Flexible and scalable web applications for Gladstone and the leisure industry

Having designed and engineered similar applications in the past, the most dangerous approach would have been to dive in without fully immersing ourselves in the structures, processes and ways of working for different types of leisure operator.

Listening, asking and listening some more

A panel of stakeholders was assembled from Gladstone end clients; the Special Interest Group (SIGs). This enabled our Discovery & Insights phase to tap into a nationwide operator, a regional operator with an extremely varied mix of facilities, a smaller self-managed Council facility, and an operator blending the needs of their local community alongside peaks of tourist traffic.

Our team of product managers, designers and engineers collaborated closely with Gladstone and the SIGs through a series of workshops, interviews, analysis and desk-based research to devise a product strategy.

Additionally, our product feature mapping matrix came into its own as we carefully documented just enough detail for each feature before rating their risk, impact, effort and the final priority based on business value.

To ensure an unbiased approach, we factored in weighted inputs from the various functions within Gladstone, their product leaders, senior management and the SIGs.

Through a single eco-system, we had conceived a membership joining product and a booking product. Either could be licensed to end clients in isolation but they also had to work seamlessly together.

The workshops and interviews emphasised the value placed on the use of human resource. Far too many mandate queries and tasks were tying up staff on-site, robbing them of valuable face-to-face time with their members.

A membership account / profile was conceived to service features related to "self-service" but also create a more "sticky" experience for members by providing summary data and convenience for day-to-day tasks and activities. This also provided a bedrock from which Gladstone would further mould and develop the value born out of user engagement, beyond transactional processes, for the years ahead.