A key principal in our process is to build upon a foundation of user research. What do users do today, where do they find problems or friction points? How do they use current tools and techniques? By doing this, we hope to build something of discrete and tangible value. We share our findings below in the spirit of open-ness.
In May 2022, California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and the US Forestry Service (USFS) with support from Google.Org conducted a five day Design Sprint. The Design Sprint included multiple discussions and working sessions that collectively produced the following:
These results were summarized in a presentation and shared in a read out.
You can review the slide deck or watch the video (1Hr 28 minutes).
In July 2022, to understand the current planning experiences and painpoints of we conducted indepth interviews with the Resource Managers, Grant Managers, and other planners across the landscape planning ecosystem. The questions for these interviews were built on the findings from the Design Sprint.
You can view the research report.
To further understand pain points around communication and decision making, we conducted further research. The users we interviewed shared their need for a tool that supports collaboration throughout the planning process and allows them to easily share finalized project proposals:
