Hey kids! Guess what? It’s story time! Did I ever tell you the one about the prototype?

Didn’t think so…

Well sit right down and listen to the exciting story of a little company that had a problem and the group who came up with a solution.

It seems like the Maryland Food Bank, an organization that provides goods and services to people in need, had a dilemma…their online donations were down…they knew how important the world wide web is and how powerful it is as a resource. This was a support venue they just had to take advantage of.

That’s why they brought this issue to The Crack Team. The MFB knew how seriously The Team would take this problem…

…and they knew The Team would find a solution.

The issue was presented to the VP, who in turn presented it to The Team’s CEO... JG.

The first step in our Design Sprint was to identify the problem. As we discussed this we all thought of possible solutions. As the solutions formulated we readied ourselves for the task. This was done as a group.

We broke into our sub-groups and began discussing our ideas with each other. After the explanations/discussions, we were ready to begin the process of finding a solution. We knew we would do this as a group, so we kept open minds as we moved through the process.

As you can see, once the problem was defined the ideas began. Even though it was a slow start, sub-groups were formed and from there we really got the ideas flowing...

With no pressure from the uppers, our group, The Crack Team, started a thing we call the Design Sprint.

In the next step we all chose one of the ideas from the crazy 8s and worked it out in three panels. This gave us all a better look at some of the ideas. We hung these on the wall and worked as a group to discuss the panels.

We then place numbers 1 through 5 on the panels we felt were best to least. After this step we each developed the app on our own with the intent to meet again and decide on the version we would test.

In the next step we returned to working individually. We each chose one of the ideas and expanded on that idea in a three panel drawing. This was an attempt to bring more focus on ideas to identify the best approach.

We worked as a group to make sure no idea went unheard and that no weaknesses went unrevealed.

We took pictures of the three panel drawings and individually developed the ideas we thought were strongest. When we met again we compared the developed ideas and put together a mock up of the app.

The mock up was easy to make. It was fun to set it up and a really great thing to learn. Even with the primitive drawings the App looks good enough to give the viewer a realistic experience and give helpful feedback.

The Home page was set up as a simple statement “How can we help you help?” with three buttons linking to a donation area, a Fill-A-Bag area, and a Map area.

The second page was a Trust Agreement page designed to give the viewer comfort and confidence in the MFB.

The next page is accessed by clicking the DONATE button, a fill-in page with a return button.

The next page is accessed by clicking the Map button. This shows demographic and location information.

The Fill-A-Bag button accesses a page that allows the viewer to sign up to receive a bag to fill with donations at their leisure.

The final page of any of these areas is a Thank You page. This page leads back to access the other pages, if the viewer wishes.

I think we were all on the same page, so making the individual ideas work as one was easy. We simplified the drawings and uploaded the images to the Marvel Pop App. We set the App up to link each page to ready for the test.

With the Marvel Pop App set up as the MFB App, we were ready to test. We prepared questions and discussed the roles of Facilitator and Scribe.

Introduction/icebreaker: We are developing this app for the Maryland Food Bank and would like your feedback. Questions: Do you donate to charities? Have you heard of the MFB? How do you access the internet? Describe the test task. Be sure to let them know we are not soliciting donations. Launch App- ask them to narrate their thought process as they go through it. What are you going to do next? Why? What did you expect to happen? Close the App- what was your experience? How would you describe what you did here today to a friend?

With JG's approval, the prototype was ready to test. The incentives were gathered and test pilots were found.

The Team decided on the approach and we were ready to test. Following the test, we gathered the info and made our conclusions. There were just a few changes. The changes were put in place and the pilot App was ready for management.

The Crack Team consisted of three professionals. All three group members contributed equally to the project. Jesse was responsible for the Map idea. Tony was responsible for the Trust Agreement.

My contribution in this process was the Fill-A-Bag idea, entering images and setting up the mock-up in Marvel Pop. All three of us contributed drawings and I did the redrawings for the mock up.