IST product owners are listening to users and developing smart solutions to improve everyday school life. Read about their insights and improvements here.
IST focuses on user-friendliness - working close to the business
You can't understand a business without being in it. The solutions delivered must be in line with reality. All those people who every day open apps, scroll through feeds or note absences - we need to know what they think and feel.
At IST, more than half of our staff have a background in education, but as we all know, education is a constantly changing world. That's why it's more important than ever to reach out to our users and listen. It's not really until we're actually out there in classrooms, canteens or receptions that we can actually see how we can best support, and meet the needs that exist.
That's why at IST we always strive to stay close to the ground, take in feedback and constantly strengthen our services and products - to deliver what the market really needs. This could be testing new features, sharing your thoughts on design and usability, or understanding what a day at preschool looks like.
Product owners Jennie Skoog Hedén and Gustav Harnesk are among those who have embraced this. On a day-to-day basis, they are responsible for developing products, including for preschools. To do this in the best possible way, they need to meet the people who use the products and see them used in a real environment. This leads to many miles on the road with notebooks at the ready.
Smart solutions that make things easier
-"Sometimes we have thought in a certain way during development, and then reality looks different," says Jennie Skoog Hedén. "Very small, simple changes and tweaks can have a big effect here. A concrete example is to add a search field when checking in children.
- "When we visited a large preschool, we noticed that it took a long time to scroll through the mobile phone to find the right child in the lists. What we did was to add a search field where you can search for the right child at once. A seemingly small change but something that saves maybe 10 seconds, and reduces the risk of getting it wrong. 100 checked-in children in one day actually becomes 16 minutes. Not an insignificant amount of time during a busy and intense morning.
- "After listening, observing and documenting, we return to our development teams with our insights," says Jennie.
"If there are major changes, we include them in our roadmaps and plan for them. But for smaller improvements, we have a dedicated resource that works specifically with the user in focus and on smart solutions that have a big impact. One example of this is making phone numbers in the Leave & Collect app clickable - a time-saving and sought-after feature that makes it easier to contact parents.
- "We want smart solutions that can make everyday life easier, and it is precisely in everyday life that we need to be," concludes Jennie.
