Reflection about Storytelling tool use

Challenge and selection

I work developing technological solutions with different purposes for the transport sector. One of  the major concerns of insurers, emergency agencies and local authorities, mainly in developing  countries, is the high road accident rate for motorcyclists, as well as the fatality associated with  this type of accidents. In this sense, a highway concessionaire challenged us to propose a solution  that would reduce the occurrence of accidents by at least twenty percent on one of the roads that  have concessionaires in a South American country.

With the knowledge we had of innovation at that time, we considered that the Storytelling tool  would be quite useful to make a good characterization of motorcycle riders. Storytelling is a tool  that allows to reach a deep knowledge of the objective user, in this case the motorcyclists,  through that emotional connection that is generated when we tell our life stories or when others  tell us theirs, where we let ourselves be seen spontaneously our essence, what we do (we say, we  see, we hear) and what we think; that is, what we are, which is an invaluable source of  information in the phase of identifying the origin of a problem.

Application

During the development of the first phase of the project we had the opportunity to talk in depth  with about twenty motorcycle riders of both genders, of different age ranges, various professions,  and different accident records. In their life stories, most of them revealed important topics about  their motivations and concerns about driving.

In their stories, many of them agreed that their greatest concern was the lack of recognition of  them in the road context and the insecurity that they were subjected to by criminals who had  them as one of their objectives to steal their motorcycle and their belongings. For this reason,  many of them justified their way of driving, which sometimes became reckless.

Insight & Approach

This exercise allowed us to obtain valuable first-hand information on the origin of some unsafe  behaviors that triggered the occurrence of road accidents involving motorcyclists. From this  information, we were able to carry out quite enriching ideation sessions that, after being duly  valued, subsequently consolidated into a proposed solution to be implemented in its early  development stage.

The Storytelling and the other tools seen in the course are valuable resources that, properly used,  potentiate the development of innovative solutions for specific problems.

I can’t pass up the opportunity to congratulate you for the content of the course, but above all, for  your dedication to achieve an understanding of all the concepts.

