Watercooler

Overview

Watercooler seeks to create a virtual space to promote authentic relationships, prioritize well-being, and keep you on task while working from home.

We are a team of 6 members, the Product group is made of 4 members while the Sales and Marketing group is made of 2 members. We created this during a 5-week S.O.S. challenge through TechPoint. Our given scenario was to find a solution for individuals working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on mental health and productivity. This idea was created upon the pandemic but now that we are aware that more individuals can work from home and those numbers continue to increase, we decided to create a permanent website that will be used post the COVID-19 pandemic to improve the lives of those working from home.

Team Members

Giovanna Salazar (Marketing Strategist, Junior Public Relations @ Purdue) Giovanna contributed with the business aspect of the product by doing research and creating deliverables. She also helped out with creating graphics for the product.

Karyn Banks (Project Manager, Senior Accounting and Economics @ University of Evansville) Karyn contributed by using her business analysis skills to create the Go Squad deliverables. She also served as the team’s project manager by assisting in scheduling weekly team meetings.

LaJoi Shelton Robinson (UX/UI Designer, MS-Grad student, Information and Communication Sciences@ Ball State) LaJoi contributed by creating and working on the prototype and wireframes of the website in (primarily) Adobe XD, Webflow, and Figma. LaJoi also contributed by facilitating user testing of the prototype with other professionals outside of the group. LaJoi also hosted the team weekly Zoom meetings, provided meeting minutes, and constructed the team design themed PowerPoint presentation template and formatting.

Brendan McShane (Software Developer, Computer Science Senior @ IU SICE) Brendan set up and managed the Git version control and was responsible for the front end development of the website. Added functionality to the wireframe set up by Lajoi. Contributed to user testing through friends and family. Comic relief.

Levi Connelly (Software Developer, Computer Science Senior @ Ball State) Levi contributed by finding tools to use for the project and automating processes between our website and repository. Levi also constructed the database for the project.

Jatin Jain (Software Developer, Computer Science Junior @ Purdue) Jatin contributed to the technical aspect of the project by conducting resource research for the front-end and also looking for bugs in the code. He also contributed to user testing and feedback through friends and family.

How did you decide on this customer segment, problem, and solution?

During the pandemic, many professionals in several industries are now adjusting to working from home. This drastic change can cause a lot of stress, and we wanted to address some of the mental health issues related to working from home. Our solution consists of a website that offers users a way to take effective breaks and encourages them to step away from their computer to participate in a variety of stress-relieving activities.

How did your team build and iterate on the solution?

Originally, we began to design Watercooler in Figma and webflow. However, in the end, it was determined that Adobe XD would produce the best design results, while also being able to produce HTML and CSS code that would aid the software engineers in our group in backending the product. In addition, we chose to do user testing by phone and virtual interviews to gain feedback. Overall, the feedback was positive, as far as efficiency and intuitiveness. We made further changes to improve the clarity and use of the product when continuing the design and wireframes, which helped to capture the overall goals for the design of our product.

Revenue Model

Our revenue model is based upon our company having customers of various company sizes. We would have a free trial period, initially. After the 2 week free trial period ends, the company would purchase the watercooler software based upon the size of their company. Smaller companies would be considered to have up to 100 employees. Mid-size companies are considered to have up to 250 employees, and large companies will have over 250 employees. Our projections are based upon the model and obtain 1 company in each category over a period of 2 years. Our table shows that we would be able to earn, over a period of two years, based upon having just three companies in each category, over $500,000.

Technical Architecture

Link to GitHub repository: link

Key Tools, Libraries, and Frameworks Git: Maintaining a proper codebase and allowed us to develop a workflow that kept production code upfront

GitHub: Hosted our repository and allowed us to link webhooks to our Discord so that everyone is up to date on commits

StackCP: Hosted our website and automated our task to upload code from GitHub to our hosted website using Python

Adobe XD: Helped build the wireframe of our project

MySQL: Held our database with necessary constraints, etc.

PHP: Helped connect the database to the website

If you had another 5 weeks to work on this, what would you do next?

• Create a more complex pricing system with access to different product features
• Have a free trial option
• Integrate video chat features
• Integrate apps
• Offer more personalization options within the dashboard
• Create marketing campaigns
• A complete user login system, as well as direct messages and message boards
• An in-browser video chat system

Built With

• adobe-xd
• css
• ecowebhosting
• html
• javascript
• mysql
• php
• stackcp