Hmmm…after having gone through the app I looked at the homepage stuff again and I’m wondering if I would have had a different experience if I had gone through it on my phone. Seems like yes based on screenshots so this might be something I’ll try again later.

The web version…felt inefficient. Let’s start at the beginning. The first you show me is this:

http://cl.ly/image/260C102g1i3z

Most people are not going to read this. In that second sentence you basically tell me what I’m going to need to do…but that’s not the kind of sentence I could ever memorize and so the MOMENT I closed it, I already forgot what the first step if that was your intention to make it feel easier.

Part of the reason I can’t remember that first instruction you gave me is because normal people don’t talk/think in weird lists. It also doesn’t help that it doesn’t have a nice parallel structure to it. Rhythm and repetition helps a lot.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/

If it were me, I’d just get rid of it. If the first step is for me to create a group. Start me with creating a group. Hopefully, I got to this step because I understood along the way that this will help me create carpools.

When I closed that dialog…the next thing I did was look at this:

http://cl.ly/image/1r3Q3d3H0C0X

I would totally remove those ads…or at least don’t show me them until I learn how to use your UX. They immediately caught my eye and attention and proceeded to also write over your first instructions. At this point, I’d optimize for people getting through your flow.

So this page is both distracting with the ads and the call to action isn’t super clear. I’m looking right at the biggest thing on your page which is very light gray and barely legible because it’s light gray on white text. THAT is where a giant Add Group button should be. Again, I wouldn’t start here. If I have no groups or carpools setup, just start me on the first step.

Which you have me do in a series of modals, not my favorite, but okay.

http://cl.ly/image/3H2u250p0W0G

Studies show that people don’t have problems going through multiple step processes…as long as they understand they’re making progress and that you sign post it for them. It would be nice if you let me know the total number of steps.

Also, I couldn’t abandon this once I started. Remember, the first time users probably try out a new piece of software…they’re basically kicking the tires. Let them move around and get a feel for it. The reason I wanted to back out was because your app is still a stranger to me and the first thing you want me to do is add my friends and their contact info to your system. You actually WON’t let me move forward with just my name…and so now I’m thinking…shit…is this thing going to spam my friends? What if this isn’t good? I can’t take that chance…etc. Don’t trap me, bro.

When I get to step 3, I get totally confused. http://cl.ly/image/2j3T1P0a2I0o

This is partially because I do it to myself. When you asked me to create a group, you forced me to write a description for the group, which seemed unnecessary. So I just wrote “why” to get through it. http://cl.ly/image/0r1F080q0H0b

In the add driver/rider flow, which looks very similar to this define routes flow…I’ve mentally mapped this type of interface (rows with text inputs underneath) to adding items…but you have this setup working to update an existing location. Also in the previous steps you made me even add myself as a rider and so it feels weird and jarring that you have pre-picked places for me for my convenience for this step. It’s the only place you do it!

Anyway, this is a long way of telling you that I hesitated typing anything in here because I was trying to change the locations by clicking on them…I didn’t realize just filling out those inputs would replace them. That’s power law of practice for you. It works that quickly.

When I finally finish…I don’t realize that I need to do one last step: http://cl.ly/image/0V2I1D0f0j0i

Overall, I’d say the problems with your flow are clearly posting calls to actions on the page…meaning make it obvious that when I look at the interface that I know clearly what I should click on next. It also feels like I’m clicking forever to do this task. I’d ask yourself some hard questions about what is the minimum actually needed to get a carpool up and going.

If it were me, I’d just ask for where is the ultimate destination, maybe a date and a list of emails. Then I’d push it out for everyone else to fill things out. Their contact and locations and ask if they want to volunteer to drive. If it goes well, ask if they want to reschedule it again or make it recurring. To make people feel comfortable sending this out to friends, have one already built that shows off the features that they can play with.

Whew…alright. I know this is a lot of feedback, but that doesn’t mean I thought it was terrible. Keep editing / whittling this flow down and you’ll get to something tight. If I have time, I’ll play around with this on my phone later. Thanks for sharing!

Hi, a suburban mother of school aged kids asked me to help her solve the problem she has coordinating with other parents to arrange rides to shuttle their kids to school & sporting events. She wanted a simple scheduling service, with a panic button — a way for her to let others know if she was running late.

Ironically, she works at Redpoint VC, but had trouble attracting developers to her idea. I built the MVP, conducting UserTesting.com focus groups to gather feedback from a busy, educated “soccer mom” demographic and iterated on a “wizard based” signup flow. Users reported it being better than the current email / spreadsheet / shared calendar approach they use now, some interest in paying for the service on a subscription basis. Key request was a native mobile app version, and, confusingly, a Craig's List like rideshare social matching service.

MVP is built on Parse.com / Backbone / Bootstrap, waiting for the right time to build out an iOS app; likely the start of a new school year.

Obviously the growth opportunities are in service-based, market-making transportation providers like Uber, BlaBlaCar/Carpooling.com, whereas this is more of a scheduling app with a long history of similar but failed approaches (as a quick search of ‘carpool’ on HN will show!)

Still, I like the feeling that I'm helping make other people's lives easier.

Feedback & ideas for good mobile app design most welcome!

What does the panic button do? Something like aborting it if the driver is creepy? There is what looks like a link for "one touch" but it's just underlined and there doesn't appear to be any other reference to it.

I'm on mobile, if that makes a difference. Another reply said it was very different to on desktop.

Hmm... not so sure that business model will work. I think this has to be completely free.