Deck we presented at HarvardxDesign

2. Parsa Kamali
Director of Design
Josh Wexler
Co-Founder and CEO

3. Define, design, and
develop software
products from start to
finish.
What do we do?

4. How we do it.
Vision Definition
Explore, clarify, and
prototype an idea
before writing a line of
code.
Build the MVP
Develop the first version
of a web/mobile app
and validate it with
users.
Launch & Scale
Drive business impact
by releasing a product
that grows with its
users.

5. Who we’ve worked with.

6. NYU
Harvard
Flatiron
TEDx Harvard
LeanUX
Qcon
Agile
We teach.

7. Go through our work-
shop for turning ideas
into tangible solutions,
so you can apply the
methods to your product
or technology ideas.
Today.

8. Why
Vision Definition?

9. Communicating ideas
is difficult.

10. car car
People think and talk differently

11. And they don’t usually know
what they want, until they
See it.
Try it.
Experience it.

12. Because of this,
Gathering meaningful
feedback is difficult.

13. Vision Definition
Explore, clarify, and
prototype an idea
before writing a line
of code.

14. The value of Vision Definition
Creates a
common
language.
1

15. The value of Vision Definition
Surfaces our
assumptions.
2
Creates a
common
language.

16. The value of Vision Definition
Makes the
abstract real.
3
Creates a
common
language.
Surfaces our
assumptions.

17. The value of Vision Definition
Creates a
common
language.
Makes the
abstract real.
Surfaces our
assumptions.
Allows for real
user validation.
4

18. Tell me something.
And I will forget.
Show me something.
And I can remember.
Involve me.
And I will understand.”
“
Chinese Proverb

19. It’s our first step in
Prototype Driven Development
Vision Sprint Build Sprint
Vision Definition Workshop
Prototype and Iterate
Technical Recommendations
Plan
Deliver
Prototype Validate
Story
Capture
Code & TestRelease
User Testing
& Analytics

20. Mylo

21. Elements of Vision Definition
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes

22. Elements of Vision Definition
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes

23. Mylo
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes
1-2 sentences that
describe the issue (or
need) of a person or
group.

24. Mylo’s Problem
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.

25. Mylo
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes
Other systems that
attempt to solve the
problem or inspire us
with their design and/or
functionality.

26. Inspiration
Mural.ly

27. Mylo
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes
Results the solution
should achieve.

28. Goals
Students can write
an entire outline in
the system.
Help students
formulate better
thesis statements.
Have checklists to
help with writing
a rough and final
draft.
Help students to
analyze quotes
with the SQUIDS
approach.
Teacher will be
excited to use the
tool with their
students.
Facilitate better
teaching of writing
by allowing
teachers to give
feedback.
Provide the same
level of writing
instruction that a
private tutor could
offer.
Give a platform
for writing tutors
to provide easier
instruction.
Help students to
get essays done on
time.
Students will get
better at writing
by not having
to relearn the
structure.
Guide students in
the entire writing
process.
Help students track
where they are in
the writing process.

29. Mylo
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes
Groups of people who
feel the pain of the
problem and might use
the solution.

30. Customer Groups
Students in 8th to 11th
grade in private schools
in NYC.

31. Mylo
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes
Characters that represent
each customer group.

32. Persona
Name
Mylo
Background
»» Motivated to do well in class
»» Struggles with putting ideas into sentences
»» Loves technology
»» Uses a laptop for writing assignments
»» Parents and learning specialist help him with
writing
»» Struggles to take in information
Wants
»» Independence: depend less on others to write
effectively
»» Do well in school
»» Feel a sense of accomplishment
Pain
»» Reduce his anxiety and stress
»» Avoid negative feedback from teachers
Age
13
Customer Group
8th grader in private
school

33. Mylo
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes
Step-by-step breakdown of
how a persona would use
the solution.

34. Narrative
Background
Mylo read Lord of the Flies for English class. He participated
in class discussions and answered weekly response questions.
Mylo’s teacher just assigned a final essay project, and he
chose a topic to focus on.
Narrative
Set up new doc
1. Mylo logs onto system
2. He sees a dashboard (including projects, progress, help, etc. )
3. He creates a new assignment
4. He specifies the kind of essay he needs to write as literary response
5. He sees a set-up wizard that asks which book(s) the paper is covering
6. He inputs Lord of the Flies, and the book is pulled into the system
Idea/topic phase
1. He’s then asked, “What’s the main question/prompt?”
2. He inputs, “Which boy is best suited to lead the society on the island and
why?”
3. He is prompted to write an idea statement, but he struggles to think of
something
4. He accesses the help page where he can read about the characters

35. Mylo
Goals
Problem
Inspiration
Customer
Groups
Personas
User Narratives
Paper
Prototypes
A hand-drawn version of the
user narrative that shows the
user interface.

36. Paper Prototype

37. Hi,
Let’s prototype for a
minute.

38. Problem.
Solution.
It is hard to know when to leave for the
airport when you have a flight especially
when it has been delayed.
An app that gives users a trusted
time for the airport considering time
(persons schedule) traffic (rush hour
considerations), weather, and flight
delays.
Hi, we’re prototyping.

39. Background
Persona.
Name
Sandra
»» Works for a consulting firm so is on the road a
lot
»» Always schedules meetings close to her flight
times
»» Does not care about costs (firm picks it up)
»» Her home base is NYC
Wants
»» An accurate understanding of when to leave for
the airport
Frustrations
»» Flight delays are common in NYC airports but it
is hard to trust when to leave even where a flight
delay is known
Age
32
Customer Group
Millenial, well-to-do
worker who is always
busy.
Hi, we’re prototyping.

40. Narrative.
Hi, we’re prototyping.
Sandra has a flight from Chicago to NYC to come home on a
Thursday night. She is working at a client site. It is winter and
the weather is not looking good. She is just wrapping up her
last meeting of the day.
Narrative
1. She gets a notification that she should start to think about leaving for the
airport
2. Opens the app and sees her flight information and that the flight is
delayed by 20 minutes do to traffic at LGA
3. She taps on a button to see her options for getting to the airport

41. Sandra has a flight from Chicago to
NYC to come home on a Thursday
night. She is working at a client site.
It is winter and the weather is not
looking good. She is just wrapping
up her last meeting of the day.
Narrative
1. She gets a notification that she
should start to think about leaving
for the airport
2. Opens the app and sees her flight
information and that the flight is
delayed by 20 minutes do to
traffic at LGA
3. She taps on a button to see her
options for getting to the airport
SandraProblem
»» Works for a consulting firm so is
on the road a lot
»» Always schedules meetings close
to her flight times
»» Does not care about costs (firm
picks it up)
»» Her home base is NYC
WantsSolution
»» An accurate understanding of
when to leave for the airport
Frustrations
»» Flight delays are common in
NYC airports but it is hard to
trust when to leave even
where a flight delay is known
It is hard to know when to leave
for the airport when you have
a flight especially when it has
been delayed.
An app that gives users a
trusted time for the airport
considering time (persons
schedule) traffic (rush hour
considerations), weather, and
flight delays.

42. Thanks!
Questions?

43. parsa@occom.co josh@occom.co

44. A note on fidelity.

45. Fidelity.
Low.

46. Fidelity.
Medium.

47. High.
Fidelity.

48. Tools.
»» Google Docs/Sites
»» Mural.ly
»» Prototyping
»» Index cards
»» Evernote
»» PowerPoint/Keynote
»» Axure, iRise, Invision, Balsamiq
»» Development
»» Webflow
»» Bootstrap/Foundation
»» Ruby on Rails