Example Reflection – Visualisation Tools (Peter Schuster)

Challenge & Selection – Last Mile Transport: Micro Mobility

We used Ethnographic Interviews and developed a Journey Map of a Persona from Jeremy Borg. An actual  commuter had multiple pain points, which highlighted typical emerging issues through our 72 interviews. Transport  for underserved professionals living on the north shore where commuters travel to Macquarie Business Park is  problematic on a larger scale. Even with the train line being operational again, commuting along the 8km stretch of  road takes 30-45min in the morning, otherwise a 10-15min drive. Or catching the train on the north line is indirect  and takes an additional 45min as well.  Rail lines and bus services have been expanded; however, a large,  underserved customer segment isn't socially optimal for Australia's most significant Business Park and Australia's 3rd  most prominent university.

Customer Journey Map – Jeremy Borg

Within Australia, business parks have been built without infrastructure and supporting roads, public transport and  resources in mind. Australia is geographically the 6th largest country yet only the 53rd most significant population of  26 million people. We are making it the 192nd most densely populated country in the world. Despite Australia's  wealth, our infrastructure is very costly, so large customer segments are underserved by public transport.

Empathy Map – Customer Segments

During the process, we adapted the Customer Journey map with the Blue Ocean ERRC (Eliminate, Reduce, Raise and  Create) approach as well. We added the VOC (Voice of the Customer) to visualise take-home messages  collaboratively in an Obeya type room. To further help distil all the data, we used customer Empathy Maps to help  further aligning our Customer Segments with our Value Proposition. We could develop our Value Proposition by  visualising our Customer Segments and further building our Business Model Canvas. Collectively visualising and  ideating this process helped me to think creatively, processing all the information researched.

Business Model Canvas – DASH Integrated Micro-Mobility

Application

We started the process systematically writing down the 15 steps:

Before You Begin

1. Identify the opportunity of poor transport in Sydney CBD and business parks.   2. Scope the Project of what infrastructure and resources are available.   3. Draft the Design Brief of how to conduct the research.   4. Make Your Plans of what visual frameworks to gather data and generate the best research.

Then we wrote down the question:

"What is?" – That describes the current reality.

5. Do your research.  -  Secondary Research from NSW Transport reports

-  Directly Observing commuters such as Jeremy Borg

-  Seventy-two commuters interviewed (Ethnographic Research) posted post-it notes on MIRO, a digital  Obeya room for staff to digitally interact and contribute in remote locations.

-  Determined what the 'job of the customer 'or the 'Role of the commuter is'.

-  Developed Customer Journey Maps

-  Led brainstorming on an Empathy Map of the Customers' SEE', 'SAY', 'DO' & 'HEAR'.

-  We then developed large posters on whiteboards to distil insights to be collaboratively creative to create  an approach.

-  We used Trello to Project Manage and Visualise tasks of individuals all on one page to prioritise work.

Insight & Approach

We started the process by interviewing commuters to get a rich user experience of commuting to Macquarie  Business Park, Australia's most prominent business park, by either car or public transport. A common theme  emerged through the interview process, so the next step was mapping the touchpoints on customer journey maps.  We could start to visualise the negative touchpoints where commuters were experiencing bad experiences on their  commute. Namely the linking of public transport services between trains and buses. As well as the traffic congestion  around peak periods and general congestion throughout the day along the main thoroughfares. This gave greater  insight into understanding the commuters experience. The waiting on the journey of a commute to work can  sometimes take 70-120min for a short commute of 8km would take the same as a commute on public transport  from Wollongong (90km) would 90 min. So, it seems there is an issue with the linking of services locally.

Through this process and distillation, visually, the team developed a prototype. The design thinking process was to  meet the following criteria for commuters and travellers to Macquarie Business Park:

-  Eliminate - waiting for public transport and waiting times in the car during traffic congestion.

-  Reduce - the number of cars on the road.

-  Raise - the number of commuters to enter Macquarie Park so optimise the capacity of existing roads,  footpaths and cycleways safely and cost-effectively.

-  Create - an integrated network of public transport, roads, pathways, and cycleways that were utilising  current infrastructure and amplifies NSW Transports offering for the region.

Since utilising these design tools of visualising commuters' pain points and touchpoints, the most valuable lesson has  been the opportunity to witness shared learning and development: the collaboration and teamwork to co-create  solutions through a discovery process. The divergent and convergent thinking in a group process assists with  prioritising work in projects and solutions that customer-centric and respectful of team members.

Further, a prototype that was to visualise what the feedback was from commuters through our multiple iterations

The result an integrated solution that Augments, Automates and Amplifies the commuting experience that can be  scaled. The answer is DASH, a trip planning App, payment solution, and E-Scooter endorsed by NSW Transport. See  the link to a video to demonstrate our proof of concept. The most important idea to emerge from Design Thinking is  that when there is little data, it can be generated collaboratively to develop customer insights to develop solutions  rapidly and iteratively without fear of making a mistake that stifles innovation.

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