When a Design Intern became a Hunger Saviour
Second week into my internship as a UX Researcher at Swiggy and I am given an opportunity to understand the problems faced by our Delivery Executives. My senior mentor told me — “It is a people-driven product” and that line has stuck with me since day one since it is in sync with my own guiding philosophy of ‘Designing for Impact’.
“It is a people-driven product” — Prasanna Venkatesh
To solve for the real problems faced by the real people, you have to step outside into the real world. For building a scalable product of this impact, you can’t rely on mere speculation but solid evidence.
So here I am, standing inside the Swiggy Super-Hub as ‘just another guy’ trying to begin his journey as a Delivery Executive a.k.a Hunger Saviour. I went through the entire on-boarding process, from getting my documents checked to completing the training. Also I had my lunch with the delivery executive who was training me, a late lunch indeed at 3:45PM, because he was busy delivering lunch for others.
Finally I got my ID to be a hunger savior. The entire experience was a complete learning curve for me, since I got to experience the emotions, the delights and the pain faced by the heart & soul of Swiggy — the delivery executives.
As a design-centric company, the design team is the one who advocates for the human experiences — the journey that the different cohorts of people(from the Delivery Executives to the Restaurant Partners to our end Customers) go through. As the below quote from our Design Manager Saptarshi Prakash captures the essence of why we need to be keep design at the fore-front, because it is not about how to build, but why and what to build.
“You will never feel its presence but you’ll feel its absence. That’s good design.”— Saptarshi Prakash
Soon after my registration, a shrill tone rang in my phone — it was the call of duty. I opened the delivery partner app & swiped right (in this case, to accept the order). Then I navigated through the hustling-bustling busy streets of bangalore, driving through the traffic woes to reach the restaurant.
I couldn’t find the restaurant because it was in a big mall with multiple floors & countless outlets. I went back & forth to search for the restaurant but in the end I had to call the restaurant and ask for directions (GPS is not your best-friend indoors). I picked up the order and started my trip to complete the delivery.
I am pretty used to audio navigation, but when you have to look down periodically at the screen to find your way through, it makes riding a lot more difficult. Finding the exact place to deliver the order was quite a task; I took innumerable left-right-left turns to find the right house number, in the correct street. At last, I handed over the order, to a happy customer. Phew, that was a lot of work to deliver 1 single order. I did 3 more before I took back 149 hard earned rupees.
And the people, thanks for all the kindness they poured along the way. I was very anxious about delivering my first order to this person , who was nice enough to come out to the corner of the street and take the order from me — given the trouble I went through to locate her house. One person was waiting outside his building to collect his order. Another person tipped me; the generosity made me feel happy. Imagine what it means to the people who earn their livelihood from this job, for whom every single rupee counts.
I’d like to thank the Delivery Executives — for the distance they walk for us, when there is no parking at the malls, for the countless times they need to be patient when we don’t respond to their calls. For all these scenarios, I’d wish for all of us to be a little kinder, for they’re toiling day in and day out to make a living. They’re bringing you food, satiating your hunger and making you smile after a long day at work & for this noble a task, they deserve your respect.
As a researcher — “You have to observe & observe critically” as remarked to me by my mentor & Senior UX Researcher Omkar Jambovane. For finding those subtle points where the domino effect is initiated, you had to ask the never ending series of why-why-why-why-why to reach for the root cause and then brainstorm to eliminate it then & there.
“You have to observe & observe critically” — Omkar Jambovane
After living through the entire journey, I came back with a bag full of insights — the loopholes to be addressed, the red zones where the problem silently sneaks in, the opportunity to design it better & best and a lot of possibilities where we could brainstorm and come up with human-centric design solutions. We had, and continue to have, discussions about how we can make it better together, one design at a time.
Do watch out the space to know how it all translates into a real-world solution.
