NOVONATE
Every tool on the market solved one piece of this problem. None solved the whole journey.
Challenge: Novonate's team was focused on go-to-market for another neonatal product they'd already developed, and didn't have the bandwidth to dig into this new problem space: combatting unplanned extubation in US NICUs. They brought me on for a dedicated three-month sprint where I was to independently take a loosely-scoped problem and turn it into a validated, high-fidelity prototype.
Insight: Every existing neonatal intubation tool on the market is optimized for one narrow perspective: cost, ease of cleaning, ease of placement, ease of purchase. None considered the different perspectives or the full product/ patient journey. Placement happens in tense, high-stakes moments. Maintenance is ongoing and falls on nurses. And many designs covered a baby's full face, which often distressed parents by interfering with kangaroo care bonding, a practice that's critical in a NICU. The opportunity at hand was to design a solution that took into account the whole journey and diverse perspectives, not one slice of it.
What I did: I built ideal-vs-real clinical workflow maps and recruited a cross-functional panel of 8+ nurses, pediatricians, and parents for ongoing input. Then I built prototypes and ran weekly testing cycles, five new concepts with users every week, each isolating a single variable (tube-holding mechanism, facial placement, etc.) so feedback stayed precise instead of diffuse.
Outcome:
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Recruited and managed a cross-functional panel with +8 experts
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10+ proof-of-concept prototypes designed and manufactured (CAD + 3D printing)
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PoC testing speed increased 50% through a new iterative framework
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Patent pending, Olga listed as co-inventor
Role - Product Research and Development Lead
Year - 2021
Client - Novonate
Multi-step, Multi-stakeholder map: No, your internet is not unstable. Unfortunately this artifact is proprietary to Novonate. I chose to share this image here, albeit blurry, to illustrate the complexity of the process I was mapping. As a gauge, each one of the green squares represents a stakeholder within this workflow.
Testing different materials and geometries for our high-fidelity prototypes.
I always sought to include the larger group in this design process. This picture was taken during one of our brainstorming sessions.
Ideal vs Real Clinical Workflows- An initial step in my discovery process was to map the ideal and real journeys. These artifacts allowed me to 1. easily visualize a multi-step, multi-stakeholder process 2. identify key stakeholders to connect with 3. have better conversations with different experts 4. easily identify pain points for further inquiry.
Stakeholder Input - Unsurprisingly, this multi-stakeholder process involved different -- and often times competing -- priorities for Product X. In addition to professional preferences, each facility also has its own set of procedures. Designing a robust stakeholder journey map allowed me to rank and prioritize different features in order to optimize for the overall product performance.
RESEARCH PROCESS
Product X is a device to be used in NICUs (neonatal intensive care units) within the US. Below, I will dive into some of the key stages in my design process.
Other stages are represented in the diagram below for a holistic view of my research process.
Using this framework, over the course of three months I was able to transform a high-level idea into a high-fidelity prototype, backed by the expertise of nurses, pediatricians, parents and more.
RESEARCH PROCESS (CONTINUED)
Iterative Feedback Loop - talking to everyone is, unfortunately, impossible. With that, I established a design panel with representatives from key stakeholder groups to provide ongoing feedback on product concepts.
Document, Share, Repeat - a key aspect of my role as designer is to facilitate (better) conversations between true subject matter experts. Throughout this process, I organized brainstorm sessions, share-outs, prototyping workshops, etc. All of which yielded valuable documents and artifacts.
A High-level view of my research process. Despite the static representation, this was an iterative process where conversations that happened during "mapping" informed deliverables listed under "understanding".