DaycareBuddy
DaycareBuddy makes finding the perfect daycare in Switzerland easy! With ratings & recommendations from loved ones, busy parents can say goodbye to stress and hello to work-life balance.
Problem Space
Problem Statement
How might we streamline the process of finding suitable daycare services, making it more accessible, convenient, efficient, and reliable for parents in order to alleviate stress and support a healthy work-life balance?
Problem Background
The process of finding a suitable daycare service in Switzerland often takes on average 70 hours from parents and they often face numerous challenges when searching for suitable daycare services.
They heavily rely on recommendations from friends & families. However, at the current time there is no streamlined process to gather these recommendations in a convenient and reliable manner.
Gathering these recommendations can be time-consuming and unreliable without a streamlined process. The negative outcomes of not having a solution like DaycareBuddy include increased stress levels and potential for suboptimal care for their children. It takes a lot of time because the current process involves contacting numerous daycare providers, filling out multiple applications, and waiting for responses - all of which can be very time-consuming and stressful.
Research Insights
User Pain Points
After defining the target persona in detail in-depth interviews and surveys have been conducted.
Supporting Data
Our conducted research showed that parents often face numerous challenges when searching for suitable daycare services, such as limited availability and long waiting lists,
high costs, inadequate quality of care, insufficient information or reviews.
75% of parents in Switzerland trust recommendations from friends and family the most when choosing a daycare service, but obtaining these recommendations in an organised way can be a pain. Additionally, 80% rated quality as the most important factor when choosing a daycare service, but only 25% found the overall process of finding a suitable daycare to be difficult or extremely difficult.
Feedback
Our data from the survey and in-depth interviews showed that while quality is the most important factor when choosing a daycare service, recommendations from friends and family are the most trusted source of information.
Landing on the Solution
The goal of DaycareBuddy is to simplify the search for suitable daycare services leveraging ratings and recommendations from their friends and families. The hypothesis is that if parents can leverage ratings and recommendations from friends and family, it will lead to more quality placements and effectively alleviate stress and support a healthy work-life balance for parents, while fostering trust and reliability in the daycare selection process.
Explanation of Solution
The first ideas that will be tested and validated (for each of them we will need to come up with hypotheses) as cheaply as possible (e.g. low fidelity prototypes) together with the team are:
- Simple and intuitive social recommendation service (e.g. platform or similar) that allows parents to request and receive recommendations for daycare services from their friends and other parents.
- Specific rating criteria: Implement a set of predefined criteria for parents to rate daycare services, providing actionable insights for others in their search.
- Integration with existing social networks: Enable parents to connect their existing social media accounts, making it easy to find friends and acquaintances who have experience with daycare services.
User Flows/Mockup
Future Steps
I will continue with the 8-Week Boot Camp and take my experience and lessons learned to come up with a valuable, usable, feasible and viable solution for the identified problem space together with a team of designers and engineers.
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
Adrian Dubler
A crucial lesson I've learned is that success in any product depends heavily on knowing your problem space and understanding your target persona in and out. It's important to fall in love with the problem, not the solution, as this allows you to focus on the needs of your audience and develop a solution that truly meets their needs.
Designer Learnings:
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:
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:
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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.