Valley Leisure was referred to The Curve after having completed a feasibility workshop to explore the potential taking the I Can concept online. After a comprehensive and collaborative discovery session with the team, it was determined that a digital solution was required. Something with the ability to combine Valley Leisure’s I Can Therapy Centres USP with an online video based exercise program. It was agreed that the fundamental core functionality should represent them as close as possible.
The initial phase of the project would focus on only what was necessary to prove the concept without over-investing efforts in secondary areas. So, components of the in-person I Can Therapy Centre such as the Café, Noticeboard and Live Fitness session functionality were not included.
The main goal with the digital solution was to test the video delivery of exercise sessions. If the market responded well to the initial implementation then the scope of the project could be increased to encompass the Cafe, Noticeboards and Live Fitness sessions. This strategy was aimed to benefit those who fall between the current I Can Therapy Centre users and those who would benefit from an online video exercise program.
At the end of each sprint, progress was reviewed and the wider team carefully considered which functionality should be built next.
With each sprint, the team estimated the next and immediate chunk of work to allow time estimates to be refined. From this, everyone learns and understands the complexity of the project as it continues. The Curve recommended proving some of the more complex aspects of the project first. Tackling these high risk items head on allowed the project team to identify any significant obstacles and challenges that might exist earlier on.
As the project progressed, the project team was able to decide on an on-going basis when to release the MVP for testing in the market. With project such as I Can Connect, The Curve advocated releasing the project to market as soon as possible, to capture real user feedback and prioritise features and functionality based on actual customer needs, rather than what stakeholders perceived user needs to be beforehand
The recommendation for the web portal was to use a variety of cloud technologies such as Microsoft’s Azure platform to host and manage various instances and databases as the costs of these systems are likely to scale inline with the number of customers, therefore being one of the more cost effective resources to use.
At the initial stage, the MVP was built with only certain functionality and was prioritised in order to allow members of the Valley Leisure community to test and feedback on their experience before further implementing a wider range of functionalities. However, this was a sizable project with some level of complexity involved in the video streaming and live video conferencing functionality in the system.