TripHub
A web app empowering users to effortlessly plan, track, and share personalized itineraries for seamless organization and collaboration during their adventures.
Product Discovery
Our journey began with a fundamental question:
why does travel planning remain such a daunting task despite all the tools and resources out there?
Recognizing this gap in the market, we set out to explore the root causes behind the stress of trip planning. As a traveler lover myself, it was easy to put myself in the shoes of a user.
Research Insight & User Pain Points
We discovered that planning a trip as a group can often present challenges, sometimes detracting significantly from the enjoyment of the process. In our interviews with five users to gauge their preferences for organizing trips with friends, we uncovered some enlightening trends.
Most notably, groups tend to appoint a single main planner, with others contributing sporadically. Yet, this central planner frequently struggles to align everyone's preferences and to gather timely feedback before making necessary reservations.
Surprisingly, we also identified budget planning as a common hurdle. While travelers are generally price-conscious, maintaining a budget proves difficult, as the tendency to indulge often leads to post-trip regrets about overspending.
Key Themes Identified:
🌟 One person takes charge of planning while the rest of the group contributes
🌟 Trip planners often struggle to gather and accommodate group preferences
🌟 Travelers struggle to have a good budget system and tend to overspend
🌟 No single planning tool that sufficiently meets all the needs of group travel planning
Journey Map
Persona:
Solution
After synthesizing our research findings and distilling key insights, we embarked on the journey to conceptualize TripHub. Our solution is more than just a travel planning tool – it's a comprehensive platform designed to improve trip coordination and budget management.
Features:
Our first main feature is the Dashboard. Here, users can easily access all their planned trips, whether they're upcoming adventures or memorable past journeys.
Next up, we have the Itinerary Tracker. With this feature, users can create detailed itineraries for their trips, including activities, budgets, and more. It's like having a personal travel planner right at your fingertips.
And finally, we've incorporated powerful Collaboration Features. Users can invite friends to join their trips and interact with each other by liking or leaving comments, making trip planning a truly collaborative experience.
Future Steps
While we have decided not to proceed with the project at this time, our journey has been rich with insights and learnings that will undoubtedly inform future endeavors. Although TripHub may not have reached the complete product we envisioned, the knowledge gained throughout the development process remains invaluable. Rather than viewing this decision as an endpoint, we see it as an opportunity to redirect our focus and resources towards a journey with greater potential for impact and success.
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
Amal Suleiman
Emphasize collaboration, foster flexibility within teams, and adopt agile methodologies for great functioning responsive software teams.
Designer Learnings:
Gary Gao
From the program, I gained insights into feature prioritization for product development. Despite having numerous promising ideas, time constraints required us to focus on high-impact features.
Additionally, collaborating with a team consisting of a product manager and two developers was an enriching experience. Together, we navigated the complexities of product development, leveraging each team member's expertise to drive progress effectively.
A final takeaway for me was the significance of an iterative approach. It is important to involve the team at every stage of product development and seek early feedback.
Designer Learnings:
Jo Sturdivant
- Adapting to an Established Team: Joining the team in week 6 of 8 was challenging, as I had to quickly adapt to existing workflows, dynamics, and goals. This mirrors real-world situations where you often integrate into teams mid-project, and flexibility is essential.
- Work-Blocking for Efficiency: With only two weeks to complete the project, I learned the importance of a structured work-blocking system. This approach allowed me to manage my time effectively and meet deadlines under pressure.
- Making Data-Driven Design Decisions: Unlike my past projects, I had to rely on research conducted by others. This was a valuable experience in using pre-existing data to guide design decisions, helping me focus on the core insights without starting from scratch.
Developer Learnings:
Olaitan Adedokun
Communication has been key, especially when collaborating with teams from different cultures and time zones.
It's been challenging, but rewarding. I've learned to navigate cultural differences, overcome language barriers, and embrace diverse perspectives.
Despite logistical challenges, clear and consistent communication has strengthened the team bond, fueled creativity, and drive us towards success.
Developer Learnings:
Vanady Beard
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As the back-end developer, I learned how important it is to create efficient and reliable systems that support the entire application. This experience also taught me the importance of optimising the database and ensuring the backend is scalable and easy to maintain.
Developer Learnings:
Stephen Asiedu
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As a back-end developer, I've come to understand the importance of being familiar with various database systems and modules. This knowledge enables me to build diverse applications and maintain versatility in my work. I've also learned that the responsibility for making the right choices rests on my shoulders, guided by my best judgement.
Developer Learnings:
Opeyemi Oduyemi
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Developer Learnings:
Maurquise Williams
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- Process of Creating an MVP: Developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) taught me how to focus on delivering core functionalities balancing between essential features and avoiding scope creep.
- Collaboration in a Real-World Tech Setting: This experience taught me how to collaborate efficiently in a fast-paced tech environment, keeping the team aligned and productive, even while working remotely across time zones.
- Sharpening Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills: This experience honed my ability to think critically and solve problems efficiently. By tackling challenges and finding quick solutions, I sharpened my decision-making and troubleshooting skills in a dynamic, real-world setting.
Developer Learnings:
Jeremiah Williams
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All in all this experience was very awesome I learned that in coding with others being transparent is key
Developers Learnings:
Justin Farley
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I learned how important communication is when working with a team. Communication provides understanding, advice, ideas, and much more. While working with the product team, I’ve found that communication keeps everything flowing smoothly. Working with a team also showed me that every member brings something different to the table and we all have to work together in order to align and meet our end goal.