Product

Purpose ✅

The purpose of the Wavumbuzi software product is to deliver a user experience to our stakeholders that is:

Accessible

To be able to reach schools across the full demographic spectrum in East Africa, the final user facing product must require as little data as possible to run, must be available to users on a large array of devices (from the most basic to the more advanced), and must maintain a good user experience on even the lowest bandwidth connections.

Scalable

The product must be geared to scale to an infinite amount of users across multiple countries. This is fundamental to the financial viability of the project, which is expected to demonstrate efficiencies of scale as the user base is expanded across Eastern Africa.

Relevant

To maximise the appeal of the product to its primary target market (high/secondary school learners), and to differentiate it from other existing teaching methods, the product should employ 21st century learning techniques (such as: gamification, immersion, experiential learning, etc.) within a user interface that is visually appealing and intuitive (easy to understand).

Engaging (Longitudinal)

Gamification, future proofed. Exciting story/journey - what does progress look like? What's the journey map or developmental track?

Effective

Product must be transformational. It should achieve mindset/competency development (in alignment with content).

Approach ✅

Developing, running and maintaining a software product is a complicated endeavour. This section outlines the key guiding principles and assumptions that inform how we approach product design at a strategic level.

1. Understand the user context

Understanding the needs, limitations, motivations and capabilities of our users is fundamental to the success of the product, which requires a strong market fit in order to achieve widespread adoption (scale).

Listening to our users informs our product vision and direction, build priorities and investment decisions in new features and/or mechanics. It also allows us to identify key user constraints and develop strategies on how we can overcome them. Our user base also includes our internal take-to-market team, who have unique context as to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in relation to the implementation of the product.

Key considerations

Data/bandwidth is limited. Competing in the challenge should not require significant data allowances or fast bandwidth connections. Offline functionality would be optimal.
Personal devices are limited. The challenge should be accessible on older desktop devices typically found in computer labs.
Teachers have limited time to support implementation. Functionality key to the operation of the challenge (e.g. marking) should not rely on teacher engagement.
Our stakeholders are motivated by data. Wherever possible, data should be made available to the take-to-market team to support stakeholder relationship management.
Some users try to beat the system. It is important that moderation and data audits are completed on a regular basis in order monitor performance.

2. Remain an 'Agile' team

The school ecosystem is highly dynamic, often delivering changing circumstances at short notice. As a result, it is critical that our entire team and operation philosophy must remain agile in order to be able to operate in this ecosystem effectively.

Key considerations

Adopting an agile methodology to product design aligns well with the dynamic nature of the ecosystem in which we operate.
Good contingency planning is important to deal with unexpected changes in circumstances.
The development team mix and structure should be geared towards adopting an agile approach.
Maintaining an agile team is key for achieving scale.

3. Prioritise user experience

A good user experience is critical to achieving (i) the desired learning outcomes; and (ii) scale. The better the user experience, the more likely they are to participate for longer and over multiple iterations, increasing the likelihood of achieving (i). Similarly, the better the user experience, the more likely users are to recommend participation to others, and the greater the credibility and reach of the brand.

Key considerations

Teachers require training on the system, which is often more effective when done in person (training on demand has proven to be less effective).
The system requires ongoing maintenance (at a system admin level) to operate efficiently. Important maintenance tasks include regular moderation, data cleaning and user support.
Offering responsive support is central to offering a good user experience. Slow support responses contributes significantly to user attrition.

Notes

For a detailed guide on the steps involved in the product design process, visit the Operating Procedures section.
For an overview of the original product vision, review this original Product Vision/Design Document.
For a detailed guide on the principles of Gamification and how they are implemented in Wavumbuzi, visit the Game Content section.