ODIN Governors Report #008

The ODIN Governance Team provides an update as to the current commitments and progress every week.

Here are some of the key updates discussed on Monday 25th March 2019.

ODIN.CHAT and Platform Progress

Last week we mentioned that there are some major updates coming within our Messenger application. This week we’re happy to say progress is moving swiftly on that front! It has been a lot of hard graft and exploration of new frontiers, but this is now resulting in a more well-rounded application for both consumers and future developers. The account creation and viewing/adding contacts have been migrated to our new code infrastructure. This will help make the app more modular and extensible with new features.

This leaves message sending and the wallet module left to migrate. With this migration, some new features might be ready to be unlocked for the next minor release such as the ability to add a Display Name for a new contact.

Through our user testing, we found several ways to improve the ODIN Identity and app setup process. We are in the middle of redesigning the entire interface to hugely improve and simplify this user experience. In order to implement these additions whilst not compromising on our current timelines for the initial launch, we have enlisted the support from additional blockchain developers to help improve the design and experience on this front. Vaughn, Pete, James, and Andy are all co-located in Manchester for this work over the next two weeks. We will share graphics and pics in due course :)

Calling all developers!

If you are interested in working on extensions, modules or helping contribute to the ODIN.CHAT mobile application, you can get a started by checking out NativeScript.org to understand the technology we are using for the app and modular extension. We recommend trying out their web-based ‘playground’ and test out app development straight on your phone. As we add more features and improve on the released application, we will be growing our team and providing support and advice for anyone that wants to get stuck in. Reach out to Pixxl | Vaughn on our Discord group if you are interested.

Ecosystem updates

We do not underestimate the difficulty around marketing and growing our audience for the messenger in today’s climate. We also know how important it is to have a well-tested user interface and make people find the app easy to use. As we have previously articulated, improvements to the messenger will be made iteratively in regular releases as we expand access to more user base.

We are implementing in-person observational user testing ‘kits’ that anyone in the community can download and use in their local area with friends and family. The aim here is to find out what improvements we can make in future iterations, without requiring access to personal data. This will help us to gather real user evidence that we can use to inform our design and development teams to make better decisions that improve the usability of the odin.chat app and future features we will add.

We tested some paid advertising in preparation of the app launch, reaching in excess of 25,000 people in less than 48 hours. This week we will be split-testing different content, wording, calls to action, and types of advertising, aimed at improving our conversion rates.

In our internal marketing funnel, we have started shifting focus from awareness to the user consideration phase. In addition, we are preparing press releases and quotes ready for use around the time of the app launch.

Press release(s) will likely be published just after the app is on the play store, and our aim is to distribute these press releases to crypto news reporters and publications. Please be aware that it is then up to the various publications to write about it, which will be out of our control.

Some Final Words

The whole team is working really hard and we need all the help we can get. When the messenger is publicly released, a big way that you can help is by making instructional videos, tutorials, and guides. Also, simply sharing the app within your own networks, and doing what you can to collaborate with the rest of the community to increase awareness.

We’re heading to Blockchain Manchester Meetup on Thursday this week to check out all the great talks they have lined up. We will also be talking with the attendees about ODIN, to see how they may like to get involved with the ODIN community.

If you enjoyed this report, please do take the time to share, clap, comment on our tweets and generally engage with the growing ODIN community on Discord and Twitter. We would love to hear and discuss your thoughts on this, our latest report. Thank you!