After ideating and creating for three weeks, it was time for the finale of the second sprint- the sprint Demo.
This time, our sprint goal was formulated in the following way:
Integrate the functionality of dimming, multiple users and UX design into the application and to reduce the energy consumption by 50%.
This sprint was a lot harder. After the positive feedback we received from the first sprint demo, we assumed that we were heading the right way.
The first step in this sprint were additions to the prototype. The functionality of dimming and usage of application by multiple users at the same time were added.
After this, a plan was formulated to observe and interview the external workers present in the Data Centre. Primarily, the goal of this user research was to analyse the user dynamics and check the work-ability of the “Switch-on” application.
Prototype additions
As a part of the user research, an experiment was devised to quantitatively come up with a statement in order to move towards our sprint goal which was to reduce the energy consumption by 50%. The idea of the experiment was to mark all the light switches of the main high security room in the Data Centre. The maintenance workers should only switch on the lights needed based on the machine to be accessed and a key provided by us on the side. Our assumptions were that maintenance workers knew the location of the machine. However, after interviewing a few workers, this seems to not be the case.
Experimenting at the Data centre
And that’s not all. They usually do not work within one area, but move around to at least three sections. This means that every time they move around, they need to grab their phone to turn on the lights. They liked the application, but they all remarked that it would be a nuisance when it comes to the usability part of it.
As a conclusion from the User research, it was evident that the way of thinking needed to be broader from our side. Until that moment, only the requests of KLM were met, but for the actual users, the application did not help. They were not gaining anything by using the application nor was our purpose solved. From the user behaviour it resulted in a conflicting thought about the application.
Translate session
We were lost for a certain period until we had a brilliant translate session. This session is planned in the middle of every sprint, to translate the ideas and results gathered until that moment to insights and grasp the main story behind them. The translate session directed towards two points, one – that creation of an application is not the best solution to address our problem, two- all we needed was a change of perspective, an attempt to derive at a balanced consensus between the stakeholders.
At the end of three weeks, it was time for the Sprint Demo. This time we had a big audience. It was a great sight to witness all the stakeholders involved in the project, which was an event we had not come across before, definitely an extra boost for our upcoming sprints.
It was a splendid meeting and this time we received a lot of valuable inputs from the stakeholders themselves. It comprised of critical feedback as well as compliments which was exactly the need of the hour for us. They seem to be absolutely enthralled and positive that we will definitely not disappoint them!
All in all, this sprint was one wild ride, but it gave us a much needed revelation – to get beyond limits. The challenge has just begun!