Project Title
Client
Tools
My Role
Project Time
RootMetrics: Portable Testing Container
RootMetrics
Focus Group, User Testing, Research, Design, Prototyping
U.S. Field Operations Manager, Project Designer/Manager
4 months
Background
RootMetrics an Ookla company is a telecommunications testing and measurements company. Their goal is to provide actionable insights to improve end user experience through comprehensive testing of cellular service.
In 2015 RootMetrics was an independent start-up and I was a U.S. Field Operations Manager. In that role I managed a team of between 15-30 Mobile Network Field Technicians that tested and collected cellular network data throughout the U.S. in 120 major metropolitan (metro) areas and rural drives in all 50 states (national). Part of that role was to provide support with equipment needed to complete each project.
Why
In the spring of 2015 the company made an internal announcement that the company would be adding three new products to the product offering starting in July of that year. The new product offerings were to take place on public transit (transit, in skyscrapers (vertical), and in urban cores (urban) to be done on foot to create more dense data sets. The challenge was that the testing containers in use at the time would have been difficult if not impossible to manage for the technicians in these new testing locations.
What
Portfolios: Original Testing Containers
Users
A new strategy would be needed for the Mobile Network Field Technicians in order move forward with these new products. The technicians were a specific group within the company. At the time the technicians were comprised of 30 people that were:
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25-60 years old, with 90% of them under 40 years old
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90% male, 10% female
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In this position between 2-4 years
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Able to carry and lift at least 50 lbs.
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Driving at least 10 hours per day up to 7 days in a row
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Averaging 6 months of domestic travel per year for this job
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From diverse education backgrounds, high school diploma to Juris Doctor
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Well versed in troubleshooting and creating fixes for issues in field
Challenges
The Director of Operations tasked our department with operationalizing these new products by finding a different testing container that was more portable. Based on the known users, a solution would need to work for a variety of people and physical conditions beyond the basics as described. While each technician had the ability to perform their job, the new products would require more physicality than they previous needed. The proposed new products in addition to the known users and start-up nature of the company suggested the need for a container that would:
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Be flexible in the amount of devices it could carry
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Provide a compact solution that wouldn't be bulky on mass transit and would be discrete in a variety of settings
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Be comfortable to wear when carrying 20 lbs. for multiple 6-8 hour days of walking
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Dissipate heat from the batteries and phones in a variety of climates
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Offer waterproof protection
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Provide modular spacing between devices so that the signals wouldn't interfere with one another
Design
Sketch
The proposed design for the new container would be at its base a backpack with:
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A hip belt and sternal to distribute weight and prevent physical injury
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A large compartment to house testing equipment
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Semi-structured materials to maintain shape
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A waterproof option
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Ventilation options
The original sketches were flushed out on an office whiteboard and then the search for such a container commenced.
Research
At the time of this project there was only one bag that met some of the requirements outlined by our department. Unfortunately, each bag cost upwards of $8,000 and was far over our budget at the time.
Once an existing solution was ruled out the search for manufacturers that worked with smaller lot sizes commenced. There were few options that included design and manufacturing, however the cost was still too steep and the per unit cost was projected to be above $1,000.
Given that off the shelf options and bespoke manufacturers were ruled out, the idea then became to source a bag that would meet most of the requirements and find a company to make any additional modifications needed for testing.
Focus Group
Once a few bags were in office, four technicians were brought in for a meeting to help evaluate the bags for functionality if field. As a group, they were given the new product requirements and were asked to discuss the necessary features for a new testing container. the The groups' primary concerns were about comfort, as their job was fairly sedentary and the new products would require a sudden increase in physicality.
A search commenced and 10 bags were purchased to trial and subsequently returned after they were evaluated for feasibility for modification by our internal teams and focus group.
Base Model
After extensive search for a well priced solution the Lowepro Flipside Sport 20L AW camera hiking backpack was selected as the base for the solution because it offered the following base features:
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A hip belt and sternum strap to distribute weight
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A large compartment to house testing equipment
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Semi-structured materials to maintain shape
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Built in waterproof cover
Exterior view: Lowepro Flipside Sport 20L AW
Since this backpack was built to house camera equipment and built for light hiking. The bag was made of two parts, a backpack exterior and a removable interior that was constructed with structural padding and adjustable compartments with the use of Velcro.
This option offered the most benefits and would require minimal alterations to create ventilation for heat dissipation.
Interior view: Lowepro Flipside Sport 20L AW
The modular design and the ability to change the interior structure allowed for a variety of solutions to be considered. Additionally, the bag offered enough structure without an aluminum interior frame. The lack of aluminum frame was ideal due to technical concerns that the metal may cause signal attenuation or interference.
Insert view: Foam Structural Componet
Alterations
Once the base model bag was selected I discussed the ideas for ventilation with the team and started searching for feasible solutions. The bag would need mesh shelves that had similar structural properties to the original foam dividers to allow air movement though the bag and an appropriately sized fan that could run on the 5V batteries that we were using to power the cell phones for testing.
I marked the bag up, as seen here in yellow, where ventilation ports would need to be cut and sourced the other materials needed to start the project.
Exterior view: Vent Plans in Yellow
Development
Prototype
Once the bag and modifications were approved I started creating a live prototype that could be tested with our equipment. For the first iteration I did as many of the modifications as I could myself, but knew that I would need assistance with stitching some parts of the bag. While researching manufacturing facilities I made contact with a technical outerwear repair company called Rainy Pass Repair.
Rainy Pass Repair agreed to help me with my prototype and followed my instructions to create ventilation flaps and where to put Velcro to keep structural integrity.
The alterations made to each bag for the prototype included:
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2 side port flaps and corresponding acrylic covers
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1 top port flap with trim to keep out the weather and corresponding acrylic cover to mount fan to
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6 rectangular acrylic mesh shelves with Velcro on the long sides to maintain structure and promote air flow
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2 rectangular holes cut into the vertical support structures to allow air to pass through the exterior columns
As shown here the arrows demonstrate how the modifications drew air up through the bag via side ports, past the phones, and pulled through the bag and out the top of the bag.
Interior view of modifications and airflow
The fan was mounted to top of the backpack with the same acrylic mesh and Velcro pieces for easy replacement due to wear over time. The fan itself was USB powered and could be quickly replaced in field.
Interior view fan mounted to exhaust port
The top exhaust port had a flap of material from the original bag to cover the port in case of rain.
Exterior view Fan mounted to exhaust port
The side ports were kept to a smaller size to maintain structural integrity of the bag and still allow for some ventilation.
Interior view side exhaust port
The side ports also retained flaps of material from the original bag to cover the ports in case of rain.
Exterior view side exhaust port
Testing Part I
Once there was a working prototype the bag was sent through in-house testing. The in-house testing consisted of running several days to compare data metrics of the devices with the baseline data that existed with the current testing container. Additionally, there was some analysis done with the new bag and a Faraday cage to understand if there was any interference with the bag or the arrangement of devices. Once the bag had approval of our RF engineers and data scientists we moved onto the second phase of testing in the field.
Production
After the bag had passed in-house analysis four more units were created. At this point I worked withRainy Pass Repair to define a production schedule of 5-10 bags per week until we had 35 units, 30 for our current staff and several spares.
Testing Part II
While full production of the bags was underway we went forward with field testing the new bags in a variety of network conditions to ensure full functionality and no negative impacts to the collected data. There were four test markets chosen for data collection outside of planned markets to preserve data integrity of the planned markets.
User Testing
Initial rollout of these bags began with test markets and with technicians that spanned a range of physical conditions. The idea was to receive a range of feedback to validate the design features of bag made with the user in mind.
Conclusions
The new testing container enabled RootMetrics to move forward with a mobilized testing solution to cover the original products in addition to the three new products. The production and testing went as scheduled and became the go to solution for the field operations team that lead to further iterations of the bag as testing needs and products changed.
This solution enabled new products and increased revenue assisting with the subsequent sale of RootMetrics to IHS by the end of 2015.
While this solution was short lived as products changed rather quickly, it highlighted the need for user co-design to create functional solutions and quickly gain stakeholder buy-in.