We simulated a B2B supplier's pivot to a B2C digital grocery service, emphasizing practical research over theory in our academic project.
As part of our classroom project, we simulated a medium-sized business's digital transformation from being a B2B Farm to Table Supplier to adding a B2C Grocery Delivery service. Each stage of the design process has different stakeholders, research methods, and outputs. We delved deep into understanding which research outputs truly make an impact in real-world scenarios. This exploration of tangible outcomes versus theoretical knowledge was a cornerstone of our academic endeavour.
Objectives
The simulated company sought to launch a digital service to quadruple its revenue in the grocery subscription market within a year.
The hypothetical medium-sized service business sought to launch a new digital product to diversify its offerings and enhance its capabilities. With the goal of achieving a 4x revenue increase within 12 months, the company aimed to tap into the grocery/meal subscription market.
Constraints
Growth stagnation from overlooking research and design, scope management issues, and undocumented user insights posed challenges.
The importance of research and design was realised after a decline in growth due to a focus solely on business metrics.
There were challenges in staying within scope and ensuring that the goals remain aligned.
User needs is not documented in a structured way from the exploration phase.
Occasionally, research used is outdated or ideas lack evidence.
Desired Impact
The company aimed for a significant increase in user engagement and a revenue jump, recognizing research and design's role in success.
In our simulated scenario, the company envisioned an increase in user engagement and a potential 4x revenue growth in the subsequent year. The hypothetical management team recognised the importance of research and design in achieving these outcomes.
Solution
A strategic plan based on interviews and 'The Lean Product Playbook' guided the company through exploration, design, build, and optimization phases.
We developed a strategic plan, based on digital product process mapping, incorporating interview insights and best practices from The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen.
We made some assumptions about the company including the structure. Here’s what the organization chart looked like on Day 1 and then on Day 365.
We based our process map on the following framework -
Explore: uncovering a new business opportunity for untapped experience, revenue or market)
Design: breaking down the opportunity into tangible experiences and user value
Build: defining and assembling the smallest functional part that returns business value
Optimise: scaling an offering to expand on features, experience, users, revenue, or market-share
Process
Primary research consisted of conducting group interviews for each stage with professionals from the industry to gain insights. We kept building the map as we went through each week of interviews.
Here are the top 7 insights -
Scope Management: Many times, projects can deviate from their original intent, leading to an increase in timelines. Maintaining a clear scope is crucial. Using tools like a scorecard can help assess if the project remains on track and if the goals are still aligned.
Research Quality and Relevance: Sometimes, the research conducted might not be thorough, could be outdated, or might be based on ideas that lack evidence. In such cases, there's a need to conduct fresh research to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Structured Documentation: There's a need for structured documentation of user needs and goals from the exploration phase to understand user requirements better.
Stakeholder Alignment: It's essential to have first-cut meetings and white-boarding sessions with stakeholders to understand their thoughts more clearly. Sharing findings early and often can lead to faster alignment, especially with developers.
Research Validation: It's crucial to ask many questions and validate research findings. This ensures that the insights derived are accurate and actionable.
Transition from Personas: There's a shift from using traditional personas to focusing on "jobs to be done" as a more effective way to understand user needs.
Usability Testing: There's a need to conduct usability tests, especially within the organization, for the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to validate if the core idea works.
Click here for a detailed report!
How the map works
How the map works
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