

8. ACTIVE LIVING FOR EVERY BODY

9. AREAS OF HEALTH & FITNESS
SleepNutrition
Daily Movement
Exercise

10. HOW IT WORKS
Track Activity Analyze Progress Share with Friends

11. 30MUSERS WORLDWIDE

12. 300M+ACTIVITIES

13. 500M+MILES TRACKED

14. WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

15. MORE THAN JUST A UTILITY

16. CHANGING BEHAVIOR
IN REAL LIFE

17. PERSONA TIMELINE
Improver Maintainer Performer

18. NOT LINEAR
?

19. PERSONALIZED GUIDANCE AND
MOTIVATION IS KEY

20. EVERYONE HAS A GOAL

23. “OLD” MOTIVATION THEORY
Behavior response to variable/fixed schedule of + and - external stimuli

24. SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theory of motivation
that aims to explain individuals’ goal-directed behavior.
!
Conditions supporting the individual’s experience of
autonomy, competence, and relatedness are argued to
foster the most volitional and high quality forms of
motivation and engagement for activities, including
enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity.

25. WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE @ RUNKEEPER

26. THIS IS HOW WE DO IT

27. PRIMARY PERSONAS
Ian
The Improver
Michelle
The Maintainer
Paul
The Performer
Wants to lose 10 lbs
and run his first 5k.
Just wants to workout
consistently and not
lose any ground.
Wants to beat his best
Half-Marathon time.

28. SECONDARY PERSONAS
Piper
The Pre-Occupier
Andy
The Achiever
Will
The Weighter
Knows she needs to
do more, but doesn’t
know where to start.
Aspires to finishing his
first half marathon.
Needs to lose weight,
running is the path he
chose.

29. IMPOSTER PERSONAS
Quinn
The Quantified Selfer
Lilly
The Lifer
Wants to track and analyze every
aspect of his health.
Doesn’t need any motivation
or guidance, and will run
regularly no matter what.

30. AUDIO CUES

31. NOTIFICATIONS

32. GOALS
• Lose Weight
• Finish a Race
• Cumulative Distance
• Single Distance

33. TRAINING PLANS
• Workout-level
guidance to achieve
goals
• Education for what to
do on rest days
• Many opportunities
for re-engagement

34. SOCIAL MOTIVATION
• Just about everyone
is competitive
• Seeing that friends
were active is
powerful motivator
• 1:1

35. OUR PROCESS

36. AGILE
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

38. POD STRUCTURE
• 1 PM
• 1 UX Designer
• ~1 UI Designer
• 1 QA
• 4-5 Engineers
Everybody is a designer!

39. USER RESEARCH
• 1 interview per person, per month
• Phone call, Skype, Go for a run
• Surveys

40. LEAN USABILITY TESTING
• UX Designers conduct their own usability tests
• 3-5 people into office every 2 weeks
• Test conceptual ideas, works in progress, or existing
app
• Stream to back room for development teams to watch
tests live and get real time insight

41. DATA ANALYSIS
• Team of data analysts, scientists, and engineers
• Define and facilitate real time tests on real users
• Goal and Training Plan suggestions (very soon!)
• Route suggestions (soon!)

42. JUST SHIP IT!
• Maintain a consistent release schedule
• Thoughtful about what we’re testing and why
• The best data is “real” data!

43. THANKS!
Keep in touch:
runkeeper.com/user/tom
tom@runkeeper.com
@tomboates