MOBILE & WEB APP
Handlr
Handlr is a US-based service platform that helps the user to get things organised. It can be walking your dog, cleaning the pool or finding a DJ for your friend’s birthday. It helps the users schedule appointments and track the progress of the work.
METHODOLOGY
Preliminary UX - Waterfall
Followed by Agile for UI & Development
ROLE
Lead
Product Designer
YEAR
2014
COMPANY
tringapps
PROBLEM
Help busy customers to quickly sort out their everyday chores by connecting them to a business of their choice.
To track the progress of the task and avoid last minute surprises. E.g., Track where your loving dog is going for a walk. Also, request for the same dog walker to send you pictures while on the task.
To help businesses reach their customers with their available free slots and best utilise their resources.
Relieve businesses of the overhead to manage the schedules and their employees.
UNDERSTAND
I have conducted multiple meetings with the business owner to understand the business vision, purpose and problem. Conducted Competitor Analysis to find out the market need for the product and how to outcompete the existing ones. Comprehend the user research data through detailed interviews with the stakeholders.
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
We arrived at a few significant findings out of the user research and applying our design philosophy on top of it.
One of the significant findings is that the user types can be primarily classified broadly into four types, namely Customer, SMB Owner, Employee of SMB and Universal Admin. We decided to go with separate apps for each broad classification of the user as cramping all these functionalities into one app will make for a bad UX for all users.
The next major decision we made was on the devices these apps have to build. Customers and Employees tend to use the app mostly when they are on the move, that needed us to enable access to the app for them anytime and anywhere. Hence we decided to go with smartphone apps for iOS and Android whereas SMB owner and Universal admin would be using their app mainly from a computer during work hours. Also, they needed a more prominent real estate to manage multiple calendars and schedules. So the SMB owner app and Universal admin app were made for Desktops.
The mapping of the apps with user types is in the table below.
Application
Customer
SMB
SMB Employee
Admin
Device
Smart Phone (iOS & Android)
Desktop (Web App)
Smart Phone (iOS & Android)
Desktop (Web App)
User Types
i) Recurring customer
ii) Ad hoc customer
Small and Medium Business Owner
Employees of SMB
Universal admin. (Admin Handlr)
PERSONAS, FEATURE LIST & SITE MAP
Five personas were created and referred to those personas throughout the process.
Finalised and Prioritised the feature list by organising multiple workshops with the stakeholders and engineers.
Drew up a site map and validated the same by applying the user flow.
DESIGN
I arrived at three solutions for primary journey of each of the apps based on the research and analysis.
The primary journey of each of the apps is listed below.
Application
Customer
Employee
SMB
Handlr
Super Admin
Journey
Search and find a service then schedule a service
Check-In to start a service and Check-Out to finish the service
Manage schedules of their business
Manage all business hosted in the app
WIREFRAME (CUSTOMER APP)
Once I translated my solutions into Lo-Fi wireframe, I guerilla tested all solutions in-house and arrived at one most suitable solution for each of the apps. I again iterated the wireframes based on the findings from the guerilla testing.
I prototyped the finalised solution for each of the apps and tested the solution both in-house and among user groups.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Based on our qualitative research, we discovered that customers believed recommendations or ratings given by a friend over a customer not known to them. Hence we incorporated the ability to see the user’s friend’s ratings first whenever they look for reviews of service. We also included features to enable customers to easily book a person who has provided them with excellent service.
SMB PROTOTYPE
To provide a human touch, we also provided the ability for the customer to call the SMB and request an appointment or reschedule over the phone. To enable this feature, we offered the SMB user with the full control of the schedule.
USER INTERFACE
CUSTOMER APP
EMPLOYEE APP
SMB APP
Once I iterated all the primary journey for all four apps, I have started translating the wireframe into hi-fi design based on the branding guideline we set already. While creating UI, I had regular meeting with engineers to understand the technical limitations and opportunities.
After finishing the primary journey UI for all the apps, I started producing artefacts for developers. Meantime, I mentored Juniors to translate all other journey wireframes I have created to hi-fi design.
IMPLEMENTATION
As a team, we planned sprints every fortnight based on the user story and backlog. Juniors and I have provided the necessary UI stories and artefacts for the sprint. Mid of each sprint I tested the app to check if the development team has met the UX requirements.
The app development was completed with multiple rounds of internal testing, and it was released for User Acceptance Testing. As the product was demoed to the clients multiple times during various sprints, there were no major defects or changes requested. Once all the stakeholders approved the app, it was officially released for public consumption. A team was in place for a month after the go-live to address teething issues and provide support for the users.
RESTROSPECT
A formal UX retrospect session was conducted post-go-live with all stakeholders to document the things that the users loved and aspects that could be improved.
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