OneTwoTruck!

Inspired by Covid19-pandemic logistics bottleneck, OneTwoTruck matches demand with logistics manpower. In harsh times, never again find yourself alone in delivering food, medicines, goods.

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Inspiration

In Italy, we are faced with a rollercoaster of grim and hopeful news about the evolution of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Among the most inspiring news, we are witnessing exceptional cases of collaboration and reciprocal support between individuals and companies alike. Industrious entrepreneurs tackle this challenge with new, improved delivery services, send coupons and help out in any way they can. Local volunteering associations provide extensive support in the delivery of medical masks, medicines, and groceries to the individuals that more at risk from leaving their homes.

Nevertheless, the lockdown set by the Italian Government poses serious challenges. Freelance professionals face the same costs as usual, while being subject to little or no income at all. The large distribution is unable to meet the increasing demand of door-to-door grocery delivery services, with ETDs reportedly of 15 days or more, which are obviously unacceptable, hindering public safety (more people shopping at the supermarket). Local shops, restaurants, bars, etc... face tremendously troubling times, as they have to entirely re-imagine their distribution structure and capabilities, in order to keep their businesses at least in shape.

This is why we envisioned a huge opportunity of reciprocal collaboration between businesses that need logistic support, and freelance professionals or companies that can provide those services. All that is needed is a simple, easy-to-use, automated enabler of matching opportunities between these two categories.

Here comes OneTwoTruck.

What it does

OneTwoTruck is a easy-to-use matching platform that connects businesses in need of logistic support and freelance/business providers of those services. On top of that, OneTwoTruck automatically generates at the click of a button a tailored draft contract between those two parties, thus speeding up the procurement process.

Users may register either as a business or as an individual. Anyone can put their skills on the market, and make themselves available to provide logistic support. Businesses can search all the registered individuals/businesses and send to the most fitting profiles a tailored request for logistic support. Whenever a request is sent, a draft contract is automatically generated by OneTwoTruck, effectively speeding up the procurement process. If the recipient accepts the offer, OneTwoTruck generates a match and automatically sends to the requesting business the contacts of the recipient, for them to individually complete (offline) the contract and kickstart their collaboration.

During emergency times, there is no time to lose. OneTwoTruck makes collaboration in logistics as fast as the click of a button.

How I built it

After a considerable period spent drafting the idea into a more structured design document, I tackled the opportunity of the HackatHome challenge to put the idea into action. By joining forces with the "business side" of my team, I worked on the program architecture to straighten up the process, with the ultimate goal of setting priorities for the deployment of a working MVP. We checked the legal aspects of the project, setting up OneTwoTruck as a matching platform for professional connections, providing also automated contract drafts. With a clear idea of how the program would work and what it should do, I set up all the elements of the platform, from the registration/login page, to the search process, up to the final steps of matching request and automated contract drafting (output: tailor-made PDF). Meanwhile, my teammate focused his efforts on the legal, business, visual design, and presentation sides of the project, enabling more focus on the development process. I used state-of-the-art technologies (Angular, Material) to deliver a full-fledged MVP, fast and effectively.

Challenges I ran into

I consider myself a passionate and fast learner, but as a developer, I honestly feel like a beginner. This is the first time I had the chance to draft, develop, and deploy an entire project from start to end. A fun experience, yet definitely challenging. Therefore, the key aspects of the hackathon I had to focus on, were:

  • to set priorities and development goals in order to deploy a working MVP, given the time constraints;
  • to choose the appropriate technologies;
  • to tailor aspects of the program in a lean way during development.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Putting an idea into practice, from start to end, is highly rewarding per se. Doing so in three days, while learning new skills, by solving a real problem, is something to be even more proud of. I sincerely believe in the effectiveness of the idea, which is tailored for emergency times, but deployable also to other stress situations of the logistics and supply chain system of both large and smaller enterprises. Seeing the idea taking up form, step by step, although with its "rough edges" along the way, means a lot to me.

What I learned

Careful project management and deep committment can lead to major results and working products. Discussions with "the business side" of project management lead to new ideas, process refinements, and more accuracy on aspects that are relevant for the successful deployment of a project that could be ready to be tested in a "real world scenario". Also, I must say, Angular Material is definitely cool to work with. Challenging, but fun!

What's next for OneTwoTruck

OneTwoTruck's core idea was inspired by the -mostly unexpected- serious impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic on the logistics/supply system of the large distribution, all while shops are facing new challenges, and individuals are losing jobs or income due to the lockdown set by the Government. Still, my goal was to build something that could have had a relevant mid/long-term impact beyond emergencies, and could help several professionals and businesses also during situations that would be less extreme, but similarly stressful for the system, e.g. holiday periods, Black Friday, etc... OneTwoTruck solves a real-world problem. I have the ambition to see OneTwoTruck fully deployed, carefully set up in its legal terms, and reach commercial readiness, in order to be used by large and smaller businesses at a scale.

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