The challenge

In one week, create a mobile strategy for the American Kennel Club (“AKC”) that helps address pain points currently felt by competitors, local clubs, and the AKC.

Why a mobile app for the AKC?

I was asked to create a native mobile app strategy for an organization that didn’t currently have an app. The AKC immediately came to mind. Dog sporting and confirmation events are usually held at fairgrounds, training clubs, soccer stadiums, or similar spaces and are relatively low-tech. While at the event, competitors get important information through paper signage, binders with printed records, judges and stewards yelling to try and communicate to a crowd of competitors, and a lot of whiteboards.

A mobile app would make it easier for competitors to access this important information on the go. Native mobile would be a better fit than a responsive website as it could more easily integrate with system features like GPS, bluetooth, offline usability, and accessibility settings on both iOS and Android. These capabilities would help streamline communication, data collection (like checking in for your ring time or getting your scores), and allow for offline functionality when cellular connections were not reliable.

Prioritizing for the timeline

Having one week to complete this challenge, I needed to prioritize my tasks in order to have a solid recommendation by the due date. I knew it was better to have a little research, strategy, and design work to tell a story than spend too much time in one area. To accomplish this, I assigned a milestone to each day. By the end of the week, I wanted to have a pitch that included goals, outcomes, and example features to showcase user and business opportunities. My intention was that this would be a jumping off point for deeper discussions and planning next steps with stakeholders for this hypothetical project.

Day 1 | Research	Built a survey and shared it with dog enthusiasts and dog sport participants. Gathered data from historical AKC sporting event participation records and statistics from their website.
Day 2 | Synthesize	Reviewed survey results and correlated it with other statistics and data gathered from AKC records.
Day 3 | Recommendation	Formed a strategic recommendation and constructed a pitch.
Day 4 | Narrative	Created a deck to illustrate the pain points and opportunities uncovered in research and how the AKC, breed clubs, and competitors could benefit from a native mobile app.
Day 5 | Wireframes	Created wireframes to help demonstrate potential features that may be prioritized as part of the strategy work.
Day 6 | Polish	Get peer review, make updates, add in AKC branding touches to make it feel more like a real document.
Day 7 | Ship it	Made final adjustments before submitting the work.

I wanted to ensure the audience for this pitch could understand what was being recommended without me presenting the information. I included more written information to ensure the audience would understand the problem space and see the value of the app. Getting peer review was valuable in refining the narrative to make sure that the story could stand on its own.

Outcomes

This project was well received by the review committee and resulted in a successful interview. Competitors I shared this pitch with were excited about the idea and saw the immediate value it would bring. There is tremendous opportunity for an app to help competitors track information, get involved in events, and support people new to the hobby.

Read the pitch