TODO List App

Background

The idea for this app came from the pain points I personally experience while scheduling my week. I typically schedule my tasks during my long commute from south bay to the campus. The issue that I have to face everyday is to sync my tasks that end up in disparate locations (paper lists, TODO app on my smart phone, my Evernote account, countless emails/chats exchanged with my partner, and other myriad other places). Also, when the time comes to actually buy some expensive item from my shopping list, I typically either forget, or have no time, or don't have access to my phone for searching coupons or deals, etc.

With this issue in mind, I set out for needs assessment phase for busy parents.

Interviews

As a busy parent myself, I wanted to create something that would solve the task-scheduling issues that every parent goes through. Also, I had some ideas for how to effectively connect children with their elderly parents in India.

During the user interview phase, I decided to target two different demographics:

(a) Elderly citizens who stay alone in India

(b) Busy parents

User 1: Elderly citizen who stays alone in India, tech-savvy, owns a smartphone

For this target profile, I interviewed a visiting parent from India. The subject is a Blackberry user who currently uses the phone to contact and check his emails. He stated that his phone is typically accessible (he keeps it in his pocket all the time), however he stated that he was very annoyed when he sees a lot of notifications on his phone, therefore he prefers to check his emails on either desktop or laptop. The user typically uses his smartphone to research business information for stock markets and shares this information using gmail. However, it becomes very tedious to share the information because he has to manually open the gmail app on his phone. He also uses his phone for mobile banking occasionally but commented that the instructions are very difficult to understand on the small screen. 

When I asked if he would like to get away from his phone and just use something that he did not have to hold, the idea did not excite him much because he said he could not anticipate the need of such a device. He also felt that it might be intrusive to have a device on his body. He also stated that the watches look like a toy and he would not be comfortable wearing it. 

I asked him if he is open to using a device that would serve as a personal health concierge for him. I then probed him about his process of managing his health and how do his children (who are miles away) mobilize help during any major/minor health issue. He stated that currently he uses Internet to find information on his medical condition, doctor reviews etc. (he mentioned apps in India like askme, etc.). He also had the pet peeve with doctors in India and stated that the doctors are not willing to part with information readily and he has to probe the doctors to give a detailed analysis of his condition. He stated that if at all he would have to wear a smart watch or any other device, it would be for this purpose: (a) Pull research information on my medical condition (without me having to do extensive research on the subject) (b) Activate ICE contacts, call ambulance, inform my family if I start experiencing a life-threatening condition.

User 2: Working mom with two kids, tech-savvy, owns a smartphone

User 2 is a savvy iPhone 5 user and an active user of several apps (Whatsapp, iMessages, Facebook, Google Maps, Facebook, Pic Collage, Saavn - Indian music app, etc. ). She commutes everyday to work and usually keeps her phone either in her bag or in her hand and prefers to talk with her family during her commute. She uses her phone to browse for restaurants, stores, coupons, etc.

When I probed her about the last time her phone was not readily available with her. She replied that it happens often because iPhone5 is very light and typically she has to check her bag several times before leaving her house to ensure that she has her phone with her. In spite of that, she typically forgets her phone. Without her phone, she felt paralyzed.

She stated that she uses paper to list all the items whenever her phone is not accessible and uses her phone to find deals or coupons whenever she goes out for shopping. She also stated that she tried using several TODO apps on her smart phones but gave up on them because it she felt annoyed to type in the small screen space. In addition, the kids use a separate planner for their school activities which she has to maintain every day. She also mentioned that she felt very angry if the TODO list paper is lost or misplaced. She also complained that she found it increasingly difficult to pull out her phone from the bag in presence of her kids.

I asked her to imagine a TODO app on her watch that would capture her voice inputs, sync with her social networks, pull reviews for her expensive items, and also serve as a repository for her readlater items. She liked the concept but was skeptical of the watch's screen size. I explained that the app would accept voice based inputs. She liked the idea of not typing into any screen and receiving all the information on her finger tips especially the ones for product reviews and deals.

Brainstorming

These are the ideas that I was interested in during brainstorming: 

1. Music app for smartwatch: The app would curate songs for different moods based on user created tags (similar to Songza). 

2. Aisle finder: Accepts voice based inputs or syncs with your shopping list to find economically priced items in the aisles for leading stores.

3. Price comparison app: Accepts voice input to find best deal for your shopping needs.

4. Pin of the day: Shows you pin from your Pinterest account based on the category you input (uses voice input).

5. Find volunteer opportunity: Finds volunteer opportunity with your local community and syncs with your calendar.

6. App to quit smoking: Alerts the user when he/she starts to smoke, basically acts as a smart anti-smoking band.

7. Call me if the gun cabinet opens: Calls the user and delegated neighbors if someone opens the gun cabinet.

8. Log all my trips: Logs all expenses related to food, gas, lodging.

9. Put on sunscreen reminder: App that reminds you to put sunscreen (finds the UV rays impact for that day).

10. Smart TODO list for busy moms: The parent says the word in the smart watch and an image pops up in child’s tablet or the phone in child’s hands. The app awards a point for every correctly guessed word and logs entry of that word in the TODO list

11. App to save items for readlater: User saves content to read later with one swipe motion.

12. Augmented reality app for kids: The kid speaks name of the character in the watch and a hologram with a song or story appears for that character

13. Mobilize help: Create an ICE network for senior citizens.

14. Easy-health: Create an app to check blood pressure, temperature, heart-rate and also capture the images from ultrasound machine (complete the forms required by government of India). The idea is to have the watch help the doctors in rural area who lack skilled assistants.

Prototyping

I decided to design a mashup of TODO app and deal/coupon finder app because I feel users give up on the TODO app if they have to move between two different apps (create TODO list and search for deals or product reviews). Also according to the informal surveys I conducted these target users rarely completed the items on their list and finally ended up deleting the TODO app on their smart phones. Additionally, as parents, the users bookmark lot of items that they want to readlater or share with their network. However, this content eventually gets locked up in either their bookmarking accounts or smartphone history.

The following major themes emerged from the interviews:

1. Parents find it difficult to sync tasks across several accounts (TODO list on their phones, notes, Evernote type accounts, mails, paper lists)

2. They find it difficult to search for deals and plan their shopping in a stress free and economical way

3. They also get annoyed while typing their tasks in the TODO list app on their smartphones. Also, the users typically want something which is always available for recording (unlike the bulky smartphones they have to carry).

4. They want to share the content that they browse via their social network or mark it for reading later without leaving the app.

5. Parents also find it difficult to access their smartphones in the presence of their kids because the kids often want to play or use the smartphones.

I created the following prototype for my smart TODO list app:

Based on the user feedback, I created a design that accepts voice based inputs (I also wanted to design a way to capture the paper lists, but currently the design does not support this interaction). 

I created the following landing pages for the app:

The above landing pages accept tasks for your TODO list and also accept the store names where the user shops regularly.

Feedback

I tested this prototype with parents from two separate categories - working and stay at home. The key findings are as follows:

1. The users were delighted when I told them the app accepts voice inputs.
2. All were delighted when I told them that once you feed the list of your favorite stores to this app, it will automatically pull discount deals from the sites, match them with your TODO items, and push an alert for a customized deal. However, one user stated that she would like the app to alert her when she goes near the store in her list and should show the items from her list that she is supposed to get instead of showing the deals only part.
3. Some working mothers liked the idea of saving a readlater list.
4. The stay at home sample size was not keen on wearing something intrusive just to record their TODO task. They suggested that the app should be able to scan a paper TODO list.
5. The test sample seemed to be confused with too many categories and suggested that I make the interactions more consistent. For example, one user pointed out that the app’s experience was not consistent when she was browsing the item that was marked “Repair roof” vs. “Buy Tablet”. She stated that both the interactions look for feedback from FB group, but the one with “Repair roof” also has search yellow pages option which overwhelmed her.
6. Some working mothers also liked the idea that they could now save meeting minutes using this one single app.

Insights

These are the key takeaways from this design exercise:

1. While designing the app, I understood the “fat finger” problem and would love to learn techniques for better utilization of small screen real estate.
2. While testing the prototype, the users did not seem very enthusiastic when I told them that this is a TODO list for your smart watch. It is only when I told them the elevator pitch about how this app is a combination of TODO list + deal hunting app + readlater/bookmarking service, the users were excited to see the prototype.
3. Some users expressed that they felt annoyed while using the paper prototype because they did not think all the interactions were consistent and seamless.
4. A few stated that the app also tends to overwhelm them as users.