FAA Scheduling
Company Type
Startup
Industry
Aviation
Product Type
Responsive Web App
Services
Project Management, Product Strategy, UX Design, UI Design, Product Strategy Workshop, Branding
Deliverables
Project Management Consulting, User Stories, Logo, Brand Guide, Wireframes, High Fidelity Designs, Design System
Pilot exam scheduling software
Gathering Requirements and Defining the Vision
The founder of FAA Scheduling had a brilliant idea: revolutionize how examiners and pilots schedule their required certification training. However, with no prior experience in software development, he faced the daunting task of turning his vision into a fully functional and user-friendly product.
The project presented a unique set of challenges:
- Extraordinary complexity: The scheduling process needed to account for examiners’ limited and unpredictable availability while integrating multiple third-party tools.
- No formal design assets: While some basic styles existed, the foundation lacked cohesion and scalability.
- High stakes: As a newcomer to software development with no investor funding, the client needed expert guidance to navigate the technical intricacies and manage an offshore development team – all while keeping the budget as small as possible.
FAA Scheduling turned to LunarLab for help. We partnered with the founder to clarify and refine the complex requirements for pilot and examiner scheduling. During our collaborative product design & strategy workshop, we identified critical user needs, major friction points in the existing process, and identified third-party integrations necessary for success.
MVP Design, Roadmap, and User Stories
For any founder working on something new, we always recommend starting with an MVP product for beta testing. This product created a challenge because of the high level of complexity required even for an MVP. We needed to slim down the feature set as much as possible while still creating an intuitive “all-in-one” experience for many different roles.
We also knew the development would be done by an offshore dev team who may not have experience with the aviation industry, so it was important that everything was very clearly documented.
To achieve these goals, we delivered:
- Wireframes to visualize user flows and identify gaps in the scheduling process.
- High-fidelity designs to translate functionality into a beautiful and industry appropriate visual experience.
- Lightweight branding to ensure the product stood out and conveyed a sense of trust and reliability.
- Design system to establish a cohesive set of reusable components for consistency across all aspects of the application. This also reduces development rework and risk during front end design.
- Detailed, prioritized user stories tailored to the extraordinary complexities of scheduling examiners and pilots, including specifications around business logic and technical integrations.
Project Management Consulting for Success
The founder ultimately chose an offshore development team to complete their project, with the goal of saving money (which is important for a bootstrapped startup). Paradoxically, working with an inexpensive offshore development team can sometimes create a high level of risk that can lead to excess costs… so founders end up spending more even though the hourly rate is lower than a domestic team.
To mitigate these risks and provide expert oversight, LunarLab provided project management consulting for the duration of the development project. This included:
- Process consulting: Guiding the founder through every phase of the software development lifecycle, ensuring confidence and transparency.
- Risk management: Identifying and flagging quality issues in the developers’ work, and proactively working to resolve any problems during the project.
- Testing and troubleshooting: Leading QA rigorous testing to address complex scenarios before release.
- Jira setup and administration: Ensuring smooth task tracking and communication between all stakeholders.
The Results: A Confident Path Forward
With LunarLab’s hands-on support, the client achieved:
- Confidence in managing a complex software project despite being new to the field.
- A cohesive, scalable design system to set the stage for future growth.
- Clear designs and user stories to complete the development work with as little risk or expense as possible
- Robust testing to ensure that the product met high-quality standards, ready for proof-of-concept testing.