Prototyping and Testing solutions for Kev!

PROTOTYPING
AND TESTING
SOLUTIONS FOR KEV!
DTActionLab
ar.linkedin.com/in/martinhoare
By Leticia Britos Cavagnaro
Stanford University

K E V ’ S P R O B L E M S T A T E M E N T
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A self confident, friendly and talkative graphic designer recently graduated from college,
who is very curious and observer as well as defined himself as a team-working lover and
problem-solving oriented, needs to find a way to stop procrastinating and take
action to find a job in a field he shows interest in. Although he feels confident with
himself he doesn't seem to know what to do with his profession. This leads to make him
feel stuck in a place and doubting about what to do to take action.

T H E S E L E C T E D I D E A S
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The ideas defined to help Kev are related to the fact he just needs to focus on doing some-
thing. The only way to stop procrastinating is to bring Kev an engaging option to be seen by
him as an interesting alternative to find a job or get immerse in the area he is interested in
(getting immerse in something he isn't sure of would be the best way for him to find out).
These options are both engaging and collaborative, and they also try to take into account
some tools to help him keep motivated and avoid him to give up. All the solutions were
thought by considering all insights gathered from previous stages of this process.

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ABOUT THE STAKEHOLDERS. I worked together with two testers, one of them was the one I
interviewed and created the empathy map for. The other one was a person similar to Kev
so I presented the problem to him and the two alternatives in prototypes. They paid a lot of
attention at the prototypes and gave me valuable feedback.
ABOUT THE TEST SESSION. The test session was held at home. Each test had a different area
and spaces for interaction. Ambient sound and some bakery products were considered to
make the meeting more enjoyable and pleasurable. The tests were developed separately
(testers arrived home at different time) and they consisted in an informal conversation
around the prototypes and the value of the solutions created. Testers also gave opinion
about the utility of these solutions and some alternatives to improve them.
Two ideas were selected for Prototype and Test stage. In the next slides you’ll ﬁnd the ideas I've chosen and their prototypes,
tests and feedback gathered.

THE BRIDGE
TO REALITY
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IDEA 01
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THE BRIDGE TO REALITY. Concept.
"Give Kev and people similar to him the opportunity to go and live in a place where they can face a wicked
problem in the area they are interested in and give a solution for real life situations. This could be considered a
joint venture between government, companies and educational institutions, they could make great efforts to fill
the gap between college and job market.
They could give a lot of people this opportunity to gain experience and confidence, to know market rules, to
participate in multi-disciplinary teams, to see their ideas working in real life solutions, to make focus on it and
nothing else. A program like this would demand a huge economical effort and negotiations between the differ-
ent actors involved.
This idea is maybe the most useful for people like Kev, they're willing to work and live a brand new experience,
they can work with real problems for real companies and give real solutions. It would be awesome for gov-
ernments and companies to have several campus along the country. This idea would work for professions
similar to Kev's and it would be a great initiative in Argentina".

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THE BRIDGE TO REALITY. Prototype.
I decided to make a 3D rapid prototype for this idea. Some wooden little people represent the different actors:
recently graduated students, coaches, partnerships (cultural institutions, governments, industry) and commu-
nity. Together with the actors, a simple scenario was created showing three different fictitious building's
floors. These floors show different areas of the place where grad students could go and develop a multi-
disciplinary project for a real problem in real life. The architectural structure shows a different scenario from
what grad students know as an educational institution but more familiar to the way a big creative company
looks like.
On the other hand, some posts-its were placed showing different key concepts of the initiative. Every piece of
this prototype was thought to be movable, so that testers could re-arrange or move elements in case they
needed to explain some particular situation.

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THE BRIDGE TO REALITY. Test.
After explaining the reason of the meeting and where the solutions came from, and after trying to make testers
put themselves into Kev's shoes (in fact this was only necessary for one of the guys as the other one was the
real Kev) I asked them to take a look and tell me how would they feel being given the possibility of having an
experience working and learning there. I also asked them if they imagined what some of the actors would do
interacting there.
Testers showed enthusiasm about the idea and found it great the opportunity of having a chance to know business
rules, sharing ideas with others and working with real-life problems to bring real-life solutions for communities.

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THE BRIDGE TO REALITY. Feedback.
WHAT WORKED
They found great the idea of bringing coaches already immerse in the industry (in Argentina is common that some col-
lege educators have no other occupation more than teaching at college, this tend to disconnect them and their lessons
from what happens in real life);
They loved having areas where share their ideas with others;
Kev found the solution brilliant: "I love the fact that this is for recently graduated people. I want this to be real and I want
to go!"
They thought it was such a great alternative for college students to make an effort in their university studies so after that
they can apply and enter to the bridge;
They found awesome working in multidisciplinary teams and facing real life problems for real people;
They loved the "dreaming rooms" idea (speciﬁc room for the project they would be working on);
They found it as a perfect way to ﬁll the gap between university and job market;
They found the solution motivating and useful for all the actors involved.

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THE BRIDGE TO REALITY. Feedback.
WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED
One of them said that it would be quite uncomfortable to share some of the common rooms (labs, prototype room, etc);
They found the idea awesome but they saw it is kind of utopian -but not impossible- for our country.
QUESTIONS
How do common rooms work?
Which would be the time schedule? Do they allow ﬂextime hours?
Do I have to pay? Is this whole thing supported by the governments and companies? How should we do to get to know the
possibilities to make this idea real?
IDEAS
Companies that are involved in the project has to be strictly selected, so do the students;
An exam or kind of test for the ones who apply for the bridge. It is necessary to pick the best proﬁles because they could
even be considered as the promises of the future;
Make the whole thing possible. Ask people working in territorial intelligence to work orchestrating
the actors' interests (work together with sociologists, urbanists, businessmen, etc.)

JOB
HUNTERS
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IDEA 02
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JOB HUNTERS. Concept.
"An engaging, social and entertaining app could be good for Kev to take action. The main function of this online
app is to be a practical way in which people can create a network to help each other to find a job. They will be
able to share their experiences, fears and motivations, they could advice others after having and interview,
and so on.
This tool has to be entertaining, it has to be seen by users as an adventure, something that tries to bring posi-
tive feelings around a topic that has always been connected to stressful situations and unhappiness. I have
detected that people similar to Kev are trying to cope with the gap between college and job market, but they're
also trying to cope with their transition between teenagehood to adulthood (yes, even if they are in their twen-
ties). They feel they have to behave as mature people, they have to find a job and move alone; this whole pack-
age generally leads to fear, stress and discouragement when these people try to make it alone. Connections
between users would be considered as a key for this product. This tool has to connect emotionally with users.
Gamification strategies would also help to give users permanent feedback and/ or set deadlines to improve
their performances, maintain their interest and avoid giving up".

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JOB HUNTERS. Prototypes.
I have used sketch method to represent an interaction flow in a smartphone printed template. The flow shows
splash screen, sign up screen, complete-your-profile-and-set-deadline screen, profile screen, job offer screen,
and side navigation screen. The goal of these prototypes were not to test how well the interaction worked but to
show testers an approach to the app's concept. Below each screen some conceptual specifications were writ-
ten to allow tester to get a better approach to the solution.
After evaluating different ways regarding how to help Kev to stop procrastinating and doing some research
about it, I have defined a "Job Hunter's Deadline" feature where users can set a deadline for their looking for a
job adventure. Users help each other giving advice or telling their experiences after having an interview for an
specific job offer. Users can connect with each other and share experiences, information or any kind of content
related to their interests. Once the job hunter gets a job, he can decide whether leaving the app and say goodbye,
or becoming a job advisor to help and encourage other hunters. The app is thought to work in terms of practi-
cality and emotion.

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JOB HUNTERS. Test.
After briefly presenting the idea, I gave testers the flow-sequence prototypes for them to interact. After that, I
asked them about the general concept of the idea, how useful it could be for them, how the solution given could
be improved and if they would use the app in case it existed. These questions weren't asked as if it would been
an interview, because the whole thing was a sort of a conversation that used prototypes as a trigger. One of
them even took some post-its and started to figure out some alternatives.
In general they found the idea interesting but as a conclusion I can say the screens sketched were not the best
choice as they didn't allow me to show the real distinctive characteristics of this product (in fact, I've found out
the distinctive characteristics along the way).

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JOB HUNTERS. Feedback.
WHAT WORKED
The app was seen like an innovative alternative to look for a job. Testers saw it was really good to have a tool centered in
users and collaboration between users more than a tool centered in companies; ("When are you launching this app? Is it
available for Android? (laughing)")
Both testers were happy to see an opportunity to connect with people with the same interests and in a same position of
their professional life. They considered the possibility of working together with other people they met via the app and
why not a way to start working on projects as a collective, looking for opportunities while gaining experience;
They really liked the ﬁgures of "job hunter" and "job advisor";
It's ok to be optional becoming a job advisor;
One of the testers (Kev) said he would set a deadline although this is an optional feature;
Launch the app as a totally free tool for people who are looking for a job;
Launch an app that works in terms of support and emotion. Users need it.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED
Privacy strategy as a must. While one of the testers suggested that everything in the app should be public, the other one
said it would be great to manage an anonymous alternative when talking about speciﬁc companies;
Work more and work better on the emotional side of the app. At the moment this initiative is too shy, it doesn't appear
instantly to the eyes of users;
One of the testers saw the deadline thing as a double-edge sword: if these users tend to procrastinate all the time and
they set a long-term deadline, they would probably take action later than sooner.
QUESTIONS
What if I'm not only interested in one area of interest?
What if I'm not a hundred percent sure of the skills I have?
What to do if my deadline is over and I didn't get a job yet? Take a decision on how it would work in terms of functionality
and emotion.
How about making more evident the help between users in their looking for a job challenge?

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IDEAS
- It would be great to set notifications and alerts when a job opportunity arrives (the fact that is not the user who is look-
ing for a job but it is a job looking for the user);
- A clearer section in the app where people can meet and start working together by themselves to gain experience in the
field they show interest in;
- Let the users set availability options so they can choose when to be contacted via phone, e-mail or chat;
- Job advisors could work as gurus and administrators in specific groups for people with specific interests;
- Start-up section, where working together goes serious;
- Allow users to show their portfolio;
- When displaying a search result, provide a ranking of job offers according to how well adapted they are to the user's
profile and needs;
- Allow users to set their interests and skills in different grades (they always have problems when they need to write an
interest or skill(s) in absolute terms) > e.g How good am I at this specific skill? (I'm an expert, I'm really good, I'm quite
good). Testers said it would be great if users can move skills and interests from one grade to another,
so they can feel the necessity to improve their skills to a hundred percent.

MY
REFLECTION
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MY
MY
REFLECTIONar.linkedin.com/in/martinhoare
Stanford University

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MY REFLECTION
Before doing this assignment I'd had some experience at my work showing new ideas to people by using proto-
types. After doing this individually (and not in front of a group) I can say I found a better way to gain feedback and
better ideas for the solution, mainly because I was able to have a conversation with stakeholders and listen to
them more carefully. Testing my prototypes with more than one person has been awesome because although I
tested the prototype with only two people, I was able to see how the same smiles and the same worries appeared
in their faces when detecting some specific aspect. I was amazed to see how easily stakeholders found alterna-
tives for the solutions.
Both testers were really welcoming to the ideas I presented. Although one of the ideas seems to be utopian to
come true in our country, they started finding alternatives to make the idea happen. They showed big interest and
paid attention carefully to the prototypes. They worked with the prototypes to explain alternatives. I must say
movable prototypes are a great option to encourage stakeholders to take them and work with them to re-
configure the solutions when having a conversation. It worked really well with "the bridge to reality" idea, and I
am very happy about it because up until this moment I was too sticked to pen and paper when creating prototypes.

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MY REFLECTION
I think if I continued working on this project I wouldn't eliminate any of the ideas tested. Regarding "The bridge to
reality" idea, I would take it as a long-term initiative and ﬁnd out what are the available means to make this
happen in our country.
As for "Job Hunters" idea, I would go back and revise some concepts to make new prototypes around them. I have
found new insights and new positive points to work on that are not covered by the current proposal. Also, I think I
didn't make a good choice when deciding which screens or interaction ﬂow I should sketch to show my idea as a
good solution for the problem. Despite all these weak points, I think I could keep working on this last idea mainly
because during the test I was able to see some "key" points to make focus on. Maybe a good way to re-think this
solution is to go back and consider ideas from the previous stage while confronting them with the new insights I
gained when doing the tests.

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*At the end of the tests my stakeholders received this chocolate lollipop as a way to say thank you. I
want to say thank you to Bocha, Magui, FerZap, FerFeller, Rodo and the team I met here: Victoria,
Andrés, Ana and Marian. It's been awesome to share this fantastic experience with you guys!

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