Ask the Network
Matching farmers with agricultural experts who know they can help.
Role
As a product design intern, my responsibilities included analyzing user interviews and research, extensively iterating, prototyping and designing the feature and assisting extensively with the hand-off process with the developers.
Outcome
The feature significantly increased user usage and retention rate of the overall app and acted as a catalyst for future features. Ask the Network continues to be one of the most used feature of the app.
Company
AGvisorPRO
Project Teams
Design (2)
Product Manager (1)
Developers (7)
and many, many more…
Duration
3 months (Jun – Aug 2021)
Tools
Adobe XD, Miro, Shortcut
A solution that allows farmers to connect with experts they know can help.
Process
Using a modified version of a design sprint in an agile workflow
At AGvisorPRO, we use a modified version of the design sprint which includes still includes the same six main steps: Understand, Define, Sketch, Decide, Prototype, and Validate. It’s important to note that these steps were not followed in a linear fashion and steps were frequently revisited.
Problem Space
The product was a directory where people looked up experts.
Prior to the arrival of an in-house design team, AGvisorPRO only served one purpose, and that was to look up names with a search bar and call them using the app.
Opportunity
How can we connect farmers who need advice with experts we know can help?
What was missing from the app was how farmers would know which experts would be able to help them with their problems. When I joined AGvisorPRO, the discovery team was experimenting with an early iteration of a feature called Ask the Network, which would categorize experts by their expertise so that questions could be sent to groups of experts at once.
Ideation
Sketching and ideating as a team
During my first few weeks, we moved this concept through a design sprint with the discovery team. From the sprint we knew we wanted to focus on connectedness, drawing in inspiration from various industry leading apps. I particularly drew inspiration from social media apps and other question and answer apps.
Initial individual sketches of Ask the Network were completed for the design sprint illustrating the functionality of the feature.
Iterations + User Tests
Restarting throughout the process and learning as we go.
Our two-person design team used the information garnered from the first part of the sprint to design and prototype one of the initial versions of the Ask the Network feature, focusing on posts and interactions. After we conducted a few user interviews, we learned that people were excited by this initial idea, but were concerned with privacy and who would be seeing the questions.
An early iteration of Ask the Network showing, from left to right, the loading screen, the category screen, the asking screen, and the expanded question view.
We shifted our focus towards privacy and communication between farmers and experts by simplifying the flow of our platform and removing the social media aspect. We added a new tab for email-style interaction with questions and responses and created space to showcase experts.
There's an overwhelming amount of information in front of me, making it hard to know where to focus.
– Participant A from our user tests
After initially planning an email-styled layout for questions, we conducted user testing and found that the experts were struggling to keep up with the influx of questions and taking too long to answer them. It became clear that they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of questions coming in at once, leading us to settle on a swiping and matching system for experts to quickly sort through questions.
Screenshot of the email-like style iteration for viewing options relating to questions.
Screenshot of the dating app swiping gestures on questions that are sent to Ask the Network.
Finalizing + Handoff
Continuously collaborating with developers for production.
Before finalizing Ask the Network, we conducted additional iterations and user interviews, working with the developers to determine which areas met minimum viable product standards. Throughout the development process, my supervisor and I maintained open communication with the team to provide support. By November, the app was available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, generating excitement in the agricultural-technology community and attracting new users from across the continent.
Screenshots of one of the final stages of the Ask the Network feature.
Top (left to right): Home screen, Ask Screen, Category Selection Screen, Questions Section
Bottom (left to right): Question Expanded View, Chat Screen, Answer Screen, Response Screen.
Conclusion
Seeing a project from ideation to production release.
My involvement in this project has given me a thorough understanding of the product development process. This includes ideation, daily team meetings, design sessions, sprints, and over 30 user interviews. Through this experience, I have gained valuable insight into the importance of each phase in shaping the final product.