Mom Manager
Mom Manager is a product to enable stay at home moms to have at least an hour for themselves with the focus on prioritizing their mental health through networking with other moms in their community.
Problem Statement
How might we help stay at home moms avoid being overwhelmed and burnout from their daily responsiblities without impact on their mental health.
Problem Background
The target customers here are stay at home moms. Based on qualitative interviews, stay at home moms are mostly overwhelmed carrying out their daily responsibilities and running the affairs of their homes. They lack Personal time, are financially stressed, feeling undervalued, finding time for self-care and maintaining their Mental health.
In 2021 with a national poll conducted, many mothers and caregivers were nearing their breaking point. They were overworked, overwhelmed, and undervalued; their mental health was suffering. Canadian Women’s Foundation. (2023, June 12). New Survey Results - May 2022 - Canadian Women's Foundation. https://canadianwomen.org/may-2022-pandemic-survey-moms-caregivers/
The survey further shows that a higher percentage of moms are concerned about their physical health. Three in five moms are concerned about their emotional well-being (67%) and their mental health (62%). Moms continue to be significantly more likely than dads to feel anxious and sad. And those feelings aren’t diminishing much for moms: In 2022, 41% of moms felt anxious (43% in 2021) and 24% of moms felt sad (26% in 2021).
Balancing household duties and financial concerns can frequently lead to feelings of overwhelm and fatigue for mothers. When a stay-at-home mom faces burnout, she may struggle to get out of bed in the morning, experience impatience with her children or partner, feel lonely, exhibit signs of anger or tearfulness without clear cause, or be easily upset. It is common for stay-at-home moms undergoing burnout to harbor feelings of resentment towards motherhood or daydream about a way out.
Stay-at-home moms often encounter anxiety or depression. While there is limited research on the mental health challenges faced by stay-at-home mothers, a Gallup survey of more than 60,000 American women indicated that stay-at-home moms expressed higher levels of depression, sadness, stress, and anger in comparison to working mothers. Stay-At-Home Moms Report More Depression, Sadness, Anger. Gallup. Accessed 8/29/2022.
In order to solve the above pain point, Mom Manager is a scheduling App to help stay at home moms plan their daily responsibilities by setting achievable goals each day through planning and scheduling to reduce mental exhaustion and breakdown. The apps will also focus on features to help stay one mom network with other moms of like minded in their community.
User Pain Points & Research Insights
Using Microsoft surveys and interviews, I was able to identify 7 prospective users with an average family of four. They barely have time for themselves or have social interactions with adults.
Supporting Data
71% mentioned they are usually overwhelmed with little or no support but try to find a way to balance their day. 27% were able to juggle their daily tasks because they have grown up children and a partner that supports them and the remaining 2% said they have support from family members to help with their kids so they have some time for themselves. Most complained of being overwhelmed and burnout before the end of their day. They feel anxious and have no social interaction with other adults.
Feedback
Majority don’t use any app to organize their daily responsibilities and will be willing to use an app which they can plan with and also give them some personal time,
Landing on the Solution
Based on our target user’s pain points, we knew we needed to develop a product with features to help balance mental health challenges faced by stay at home moms due to how stressful their day can be. This feature includes connecting stay at moms within the same community and a well tailored easy to do exercise for example Yoga, Meditation and low impact physical activities to boost their overall health.
Explanation of Solution
After we showcased our prototype to the users again, we learned that it will be great to have a poll to gather more data on stay home moms having mental struggles.
Future Steps
I want to continue with this product, I believe I need to conduct more user research and interviews to get an in depth understanding of the pain point I mentioned. Additional features to be included in the product.
- Mental health Resources
- Exercise/Meditation
- Daily planner/Routine organizers
- Budget and expenses tracker
- Meal recipes
- Educational contents
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
Mercy Ojini
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
&
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
&
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:
&
Developer Learnings:
Maurquise Williams
&
- 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
&
All in all this experience was very awesome I learned that in coding with others being transparent is key
Developers Learnings:
Justin Farley
&
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.