Case study: Deloitte Hitachi engagement

Hitachi engaged the Fusion Labs team (later acquired by Deloitte) to run a double diamond research sprint to explore the viability, feasibility and desirability of an ‘AirBnB for warehouse space’ in the Australian market.

The project ran from November 2020 to March 2021.

Context:

The team:
- 1 x Product Lead (me)
- 1 x Innovation Consultant
- 1 x UX researcher (first ten weeks)


The approach:

  • Double diamond: discover > define > develop > deliver

  • Interviews with numerous industry experts to assess the market desirability of an ‘airbnb for warehouse space’.

  • Synthesis of interviews and analysis.

  • Competitor analysis to determine product/market fit.

  • Technical feasibility assessment of potential pathways.

Outcome:

  • Prototype tested with vendors (those with excess space) and SMB’s (those who need space).

  • Supply found to be plentiful - but demand uncertain.

  • ‘Flintstoned’ approach recommended to client - i.e. chose a sample of real warehouse space on offer - build a scaled-back MVP to offer that space and assess demand before committing to further investment.

Case study: Deloitte Mirvac engagement

Context:

Mirvac is an Australian construction company with a huge portfolio of residential, commercial and retail properties.

The opportunity was identified with Mirvac’s first ever rental (as opposed to sold) property in Sydney.

Discovery and MVP launch was required on a digital solution to help Mirvac rental customers in their everyday lives (with a north star metric centred around retaining tenants).

The team:

  • Product lead (me)

  • CTO, tech lead and Innovation Consultant (consultancy side)

  • Back end dev, Project lead (client side)

The approach:

  • Double-diamond research approach to determine highest value features.

  • Validation of chosen features through testing with users.

  • Delivery of a phased MVP for rollout to residents in the pioneering property with a test-and-learn approach to gain user feedback post-launch.

Outcomes:

  • With only sporadic access to UX resource, I stepped in to cover discovery and UX tasks on the postal collection feature, including observation studies and interviews, service design flows to accommodate an ‘app to bricks & mortar’ room access feature from the device itself.

  • Successful delivery of event and amenity booking feature (managing a virtual delivery team containing a mix of client and consultant engineers).

  • Delivery of full ‘next year’ strategy and roadmap for further rollout and expansion.