Hamish Crittenden of Melbourne Made
Electron Workshop Space Host
So Frank and I are doing the 80/20 client/idea split where we spend four days a week working on client projects and a day a week building out our own ideas.
The project we’re focusing on at the moment is (without giving anything away) a fine balance of technology push/market pull where we’re anticipating that the gaping hole we have spotted in the market for our idea is only going to succeed by walking the right path between giving people what they need to do their job and enticing them to embrace smart phone technologies to do so.
Research, functionality, marketing, strategy, design and development are all important phases that influence the direction of a product and we’re tackling them iteratively as we go.
What struck me in a discussion with Marty in the kitchen this morning was how vital it is (to have a good breakfast – thanks Marty, and…) to not lose sight of the importance of simplicity. This is becoming increasingly important in the current era of smart phones and app stores as technology becomes more complicated but the usage becomes simpler. It made us think: should we release our product entirely as an App? Are people comfortable, nay do they EXPECT, to not have to go to the ‘old internet’ anymore – (a web browser on a computer)?
Turns out we’ve been workshopping this idea we have for a several weeks now and instead of going out all guns blazing and heavily prototyping from the get-go which is very tempting when you’re bristling with enthusiasm and over confidence, we’ve thrown the idea around, spoken to potential partners and investors, put some screens together and had a few sessions at the whiteboard and come full circle back to what we hope will be the simplest possible form: Yes, an App.
Continuing on the theme of our business brand, Melbourne Made, we’re paying homage to Flinders street as the project name for our current idea. Stay tuned to keep up to date with the trials and tribulations of Project Flinders. We might even share a few of the tips and tricks we learn along the way.
-Hamish