Flora Case Study: Adding a Feature

Introduction

If you’re anything like me, perhaps you face challenges establishing focus and time management. When I discovered the Pomodoro Technique, however, I began improving my task management skills and cultivating a day-to-day productivity flow.

So, what is the Pomodoro Method? It’s a work-chunking technique composed of timed intervals, separated by short 5+ minute breaks. These work intervals or “focus sessions” are traditionally 25 minutes long, but they can be customized to suit one’s preference. The Pomodoro Timer is indispensable to my virtual work flow, given that I’m working a tech job remotely and taking online classes from home.
‍
So... enter Flora, one of my personal favs. Flora is a gamified Pomodoro timer app designed to foster productivity and eliminate mobile distractions via virtual tree planting sessions. Users plant a seed at the beginning of the focus session, which matures into a beautiful collectible plant when the duration ends. Navigate away from the growing screen, however, and you’ll end up killing the poor tree. Sad, I know!

Now, Flora also offers a group-planting feature that allows friends to plant trees together and win additional delightful plants. In light of COVID-19 stay-at-home measures, the group planting session has served as both a productivity tool and emotional balm to me in a strange way. They’ve allowed me to feel efficient but also connected with others, knowing that though we may be studying or working separately, we’re not actually alone in the struggle -- as isolating the pandemic may have us feel. But, I felt like we could do more to increase connection among Flora friends.

So, taking a design-thinking perspective, I embarked on a mission to expand Flora’s group planting feature. I directed my efforts in designing a face-to-face live video option, along with ideation around gamification concepts that would uphold the collaborative nature of the Flora app.

Research

Gamified Pomodoro + Digital Coworking… Can it be done?

I wanted to legitimize my assumptions that increasing social accountability would boost motivation and foster better task management among a group of friends and coworkers. This validation involved hearing participants' thoughts about a coworking space coupled with a gamified Pomodoro app. So I conducted four user interviews to uncover attitudes and opinions around coworking, motivation, productivity habits, and the Pomodoro Timer method. All four participants were students taking virtual classes, so I also wanted to discuss their general habits surrounding focus and motivation at home.

Key Insights

Discussing these topics was crucial in challenging my own assumptions. The answer was straightforward in my mind: Simply design a video call option and rely heavily on the human behaviour for accountability. (Now that I look back on it, it was an overly simplified approach...) Nonetheless, my participants revealed valid concerns that would hinder the flow of the digital coworking space. They also uncovered suggestions to make the coworking/costudying experience more enjoyable and rewarding.

Common Findings

• Coworking can increase accountability and motivation.

• Mobile and online distractions are the most common.

• Natural interest in the subject helps keep procrastination at bay.

• All participants have some semi-structured attempts at productivity: making lists, blocking distracting websites, concentration or relaxing music, group study.

Concerns +
Food for Thought

• All either expressed interest or experienced using Pomodoro timers - but have concerns about the traditional 25 minute time intervals being too short.
‍
• Participants wanted to see collective rewards to boost group morale in a gamified Pomodoro setting. Perhaps even some friendly competition with other teams to show off progress and achievements.
‍
• Some participants expressed the desire to make coworking expectations clear. For example: How often are these sessions happening? How informal vs. structured are they? Can people just drop in impromptu? Are they completely silent or is talking/chatter allowed?
‍

I was grateful to hear these key points from my participants so I could make the coworking and video feature design more rich and robust. As I progressed into the brainstorming stages of my prototype, I knew it would be important for coworking Flora users to feel not only efficient and productive, but also uplifted and collaborative by earning group rewards and taking advantage of the playful and gamified nature of the Flora app.

Defining

The User + The Problem Space: Who Can We Help + How?

Already I could see there were layers to this problem space… We wanted potential users who desire to (a) establish some kind of consistent time and task management system, (b) eliminate distractions while working from home, (c) reduce feelings of isolation while working from home, and (d) increase efficiency via a social accountability system in a digital coworking space.
‍
So I created a persona, Josh, based on the composite of these aforementioned desires and on the insights drawn from my user interviews. From Josh’s POV statement, I drafted some How Might We statements to better define the problem space. By chunking the features of the problem space into these HMW questions, I was able to nudge my solution ideation into a clear direction for the final prototype.

Moving forward with the solution, I decided to create a video meeting feature and weekly reward challenges for Flora’s group planting and coworking sessions. This was due to fulfill Josh’s desires for increasing social contact while accomplishing his tasks in his remote working setting.

I then quickly encountered some challenges in deciding the entry point for the video feature. When would we allow Josh to start a video meeting? Upon opening the app - the “main” growing screen? Or after he begins the group planting session? I also had to consider other possible scenarios… How would Josh even add friends to his team? What would happen if one of Josh’s friends decides to leave the growing screen? How would group rewards work?

In order to help me place these relevant screens in my mind, I generated a user flow that explored entry points and possible routes that Josh and his co-”gardeners” would take in their group planting journey. 🌷

The Prototype!
Bloom where you're planted...

After I clarified the relevant points in Josh's user flow, I then created some mid-fi wireframes to better visualize the prototype's connections and links. After building out those wireframes, I then created a hifi version with features for the following actions:
‍
     • Creating and editing a Growing Team
     • Viewing the Weekly Challenge item (group reward)
     • Starting a Group Planting room
     • Initiating a Video Meeting while Group Planting
     • Viewing progress and achievements on Leaderboard and Stats Screen

Creating a Growing Team

I decided to take advantage of Flora’s current UI, where “selected participants” can be chosen from a list. In this case, we assume that Josh’s friends are already Flora users, so they can be simply selected from this list.

However, should Josh wish to invite a newcomer, I added a toggle “Invite to Friends” option that Josh could tap to access his phone contacts.

Establishing Novelty Reward

After creating his Growing Team, Josh would then be able to see "The Golden Maple" - an example of a rare tree species that can only be earned when Josh and his friends have successfully completed 20 hours of group focus sessions.

I added a percentage and a progress bar in order to garner interest and incentive in collecting a group reward among Josh and his friends.

Starting a Video Meeting

Once Josh and his friends (The Tree Whisperers) start a meeting, the video meeting feature becomes enabled after Josh starts a group planting meeting.

This was done so that Josh and his friends would still have the option to meet regularly with no video vs. with video, but still benefit from group sessions, rewards, and contribute to focus hours.

Nudging Friends

So what happens when a friend (cough, Toby) becomes distracted and swipes away from the Flora app?

Initially, I created a penalty system that would deduct minutes from the group's total focus duration. This would make it harder for the group to accumulate minutes to win weekly challenges.

However, after speaking to my usability test participants, I found that a minutes-based penalty system, could become ambiguous. What if a participant leaves for five seconds and returns? How would the deduction work then, would minutes be rounded up or rounded down? Plus, Flora already has a “Pause” feature that allows participants to pause their individual respective sessions, leave, and then come back to the app, at no detriment to the other group participants.
‍
So, I decided to lean into the playful and visual nature of Flora, and ramped up the whimsical manner of the app. When everyone is focused - the plant is nourished with water and sunshine. When a friend becomes distracted, the plant begins to wither, overrun by pests and a foreboding skull. It becomes a qualitative form of motivation that would encourage participants to nudge their distracted friends to return to the app.

In this case, Toby won’t necessarily win an individual plant, but he can always return to the Growing Screen and still contribute to the Golden Maple (the group reward).

Displaying Proud Progress!

Finally, the challenges can be proudly displayed on the stats screen. Each participant will have grown an individual plant for their respective gardens while earning a leaf towards the rare weekly species, The Golden Maple.

They can then further tout their achievements on the stats screen via the leaderboard!

Try out the full prototype below! ⤵︎

Closing Thoughts

This case study is coming to an end but we keep growing, just like Josh’s garden! 🌱

When I first discovered the Pomodoro Technique, it was a breath of fresh air. It hasn't always been a smooth journey for me to find ways to focus my attention. But the Flora app and other Pomodoro timers have become such vital tools in optimizing my attention capacities, prioritizing crucial tasks, establishing consistent time management, and managing my general overwhelm concerning my responsibilities!
‍
If I had a little more time, I would further explore how to develop more exciting group incentives, such as designing customized group badges using whimsical and fun gardening-related symbols (ex: fertilizer, watering can, birdhouses, etc). I would also create a seamless passcode screen flow for friends who want to join after a video call has started.
‍
So working on a project like this was incredibly delightful. Adding a social feature and generating further value to an already beautifully gamified app were valuable learning experiences in enriching my UX design perspective.

Thanks for reading!

Flora Focus Timer