Creating efficiencies with Airvolution

AAR came to SNACKS with some initial assumptions around product strategy paired with a list of business requirements. We worked closely with their innovation team to draft a 3 month design phase that would focus on rapid prototyping and testing. The goal of this phase was to design end-to-end flows for core use-cases. We would go on to test and validate core concepts before moving into a formal design and build phase.

Once we built confidence in the core concepts and design approach, we switched focus to telling the story of Airvolution in a series of use-cases. We supported the innovation team leaders with a high-fidelity prototype that told a guided story. This allowed the team to communicate the value and concepts to a wider audience from 1:1 presentations to groups of over 100 attendees. This allowed the team to secure stakeholder buy-in for a multi-year product build.

Our initial design phase took place over 6 months where we worked in 2 week sprints, iteratively with cross-functional teams. The design of Airvolution required a deep understanding of the aircraft component repair process. Our challenge was to leverage the stakeholder team’s 30 years of collective industry experience and create industry software that would meet the demands and challenges of the aviation supply chain. We worked in close collaboration with key stakeholders.

It is vital for designers to forge great relationships with engineering partners. Design isn’t effective or efficient unless it’s feasible. That’s why we include engineering in discovery and design reviews early and often. We believe that reviewing implementation weekly during production sprints helps us maintain the integrity and intentions of the design.