Build log #9 - A Webapp for my Facebook Group
Design Thinking in Action
Design Thinking is all about coming up with good, often innovative ways to solve user problems. The ideas don’t have to be complex - in fact, I think we all desire simple and elegant solutions.
Today, I built one such solution for my Facebook community: a web app for members to easily access and interact with resource lists.
Here’s the story.
The Origin of “2e Families in Canada”
In 2017, I started a Facebook group called “2e Families in Canada”, for parents with children who are Twice Exceptional (2e).
2e refers to Intellectually Gifted people who are also neurodivergent e.g. with ADHD or on the Autism spectrum.
With almost 400 members, countless conversations plus in-person and zoom meetups, we have generated a lot of collective wisdom over the years.
The Problem: Organizing and Sharing Collective Wisdom
Over the years, I noticed that members often sought recommendations for the same 2 things: local schools and camps suitable for 2e kids. In addition, parents also loved to recommend books that have made a difference in their parenting life.
Therefore, about 2 years ago, I decided to crowdsource these most-asked resources - Schools, Camps, and Books.
The results were 3 comprehensive tables (on Airtable). For the school list, for instance, I also included parents’ comments, location, websites, grade levels etc.
Why did I do that? Three reasons:
to organize our collective wisdom
to provide at-a-glance resources
to minimize stress - not everyone has time to engage in back-and-forth conversations on the forum
The Challenge: Accessibility and Usability
At first, I thought my work was done once I shared the view-only links to the tables.
Then, I noticed a significant problem.
These tables were not user-friendly. Members needed to scroll through very long lists without the ability to sort or search. And as more recommendations were being collected, the situation could only get worse.
So I asked myself: what are some quick, free ways to address this problem?
The Solution: Softr and AirTable
I brainstormed several simple ways for members to access, sort, and search through the database. I experimented with embedding the lists in a website (not ideal).
Luckily, I have experience with Softr, a reliable no-code tool that integrates beautifully with Airtables.
Building it did not take long, including a bit of style treatment.
An added benefit - members can directly add an entry to the list which greatly reduce my workload as the group adminstrator.
I am very happy with the result. It is a web app that is visually pleasing, clearly shows 3 lists, and allows members to sort or search according to the most important criteria.
Final Thoughts
I am proud of having built a simple tool for my “2e Families in Canada” community.
What’s more, this project illustrates how Design Thinking can be carried out on even a small scale by following the same principles - understanding and defining the problem, brainstorming solutions, and iterating quickly to arrive at a meaningful solution.
Previously in this series:
Build Log #0: Follow me along my Journey of Innovation
Build Log #1: Create a way out of Tedious Analogue Tracking
Build Log #2: Tips on organizing Initial Thoughts
Build Log #3: Overcoming a Roadblock - Innovating without access to Users
Build log #4: Pivot to building a Notion template
Build log #5: Anticipating Challenges
Build Log #6: Assumptions being challenged
Build Log #7: Notion Tool update
Build log #8 - Why I pay attention to Colours