The same talk I did at the iLab a year earlier but with revised slides

1. The Idea Stack
FIND YOUR PRODUCT VISION

2. Josh Wexler
Co-Founder, CEO
We help companies build software better.

3. Why prototype? OGIdea Stack Exercise

4. How do you communicate an idea to others?

5. Communication is difficult.
Text is ambiguous.

6. Car Ca
r

7. How do you decide which ideas will be worthwhile?
USABLE
VALUABLE FEASIBLE

8. Collecting meaningful
feedback is challenging.

9. Tell me something. And I will forget.
Show me something. And I can remember.
Involve me. And I will understand.
- Chinese Proverb

10. Vision Definition
UNCERTAINTY CLARITY
IDEA STACK
Get to the essence of the idea
and focus the team by getting
everyone speaking the same
language via inspiration and
design exercises.
PROTOTYPE
Quickly build initial solution as
an on-device, interactive
prototype.
EVALUATE
Get feedback on prototype from
potential customers to validate
assumptions.

11. 2 - 4 weeks
IDEA STACK
WORKSHOP
PROTOTYPE
WORKSHOP
PROTOTYPE
DEVELOPMENT
ITERATION PRESENTATION
START FINISH
Vision Definition Process In-Depth

12. Exercise

13. But first…why do we do this?
SHARED UNDERSTADING

16. Wouldn’t it be cool…
If students could use a site that helps them structure
and plan an essay?

17. Problem Statement
1-2 sentences that describe an issue (need) that a
person or group has.

18. Students don’t know that there is a process
based way to write well and even if they do
know about it, it is hard to practice without
explicit instruction.

19. How might you make your trip to this event
better?
• Get into groups of 4
• Take 2 minutes to write down your own problem statement
• Go around the group and allow each person read their problem
statement for 3 minutes
Step 1 - Define the Problem
8m

20. Inspiration
Other systems that attempt to solve your problem or
inspire you with their design or functionality.

21. Mylo’s Inspiration Board

22. What are some examples of applications
that attempt to solve this problem?
• Take 2 minutes to come up with a few examples that include:
– Name
– What do you like & what do you not like?
– What can you “borrow”?
• Go around the group so that each person can read and discuss their
inspiration for 2 minutes
Step 2 – Collect Inspiration
4m

23. Idea expression
An idea expression is a short and succinct statement
of your idea that everyone agrees to.

24. A tool that guides a student through an
end-to-end (plan to delivery) writing
process and allows them to create a
document as they go.

25. How would you describe a solution to your
problem?
• Take 2 minutes to come up with an idea statement
• Go around the group and each person read their problem statement
for 2 minutes
Step 3 – Write an Idea Statement
4m

26. Customer definition
Who groups of people will be using your system?
These are the primary customers (i.e., early adopters)
and are the people who feel the pain of our problem
the most.

27. Students in 8th to 11th grade in private
schools in NYC

28. Generally, what demographic of people
would you expect to use your application?
• Take 2 minutes to come up with at least 2 meaningful customer
groups
• Go around the group and each person read their problem statement
for 2 minutes
Step 4 – Define Your Customer
4m

29. Personas
Characters created to represent the different user
types within your targeted demographic, attitude
and/or behavior set that might use your solution.

30. Background
• Motivated to do well in class
• Struggles with putting ideas into text, organization, hard to get started, easily overwhelmed
(starting a sentence)
• Loves technology and wants to apply it to everything
• Uses a laptop to write (uses Microsoft word, Google drive, and inspiration)
• Has a learning specialist that helps with writing
• Struggles to take in information
• Overly depends on parents and parental figures to get things done
• “writing is hard, I am not good at it"
Goals
• Independence – not needing his parents or others to help him get through the writing piece
• Wants to do well in school
• Feel a sense of accomplishment
• Might like the technology for technologies sake
Frustrations
• Reduce the struggle in writing
• Reduce his anxiety
• Avoid negative feedback from the teachers
Name: Mylo
Age: 13
Demographic:
8th grader in private
school in NYC
Meet Mylo

31. Who would you expect use your new
product?
• Take 2 minutes to write 1 persona. Give them the following:
– Name
– Age
– Background (2-3 points)
– Goals & Frustrations (why would they use this system)
• Go around the group and each person read their problem statement
for 2 minutes
Step 5 – Define your User
4m

32. User narrative
A user narrative is a story about how one of the
personas would use the idea in the world. Narratives
are different than features, but they can contain
features.

33. Background
Myles has to read Load of the Flies for English class. He listened to the book and followed along on text. He participates in
class discussions and answers response questions. After the book wraps up, Myles teacher gives them a final essay
assignment. He chooses a topic.
Story
Set up – new doc
1. Myles logs into our system online
2. He sees a dashboard (my projects, what is in progress, what you can learn etc.)
3. He creates a new assignment and specifies what kind of essay he needs to write, literary response
4. He sees a set up wizard that first asks which book(s) is the paper going to be on? He inputs load of the flies
and that book is then pulled into the system
Idea/topic phase
1. The next thing he is asked is "what the main question/prompt", he inputs "Which boy is the best suited to lead
the society on the island and why?
2. He is then prompted to come up with an idea statement but he can't think of anything
3. So Myles access the Shmoop page through the site and can read about all the characters in lord of the flies to
…
4. …
Mylo’s Narrative

34. How would someone walkthrough your new
application?
• Take 5 minutes to come up with a narrative for your persona (make
sure to include the background)
• Go around the group and each person read their problem statement
for 2 minutes
Step 6 – Write a Narrative
7m

35. Paper prototype
A hand drawn version of a user narrative that gives a
visual to the story.

36. Mylo’s Paper Prototype

37. How should your new application function?
Is it a mobile app? Web app?
• Take 5 minutes to draw a paper prototype using the storyboard part
of the paper.
• Go around the group and each person demo their paper prototype
for 5 minutes.
Step 7 – Draw a prototype
10m

38. Low Fidelity

39. Medium Fidelity
Introduce
• Layout
• Data
• Make something
you can share

40. High Fidelity
Includes
• Design
• Interaction
• Data

42. Tools we use
• Ideation
– Evernote
– Google Docs/Sites
– Mural.ly
• Prototyping
– Index cards
– PowerPoint/Keynote
– Axure, iRise, Balsamiq
• Development
– Bootstrap/Foundation
– Ruby on Rails

43. Validation and documentation
• Get the right level of fidelity in your prototype for the
project
• Put it in front of users
– Make sure they match your personas
– Validate problems
– Watch them use it and ask lots of questions
• Ask someone technical (a developer/engineer) to do an
iteration with you
• Document as much as you need to

44. Wrap up
• Shared vision and understanding is critical
• It is hard to test things in the real world
• People need to learn with you to build that shared
understanding
• Narratives are invaluable in communication

45. Josh Wexler
josh@occomgroup.com
OccomGroup.com
@occomgroup
Occom Group Company Confidential © 2014 All rights reserved.