Transform procrastination
into progress using our to-do app together with your accountability partners: An AI assistant and/or Friends and Family
Transform procrastination
into progress using our to-do app together with your accountability partners: An AI assistant and/or Friends and Family
Transform procrastination
into progress using our to-do app together with your accountability partners: An AI assistant and/or Friends and Family
Huddle
Huddle
Huddle
Jan 2025 - Mar 2025
Jan 2025 - Mar 2025
Type: Business Idea, Course Project at Toronto Metropolitan University, Team Project
Type: Business Idea, Course Project at Toronto Metropolitan University, Team Project
Roles: UX Designer, Team Lead
Roles: UX Designer, Team Lead
Tools: Figma, WIX
Tools: Figma, WIX
Target Audience: Students, Industry Professionals
Target Audience: Students, Industry Professionals
Time limit: 6 weeks
Time limit: 6 weeks
Team size: 3
Team size: 3
Project Summary:
We were tasked to brainstorm and discover a problem and instead of jumping straight to coming up with a solution, we had to test our assumptions and conduct research to prove whether the problem we discovered is a problem faced by a majority of individuals instead of a minority to maximize business gains. In other words, the intensive research of testing assumptions was to minimize time and resources wasted on creating a solution/product in which only a few, or none, would purchase.
Project Summary:
We were tasked to brainstorm and discover a problem and instead of jumping straight to coming up with a solution, we had to test our assumptions and conduct research to prove whether the problem we discovered is a problem faced by a majority of individuals instead of a minority to maximize business gains. In other words, the intensive research of testing assumptions was to minimize time and resources wasted on creating a solution/product in which only a few, or none, would purchase.
Problem
Problem
People struggle to complete key tasks due to procrastination, reducing overall productivity and negatively impacting their mental health.
People struggle to complete key tasks due to procrastination, reducing overall productivity and negatively impacting their mental health.
Value Proposition
Value Proposition
For students and professionals, who have procrastination issues, our app provides the ability to share tasks with accountability partners paired with a reward/consequence system, unlike current alternatives like Todoist, Forest, and Habitica. The app follows a very simple interface and system without overcomplicating your procrastination management systems.
For students and professionals, who have procrastination issues, our app provides the ability to share tasks with accountability partners paired with a reward/consequence system, unlike current alternatives like Todoist, Forest, and Habitica. The app follows a very simple interface and system without overcomplicating your procrastination management systems.
Phases
Phases
Problem Discovery
Problem Discovery
For the initial phase of Problem Discovery, each of our team members conducted our own research that included a few user interviews and a quick market research of our competitors.
We started off with a problem statement of: “I have trouble finding motivation to finish my everyday tasks and also my long-term goals and habits that I want to build. I usually end up procrastinating and not get work done.”
I conducted a total of 4 user interviews to validate the existence of our problem statement and did market research on two competitors: Habitica and Todoist.
For the initial phase of Problem Discovery, each of our team members conducted our own research that included a few user interviews and a quick market research of our competitors.
We started off with a problem statement of: “I have trouble finding motivation to finish my everyday tasks and also my long-term goals and habits that I want to build. I usually end up procrastinating and not get work done.”
I conducted a total of 4 user interviews to validate the existence of our problem statement and did market research on two competitors: Habitica and Todoist.
User interviews Key Findings:
Reward when completing a task: set the prize to motivate.
Be more organized and schedule all in one place.
Alerts and alarms on computer and phone.
Allow oneself for flexibility if works allow it.
Surround yourself with motivated people.
User interviews Key Findings:
Reward when completing a task: set the prize to motivate.
Be more organized and schedule all in one place.
Alerts and alarms on computer and phone.
Allow oneself for flexibility if works allow it.
Surround yourself with motivated people.
User interviews Key Findings:
Reward when completing a task: set the prize to motivate.
Be more organized and schedule all in one place.
Alerts and alarms on computer and phone.
Allow oneself for flexibility if works allow it.
Surround yourself with motivated people.
Market Research Key Findings:
Help users keep track of and adjust their habits through gamification.
Create an avatar and personalized habits, to-do items and daily chores
Sync across all devices and flexible views.
Collaborate, organize, prioritize, and complete tasks made easy.
Market Research Key Findings:
Help users keep track of and adjust their habits through gamification.
Create an avatar and personalized habits, to-do items and daily chores
Sync across all devices and flexible views.
Collaborate, organize, prioritize, and complete tasks made easy.
Market Research Key Findings:
Help users keep track of and adjust their habits through gamification.
Create an avatar and personalized habits, to-do items and daily chores
Sync across all devices and flexible views.
Collaborate, organize, prioritize, and complete tasks made easy.
Assumption Testing
Assumption Testing
After crafting our initial problem statement, validating its existence through conducting a few interviews per each group member, and performing individual market research on competitors, we moved on to our second round of interviews.
For the second round of interviews, we were tasked to reframe our interview questions to be more open-ended and less leading. Additionally, we were required to interview a total of 20+ people to further validate our problem statement in which I interviewed a total of 10 people.
After analyzing through the research and interviews we conducted, we refined our problem statement: “People struggle to complete key tasks due to procrastination, reducing overall productivity and negatively impacting their mental health.”
After crafting our initial problem statement, validating its existence through conducting a few interviews per each group member, and performing individual market research on competitors, we moved on to our second round of interviews.
For the second round of interviews, we were tasked to reframe our interview questions to be more open-ended and less leading. Additionally, we were required to interview a total of 20+ people to further validate our problem statement in which I interviewed a total of 10 people.
After analyzing through the research and interviews we conducted, we refined our problem statement: “People struggle to complete key tasks due to procrastination, reducing overall productivity and negatively impacting their mental health.”
Key Findings & Pain Points:
Some interviewees don’t rely on to-do lists and are more spontaneous planners
Reminders and alerts are useful for small tasks, such as chores, and meetings but for urgent tasks, they already have them in mind
Users don’t like complex UI, the app should be intuitive and not complex to set up
Operant conditioning - reward/punishment system to prevent procrastination
Some interviewees need someone to push them out of their comfort zone
Key Findings & Pain Points:
Some interviewees don’t rely on to-do lists and are more spontaneous planners
Reminders and alerts are useful for small tasks, such as chores, and meetings but for urgent tasks, they already have them in mind
Users don’t like complex UI, the app should be intuitive and not complex to set up
Operant conditioning - reward/punishment system to prevent procrastination
Some interviewees need someone to push them out of their comfort zone
Key Findings & Pain Points:
Some interviewees don’t rely on to-do lists and are more spontaneous planners
Reminders and alerts are useful for small tasks, such as chores, and meetings but for urgent tasks, they already have them in mind
Users don’t like complex UI, the app should be intuitive and not complex to set up
Operant conditioning - reward/punishment system to prevent procrastination
Some interviewees need someone to push them out of their comfort zone
Landing Page
Landing Page
Before
After
Design Rationale:
A short and simplified value proposition and a subtitle that displays the key features of the product greets users upon visiting the website alongside a CTA button.
CTA buttons: scrolls to the forms section of the landing page for quick skim of the entire landing page
Top features: used graphics and a short tagline to engage users better with the information
Early prototypes: allow users to view the product without signing up or downloading anything yet
Video explanation: explanation visually through video performs and engages users significantly better than text
User reviews: boost users’ trust on the product
Compatibility: enhances trust by including apps already commonly used
Forms: placed at the end of the form for users to fill after going through the information offered on the landing page
Design Rationale:
A short and simplified value proposition and a subtitle that displays the key features of the product greets users upon visiting the website alongside a CTA button.
CTA buttons: scrolls to the forms section of the landing page for quick skim of the entire landing page
Top features: used graphics and a short tagline to engage users better with the information
Early prototypes: allow users to view the product without signing up or downloading anything yet
Video explanation: explanation visually through video performs and engages users significantly better than text
User reviews: boost users’ trust on the product
Compatibility: enhances trust by including apps already commonly used
Forms: placed at the end of the form for users to fill after going through the information offered on the landing page
Channel Experiments
Channel Experiments
With the problem statement validated through multiple rounds of interviews and the landing page of the hypothetical product established, our team was tasked to conduct experiments through multiple channels to garner site traffic and potential sign-ups through the forms to further support our solution. Our three channel experiments include content creation, social media engagement, and direct message engagement.
With the problem statement validated through multiple rounds of interviews and the landing page of the hypothetical product established, our team was tasked to conduct experiments through multiple channels to garner site traffic and potential sign-ups through the forms to further support our solution. Our three channel experiments include content creation, social media engagement, and direct message engagement.
Content Creation:
App Prototype
Social Media Engagement
Content Creation:
App Prototype
Social Media Engagement
Content Creation:
App Prototype
Social Media Engagement
Social Media Engagement
Facebook posts
Instagram posts
Reddit posts
LinkedIn posts
Discord servers
Social Media Engagement
Facebook posts
Instagram posts
Reddit posts
LinkedIn posts
Discord servers
Social Media Engagement
Facebook posts
Instagram posts
Reddit posts
LinkedIn posts
Discord servers
Key Insights and Results
Content Creation: time invested in creating content was high and did not measure up to intended results of garnering sign-ups.
Social Media Engagement: several groups/servers reported our messages as spam, but some public social media posts, on Reddit and Instagram, garnered some sign-ups and site traffic.
Direct Message Engagement: worked the best in terms of time invested in direct messaging individuals and garnering sign-ups and site traffic.
Key Insights and Results
Content Creation: time invested in creating content was high and did not measure up to intended results of garnering sign-ups.
Social Media Engagement: several groups/servers reported our messages as spam, but some public social media posts, on Reddit and Instagram, garnered some sign-ups and site traffic.
Direct Message Engagement: worked the best in terms of time invested in direct messaging individuals and garnering sign-ups and site traffic.
Key Insights and Results
Content Creation: time invested in creating content was high and did not measure up to intended results of garnering sign-ups.
Social Media Engagement: several groups/servers reported our messages as spam, but some public social media posts, on Reddit and Instagram, garnered some sign-ups and site traffic.
Direct Message Engagement: worked the best in terms of time invested in direct messaging individuals and garnering sign-ups and site traffic.
Final Pitch
Final Pitch
After 4 weeks from the creation of the landing page, our team garnered approximately 81 sign-ups and 222 site sessions that are primarily through Direct Message Engagement.
Additionally, we did not use any monetary means of outreach such as paid advertisement and solely relied on research and free forms of outreach through our three channel experiments.
Lastly, Direct Message Engagement channel being the best outreach channel supports our idea of the product-led acquisition method of encouraging users to invite other users to the platform which our product is reinforcing through the Accountability Friends feature.
After 4 weeks from the creation of the landing page, our team garnered approximately 81 sign-ups and 222 site sessions that are primarily through Direct Message Engagement.
Additionally, we did not use any monetary means of outreach such as paid advertisement and solely relied on research and free forms of outreach through our three channel experiments.
Lastly, Direct Message Engagement channel being the best outreach channel supports our idea of the product-led acquisition method of encouraging users to invite other users to the platform which our product is reinforcing through the Accountability Friends feature.
Reflection & Takeaways
Reflection & Takeaways
Key Learning Outcomes
Key Learning Outcomes
Taking the role of project manager in scheduling meetings with teammates outside of class and kickstarting each phase of the project.
Refining my user interviewing skills through more exposure conducting user interviews and crafting better open-ended interview questions.
Learning to craft short and simple value propositions and facing the reality that business ideas and entrepreneurship require many validations before investing many resources into them.
The key takeaway from this project would be learning how to conduct better open-ended interviews and creating a business idea through multiple validations.
Taking the role of project manager in scheduling meetings with teammates outside of class and kickstarting each phase of the project.
Refining my user interviewing skills through more exposure conducting user interviews and crafting better open-ended interview questions.
Learning to craft short and simple value propositions and facing the reality that business ideas and entrepreneurship require many validations before investing many resources into them.
The key takeaway from this project would be learning how to conduct better open-ended interviews and creating a business idea through multiple validations.
Biggest Challenges & The Solution
Biggest Challenges & The Solution
Biggest Challenge: The time constraint of the project and the non-existent budget (due to the project being a course project) was the biggest challenge faced during the creation of the project. This challenge led to lack of time in establishing meaningful relationships with potential investors in social media groups such as LinkedIn.
Solution: Rather than a solution and more of a temporary fix to the challenge was to employ free forms of outreach as mentioned within the three channel experiments to garner as much sign-ups and site traffic within the timeline of the course and project deadline.
Biggest Challenge: The time constraint of the project and the non-existent budget (due to the project being a course project) was the biggest challenge faced during the creation of the project. This challenge led to lack of time in establishing meaningful relationships with potential investors in social media groups such as LinkedIn.
Solution: Rather than a solution and more of a temporary fix to the challenge was to employ free forms of outreach as mentioned within the three channel experiments to garner as much sign-ups and site traffic within the timeline of the course and project deadline.
Next Steps & Future Improvements
Next Steps & Future Improvements
Some growth plans if Huddle were to be built include:
Investing in having productivity influencers use our product within their content creation such as “30 day experiments using Huddle”.
Investing in paid ads on several relevant social media platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook.
Investing in booths with giveaways at different universities and educational institutions for students to try out the product.
Some growth plans if Huddle were to be built include:
Investing in having productivity influencers use our product within their content creation such as “30 day experiments using Huddle”.
Investing in paid ads on several relevant social media platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook.
Investing in booths with giveaways at different universities and educational institutions for students to try out the product.