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Application with reviews about places by your friends from your contact list.
We usually rely on Yelp or Google reviews to look up places. But we see through our research that people more likely to trust their friend's suggestions than online reviews. Online reviews sometimes do not provide a full picture of the place and often the places they have been to is not up to their expectation. Even though a place it rated highly, for a particular individual it may not be the right choice.
We are trying to create an honest review app personalized to the individual. This will cater to the needs of the individual that trusts' reviews from people they know.
This will be an app that shows a user, where their friends have been. They have rated these places so the user will trust their reviews and check out those places.
Research and Validation:
We conducted user research online and here are the summarized results:
- 67% of the respondents rely on online review websites/apps to find a place to go out more than 4 times a month.
- 87% of the respondents trust the reviews they find online "only somewhat".
- 53% of the respondents’ trust reviews by their friends every time.
- 33% of the respondents’ trust and go to the places their friends suggested when they visit and new city.
- 58% of the respondents have had 50% or greater bad experiences when they visited places based on good online reviews.
- This 30% of the above had bad experiences greater than 3 time out of 4.
- 55% of the respondents are willing to review places and suggest them for their friends.
- Of millennials 82% who responded are interested in a platform that is NOT SOCIAL MEDIA to review places for their friends.
Based on the above, if there is a trusted, contacts driven, non-social media platform, then users are willing to use this platform to review and suggest places for themselves as well as their friends.
Persona:
Our research enabled us to create the following personas.
Contextual Situations:
As a visitor/new-to-the-city person, the user wants to be able to find good places to eat, hang-out, etc., in places that they can be sure to have a good time. When a trusted friend reviews a particular place or thing to-do, it will give us more interest to visit that place because we enjoy the same kind of things.
Current Market and Challenges:
Currently, Yelp and Google Reviews and countless other apps provide a review for places, but they are by strangers on the internet. They will be our primary competitors. Our challenge will be to be able to gain the users trust to get access to their phone contacts and have some reviews for him. If the above is not completed, we may not have reviews for folks to look at.
Solution:
We are trying to create an honest review app personalized to the individual. This will cater to the needs of the individual that trusts' reviews from people they know. This will be an app that shows a user, where their friends have been. They have rated these places so the user will trust their reviews and check out those places.
Reviews are sourced from the contacts on the phone. Reviews that can be trusted because they are validated by people in in-real-life social circle aka the phone contacts.
Design and UX:
We begin with a simple lo-fi Screen and added more Hi-Fi Screens. We continue to evolve the user design.
Product Flow and User Stories:
Proposed Features:
- Timeline of reviews by contacts
- Ability to browse the map and check reviews by your contacts.
- Ability to review places and post to the chronological timeline.
- Ability to Share these places with your contacts.
- Ability to filter places on the map by kind.
- Ability to create groups of friends and filter reviews by that group.
Achievements:
Our team was new to Product and development methodologies, but we hit the ground running in terms of identifying problems spaces, finalizing the problem to tackle and progressing in the development phase. A lot of product ideation, prioritization tools have helped us refine our product's features and prioritize them effectively. We are developing the Product using React Native and use Google maps API to achieve the desired output.
What's Next:
We are wrapping up our development and plan to launch soon. We are going to add more features down the line like friend groups for each type of activity, adding and improving our timeline screen, filter the reviews by a friend etc.
We are going to get more people onboard for development and design and continue to collaborate.
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
Goutam Uttiramerur
Designer Learnings:
John Thacher
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:
Gary Lewman
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:
Marlon Johnson
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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.
Full Team Learning
The teams main learning was about how timely collaboration is important in order to achieve success in a product. Getting the team excited about the idea/product can go a long way to execute and improve the product. The developers on the team are getting their experience with new technologies and implementation methods. The Product Manager is involved in every step of the process and is largely providing direction. Having a good mentor has helped us progress and we look forward to improving our skills by learning the hard way.