The weirdest feature request we've ever received

A little talk by Carina about the humorous side of product development in a space where everybody thinks he or she is the user - travel, because everybody likes to travel, right?
Little insight in her experience to learn coding without a technical background and why product testing is about more than just bug fixing.

Transcript

1. the weirdest feature requests we’ve ever received
7. ! … zoom out!
8. ! … acknowledge that there is more than you currently know
9. ! … don’t only take easily accessible data into account
10. @trackingcarina
11. tourism management & technical marketing ! ! community & marketing 
 marketing
 writing stuff for 9yards | product
12. 3 founders (CEO, design & tech) miavia online since Summer 2013
13. travel journaling & travel blogging
14. “I like traveling!
 This app must be made for me!”
15. “I know what the app is missing!” - Everybody
16. user persona
17. user persona Harry travels minimum of 3 weeks solo traveler scar on forehead Hermione weekend city trips 27 years old honours degree likes cats
18. …though some cases are very simple Harry’s fun trip with friends to Azkaban
19. Ron tightly-knit big family mum easily gets worried very lazy instead of long messages - non at all better: user scenarios
20. Ron tightly-knit big family mum easily gets worried very lazy instead of long messages - non at all better: user scenarios
21. better: user scenarios
22. better: user scenarios
23. better: user scenarios
24. better: user scenarios
25. … you have been in those situations yourself … talk to lots and lots of people … very specific examples from the past … difficult workarounds customer development
26. “I know what the app is missing!” - Everybody
27. “Cool, so how did you solve this in your past?” - Me
28. how our travel journal app could look like now
29. “I need blood pressure and weight input features. Everybody wants that together with all the travel information!”
30. Don’t bring a scale while you travel (like you usually do!)… -> use journi!
31. “Just focus on the most important user segment:
 
 Journalists who write about demonstrations!”
32. Show Travel Moment:
 
 “Protesting against whale hunts, oh and what a great view of this melting iceberg over there!” Protesting against whale hunts, oh and what a great view!
33. “If my friends can’t upvote my posts, how do I know which ones to post to Facebook?”
34. Anna-Clara upvoted your moment. Anna-Clara upvoted your moment. Bianca downvoted 
 your special moment. Andreas downvoted your special moment. Andreas downvoted your special moment. Andreas downvoted your special moment. Bianca downvoted 
 your special moment.
35. Reddit all the things! Anna-Clara upvoted your moment. Anna-Clara upvoted your moment. Bianca downvoted 
 your special moment. Andreas downvoted your special moment. Andreas downvoted your special moment. Andreas downvoted your special moment. Bianca downvoted 
 your special moment.
36. ! ! … and frustrations because of those non-technical people ! Team
37. YOU NEED ! … people who are your power users on the team or as close advisors !
38. bringing everybody on one working technical level
39. bringing everybody on one working technical level
40. … workshops (e.g. Pyladies) what I’ve tried
41. … codecademy (CSS & a bit of javascript) what I’ve tried
42. what I’ve tried … learning with a friend
43. what I’ve tried … coming up with mockups !
44. what I’ve tried … actually trying to build something
45. what I’ve tried workshops (e.g. Pyladies) codecademy (CSS & a bit of javascript) learning with a friend (a few hours per week) coming up with mockups actually trying to build something
46. my experience ! ! blog posts documentation guidelines everything about the coding language
47. where does this help? ! … process of transferring product vision into tiny tasks … talking about features, issues, bugs … adapting the same kind of language for e.g.: 
 “pop-ups” or “tables”
48. my amazingly scientific proposal: ! … hackathon for your non-techies … a few hours within a week … something real to solve
50. recognition & praise
51. ! … learning makes people happy
 
 … happy means more engaged at work
 
 … engaged means more productive … more productive means fast iterations learning process
52. the emotional side of product testing
53. … use the chance to offer that much attention