GGC Team 20 - Get HEXy For Me

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The Inspiration

Inspiration struck while we were listening to the first panel on COVID-19’s Impact on Health & Global Business. During this session, Blair Lucas and Donna Legge spoke about the current communication tools available in the workplace. They noted that, when working from home, there was no technology that could truly make up for what is, fundamentally, a lack of human contact.

This got the team thinking - this might be the case, but could we at least address some of the symptoms of this issue?

The Problem

We are whole people. Our mood and mental health cannot be separated from our professional selves. Huge improvements in engagement and productivity are experienced by companies which accept this and check up on their employees.

In the physical workplace, these check-ups can take place through incidental and everyday interactions. In the digital, remote workplace, these exchanges do not take place. There is some discussion in the industry about replacing this with proactive and deliberate discussions about mental health, but the stigmatized nature of issues around mental health presents a barrier to the efficacy of this strategy.

The Solution

We have developed Moodful, a simple software which can be implemented into existing workplace culture and digital infrastructure which gives employees the chance to undertake one simple expression of their mood and mental state. In this way, their co-workers are provided with a simple indication of the well being of the individuals in their workplace, in an easy and non-confrontational way. In addition, workers are given the option of reaching out to others, or accessing further mental health resources, all within the same user-friendly process. With this product, we are trying to enable to early identification and mitigation of mental health issues in the remote working space, improve office culture, increase productivity and performance, save time for managers, and help tackle the stigma around mental health.

The Process

Of course, we did not arrive at this idea immediately - it was the product of a few pivots and shifts in our thinking.

In the early stages, we had some discussion about other options in a similar space, before arriving at the version of the product which we contemplated when we went into developing our LEAN canvas and risky assumption mapping.

This early discussion and its results are detailed on page one of the following document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t2mBEsC7Y4PhOY3_sMmvtmAk21QZB_dX5tot_gBmv5s/edit#

Our LEAN canvas (prepared by Lachlan and Celine) can be found here: https://app.mural.co/t/gethexyforme7677/m/gethexyforme7677/1593486769400/7cfdd8b49f2a64abe2acfde72855d301b9e4e09c

Our risky assumptions map (prepared by Livonne) can be found here: https://app.mural.co/t/gethexyforme7677/m/gethexyforme7677/1593549882662/0c3f4a6e07282ed20700f912f3950207c4eabedd

Research

Our market research strategy and results are outlined in the following Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O7eintFjqeQeGojxdNGdnJkkMFD0rPhzZw5nWSARPeE/edit?usp=sharing

Celine and Lachlan designed the surveys and customer persona for the manager, while Livonne completed the desktop research and the user persona for the worker, as well as the customer persona for the HR officer.

As a result of our research, we realized a pivot was required. We had thought that most workplaces would not have existing systems in place to deal with mental health, but our primary research indicated that this was not the case - many managers had told their employees that they were welcome to approach them with such issues.

Because of this, we decided that our marketing should emphasize the benefit of Moodful over existing workplace practices in its simplicity and accessibility, as well as its power as a tool to tackle mental health stigma (which could be leveraged by companies' for brand differentiation. This is discussed in more detail in the above document.

Prototype Testing

Lachlan had sketched a rough physical prototype for Moodful, which he presented to some other participants in the exchange over Zoom. They were especially pleased by the use of yellow sharpie, so this was what we chose as Moodful's theme colour going forward. This choice also fit in with our vision of Moodful as a product to engage with every morning - the idea of a bright start to the day was appealing.

Lachlan and Celine then built the first high(ish) fidelity prototype in Figma, which quickly went to testing. We undertook four rounds of building, testing, and re-building to implement feedback, which all the team completed together. This process involved some minor pivoting, in that we decided to allow moods to be shared with individuals other than the worker's manager, or no-one at all. This process, including the justifications for and ramifications of this pivot, is outlined in the Prototype testing report which was prepared by Celine, beginning on page 2 of the document at the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t2mBEsC7Y4PhOY3_sMmvtmAk21QZB_dX5tot_gBmv5s/edit#.

Our final prototype can be accessed here: https://www.figma.com/proto/ObzFOA8atWvOXOZtCv59cx/Prototype?node-id=1%3A2&viewport=560%2C181%2C0.0320434495806694&scaling=scale-down

Pitch

The team developed the script for our pitch together, using all we had learnt from the above process. Lachlan presented the pitch, while Livonne worked some iMovie magic.

Where to from here?

A 'roadmap' detailing our team's plan for this product from here on out was prepared by Celine, and is found at the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ACPWGftAJtiWMnoTjz0PSL4uULREIJV_i32CDWLVlNE/edit?usp=sharing

Final submission

In what was the early hours of Saturday morning for Celine and Lachlan in Australia (or the pleasant mid-evening for Livonne in Germany), our final prototype and pitch were submitted. We have overcome many barriers: Livonne started the week as a resident of the UK and ended it back home in Germany;

Celine sat and (hopefully) smashed a marketing exam;

Lachlan decided Friday afternoon was the ideal time to for a nice interstate road trip;

and Mariana, the ever-elusive fourth member, presumably had quite a relaxing time in blissful ignorance of our hard work.

Despite all this, we've come out the other side with a product and pitch that we all truly believe in, and can be incredibly proud of.

Key areas of focus

Lachlan: Problem identification, customer persona analysis, survey questionnaires, prototype creation & trialling, pitch writing, filming/acting

Livonne: Problem identification, customer persona analysis, risky assumptions mapping, secondary market research, video editing

Celine: Problem identification, customer persona analysis, survey questionnaires, prototype editing & trialling, pitch writing, synthesising final documents.