Flourish
Flourish an app designed to help you cultivate lasting connections—empowering initial interactions and ongoing relationships
Product Experience
Problem Space
Problem Statement
How might we coordinate effective interaction planning for people so that they can confidently and successfully engage in many social and professional situations, leading to the desired effect of building strong, lasting relationships?
Problem Background
Developing and maintaining relationships, whether they are personal or professional, is often challenging, especially during initial interactions like first dates or business coffee chats. Understanding the experiences and challenges people face in these situations is essential for improving relationship-building processes and ensuring positive outcomes. Flourish is quite significant in the context of the post-pandemic social landscape, where remote work and hybrid careers have become prevalent. Users struggle with developing and maintaining meaningful relationships during initial interactions, leading to challenges in both personal and professional spheres. Challenges include planning activities, overcoming initial awkwardness, and sustaining connections beyond the first meeting.
“Toronto is one of the loneliest places in the country More than a third of people in the city of Toronto and the Toronto CMA reported feeling lonely at least three days in the last week, higher than nearly any other geography.”-The Toronto Foundation’s 2023 Vital Signs report
- Customers and Need: Our customers are individuals and professionals seeking meaningful connections in personal and professional settings. The problem we're addressing is the challenge of developing and maintaining authentic relationships.
- Why Now: In an increasingly digital world, building genuine connections is more important than ever. The need for authentic relationships spans personal and professional domains.
- What We Know: We know that users desire more than superficial connections. Research and feedback from potential users indicate a demand for a platform that helps them foster meaningful relationships.
Research Insights
User Pain Points
Using Recent research synthesis data collected for Flourish, based on 24 responses users highlighted challenges such as:
- Difficulty in planning and executing successful initial interactions
- Lack of confidence during first encounters
- Difficulty in finding common ground with new acquaintances.
- Challenges in maintaining relationships after the initial interaction.
- Anxiety and fear of rejection hindering relationship-building efforts.
- Limited effectiveness of existing platforms in addressing these issues
Supporting Data
Currently there aren't any available solutions available for facilitating and maintaining meaningful connections during initial interactions. A solution is needed because 80%+ of the interviewees form research synthesis data indicate that they are interested in building genuine relationships. Common complaints included a lack of personalization, difficulty in transitioning from virtual to in-person interactions, and a desire for more genuine engagement.
- The majority actively seeks opportunities for initial interactions weekly (37.5%) or monthly (25%).
- 54.2% of respondents work in a hybrid environment, highlighting the need for relationship-building in diverse work settings.
- Survey data indicates that 75% of respondents rated active listening as very important in initial interactions.
Feedback
Our preliminary user research to validate this problem found that many individuals face similar challenges in making meaningful connections. They expressed a need for a platform that not only helps in planning initial interactions but also supports continual relationship development.
emphasizes the need for a solution that provides guidance on making a lasting impression, overcoming social anxiety, and maintaining connections over time.
Landing on the Solution
Based on our target users’ pain points, we knew we wanted to work on the following features:
- A user-friendly interface for planning and scheduling initial interactions
- Tools to boost users' confidence during first encounters
- Features that support ongoing relationship-building, such as reminders for follow-ups and personalized suggestions for meaningful conversations”
Explanation of Solution
Flourish is an app designed to empower users in their initial interactions and ongoing relationship-building efforts. The solution includes features such as:
- Profile Creation: Users can create basic profiles with their name, a profile picture, and a short bio accompanied with interests and preferences.
- Scheduling coordination and Reminders: The app allows users to seamlessly schedule initial interactions, such as first dates, business coffee chats, or friendly gatherings. Users receive reminders for upcoming interactions and schedule follow-ups efficiently.
- Contact Management/Relationship Tracker: Users can add and manage contacts, including basic contact details, including interests and preferences. More importantly a journal/feedback section for making notes tracking sentiments throughout and after the interactions. This feature assists users in maintaining connections by offering reminders and suggestions for follow-ups.
- Feedback Mechanism: After each interaction, users can provide feedback on their experience, offering ratings and brief comments.
- Guided Conversation Starters: A specified library of personalized conversation starters is available to help users facilitate discussions during their interactions.
This comprehensive approach aims to address user pain points and provide a solution that empowers individuals in building and maintaining authentic connections in various aspects of their lives.
User Flows/Mockups:
Users appreciate the idea of a centralized app for relationship building. Integration of AI-driven suggestions for interactions with refined user interface based on user feedback while exploring ways to enhance the virtual-to-in-person transition experience
Profile Creation: Users can create basic profiles with their name, a profile picture, and a short bio accompanied with interests and preferences.
- User Onboarding: Guided onboarding process to understand user preferences, confidence levels, and relationship goals.
Scheduling coordination and Reminders: The app allows users to seamlessly schedule initial interactions, such as first dates, business coffee chats, or friendly gatherings. Users receive reminders for upcoming interactions and schedule follow-ups efficiently.
- Interaction Coordinating Module: User-friendly interface for planning personalized interactions, considering interests, budgets, and location preferences.
Contact Management/Relationship Tracker: Users can add and manage contacts, including basic contact details, including interests and preferences. More importantly a journal/feedback section for making notes tracking sentiments throughout and after the interactions. This feature assists users in maintaining connections by offering reminders and suggestions for follow-ups.
Relationship Support Dashboard:Centralized dashboard for tracking relationship milestones, setting reminders, and accessing resources for relationship growth.
- Relationship Tracker Functionality: User flow diagrams depicting how the relationship tracker integrates with users' calendars and communication apps.
Feedback Mechanism: After each interaction, users can provide feedback on their experience, offering ratings and brief comments. `
- Communication Coaching:Interactive modules providing communication tips, active listening exercises, and scenario-based coaching.
- Guided Conversation Starters: A specified library of personalized conversation starters is available to help users facilitate discussions during their interactions.
Future Steps:
This is what I plan to do in the future
- Prototype Testing: Develop interactive prototypes for user testing to gather feedback on the usability and effectiveness of Flourish.
- Iterative Enhancements: Collect user feedback for continuous improvements and feature enhancements ensuring it aligns with users' evolving needs.
- Beta Launch: Release a beta version of Flourish to a select user group for real-world testing and further refinement.
- Full-scale Deployment: Launch the final version of Flourish to a wider audience, with a focus on continuous improvement based on user insights.
- User Engagement Initiatives: Implement strategies to encourage consistent user engagement, such as gamification elements and community-building features.
- Partnerships and Collaborations: Explore collaborations with relationship experts, therapists, and influencers to provide diverse perspectives and expert advice.
- Data Analysis for Optimization: Regularly analyse user data to optimize the app based on user behaviours, preferences, and success metrics.
- Marketing and Outreach: Develop a comprehensive marketing strategy to reach a wider audience, emphasising the unique value proposition of Flourish.
- User Support and Education: Provide robust user support and educational resources to ensure users make the most of Flourish's features and insights.
Images
Useful Resources
Research Synthesis Data - Flourish by Abraham King
Building Relationships DTTP (Survey)
Building Relationships DTTP (Responses)
https://torontofoundation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TF-VitalSigns2023-Tagged-Nov14.pdf#page=34
Figma Link
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
Abraham King
As a Product Manager (PM) in Co.Lab a learning program, there were some valuable learnings and insights. Here’s what I gained from this experience:
Understanding User Needs: I learned how to effectively gather and analyze user feedback to understand the unique needs.
Iterative Development: I embraced the iterative development process, where continuous feedback drives improvements.
Prioritization and Roadmapping: I developed skills in prioritizing features and creating roadmaps that align with both user needs due to the Effective Prioritization class
User Experience (UX) Design: I gained insights into UX design principles by learning softwares such as figma.
Communication Skills: I was able to hone my communication skills to effectively during peer classes and mentorship sessions.
- Building a Product Community: Through Co.Lab l was able to foster a sense of community among learners encouraging collaboration and knowledge-sharing through platforms like discord.
- Continuous Learning: I embraced a mindset of continuous learning, being open to new ideas and technologies.
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.