Engineering Journal 1: Timestamping Journey Thus Far
The Problem: Managing yard services can be much simpler. As a homeowner, we experience many responsibilities to make the yard look as healthy as possible so any help we can get is a plus.
The Idea: To make the process simplified and easier to order dirt to make your yard leveled and even by implementing technology to support the process.
The Vision: Yard work becomes less of an effort and some of the tasks are taken by technology (software) to make the experience more enjoyable and desired results are attainable.
Probably the most important step before writing down any code is to validate the problem actually exists and a solution is desired. But since I was the user with the problem, there was less of a need to do a deep dive into “would this be useful?”. So I began to write the front-end of the experience to get some ideas out there so see if it could be viable.
Image: Homepage of the Dirt app
The solution would contain two sides of the application. Side one would allow residences to create a request for yard leveling. Side two would allow contractors to see all the requests for yard leveling in areas they serve to fulfill.
Image: Diagram showing a potential solution
The solution surrounds the lifecycle of a project that is initiated by the customer noticing an opportunity for improvement. Project is opened then through a series of steps, it's eventually closed once the yard is leveled.
The idea is to start small, validate, then adjust based on feedback from real people, then repeat. But, I’ve found it difficult to find and reach people on both sides of the market (those who need leveling, and those who provide leveling). I always think there is a way out of a problem so I just tell myself to reframe the problem and change my approach. Something like design thinking can come in handy.
Updating System Diagram
Image: Diagram showing a potential solution
Software is important but software is created to support systems that stakeholders participate in. This is like developing a flow for the actions users will take to support actions outside the software. This differs from the user experience but there is some coupling. So to establish a strong system foundation I updated the system to more accurately represent how we want to deliver value to stakeholders.
Image: Fill Area Estimates
UX needed an updated design for better readability. This is good enough for a prototype application but it is important to make a good impression on initial users interacting with the application because I would ideally like to build word of mouth to attract more users.
What's next? To find the audience that will use this application and to get some feedback on what has been developed so far. Also to update and share the information system attached so those interested can see the intent of the system.
That’s all I have for now…until the next update.
