Green Govtech
The challenge
Explore the data use related to urban afforestation to create solutions to help cities and urban space planning. We didn’t have a determined product or target stakeholder, so that the initial process of research focused on finding possible solutions addressed to strategical users.
The outcome
With the competitive analysis we identified a small company with a solution already developed and in Go to Market phase. Its solution foresees functionalities similar to those designed by us and with a similar value proposal.
The client and the company showed interest in a partnership to continue and scale the solution, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the negotiation efforts are stalled.
Length of the project
Design sprint - 1 week
Research - 1 month
Role
Design Sprint team member
and
Researcher
Tools used
Design Sprint, Atomic Research, Competitive analysis, stakeholder maps, Matriz CSD
Skills developed
User research, business analysis and strategy, MVP validation, self-driven research
Project overview
In this project I was part of the Design Sprint team and in a second stage of development I worked as a researcher.
The challenge was developing a solution for urban environment issues, based on green data lake for urban afforestation. We started from this idea to explore the possibilities and ideate solutions for a startup.
Design process
Design sprint
Without a defined product, problem or target audience, Design Sprint was the solution found by the partnership between the client and ONOVOLAB (innovation hub in São Carlos - SP) to devise and validate the solution.
At first, I joined the team of this project, as an architect and urban planner and interested in the environmental cause, I was invited to participate as a specialist to contribute from the point of view of urban planning and design and compatibility of several themes that cross forestation.
I previously read Jake Knapp's Sprint book and actively participated in Sprint, keeping in mind the path to be traced and the objective of each task.
During the design sprint
The event
Adapting the Design sprint
We adjusted the structure of the traditional Design Sprint Monday to broaden the range of insights.
We assume the premise that Nobody Knows Everything and that in order to arrive at a satisfactory product in a promising subject, it would be necessary to observe more closely the demands and difficulties of the practice and also capture knowledge about future and existing technologies and initiatives.
Green Cities event was our opportunity to capture insights from the invited panelists, thinking about the startup's goal, combined with the opportunity to provide a stage for debate with the community to discuss a subject so dear to the quality of urban life.
With qualified speakers on urban environmental and afforestation themes, we guarantee the presence of engaged participants attracted by the quality of the content of the proposed event.
Defined and tested solution
With the insights it was possible to cover several possibilities of application and demand and we were able to define the main problem and hypotheses to test in the Design Sprint.
We then envision a solution to improve the service experience that the city of São Carlos offers (currently an off-line service) in the area of urban afforestation.
In 4 days, we carried out the complete Design Sprint, with a model or test of some hypotheses, mainly with respect to the interest and delivery of value to the user with a solution proposal.
Prototype and user testing
Journeys
From the information collected during Design Sprint and MVP 2, structured as journeys by the same stakeholder in key situations where a solution may come to interfere, in order to understand how to solve the problem today without a startup solution.
With a journey, it is possible to identify small moments of the user and point out opportunities where the solution can enter to soften the user's pain points or optimize a journey. This step was made for at least two participants.
User journey
Stakeholders acquisition journey
Value propositions
With the journeys, we identified new opportunities and validated some ideas still thought of in Design Sprint.
We affirmed with the research that the company's proposal best meets the demands of the government, as developed in Design Sprint, but improving the insights and approaching the format of the solution.
Based on the research elements, the client, as a manager and experienced business executive, designed the value proposal based on the research findings.
Competitive analysis
Within the scope of the proposals for the startup, I carried out a competitive analysis + a summarised atomic research.
Objectives: to observe the performance of similar companies existing in the market, to locate the research in terms of competitiveness and business decision making.
Results so far
and
current stage of the project
With the competitive analysis we identified a small company with a solution already developed and in the Go to Market phase. Its solution foresees functionalities similar to those designed by us and with a similar value proposal.
The client and the company showed interest in a partnership to continue and scale the solution, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the negotiation efforts are stalled.