Forward, here is the new TASKER
After our MVP release, most of the efforts were spent on acquiring Experts, educating Business about the concept of Tasks, and how all this could be driven through a platform, TASKER. We knew our efforts to acquire users would also give us inputs on calibrating what we had in mind in the next steps to what the customers want on both sides of the platform. We Heard, We Listened.
Plowing data we got from over 700+ users (Experts), we understood the strong need to standardize “keywords” used in capturing the skills and professional capabilities of experts. We concluded that free text would not be the standard, but a choice which we will give the end-user to use. This also led us to a massive lexicon building exercise covering multiple domains as a base to start. We were also in parallel, building a system that will adapt and intelligently learn from the free text supplied by users. Many deliberations internally and with the users also prompted us to decrease the cognitive load on the users in terms of putting the keywords in the right buckets and we finally concluded that the platform should be intelligent enough to do that and smart enough to learn from user actions.
While doing this, we also had a strong urge to conceive something unique, which would be simple to the user, easy to relate to, as well as become a strong fundamental linking pin in the whole “Disruption of CV” concept which we are driving at TASKER. This essentially had to be a UI Component.
We imagined something “Easy” to recognize and “Popable”. We discussed the concept with our Lead Designer, Xinrong Ding. Xinrong prototyped and with this, we went on a road trip giving many experts, known and unknown the opportunity to play with and share their feedback
What came out was…. “Bubbles”
Thus, TASKER will Suggest, Guide the users through the journey as well as give them the complete Freedom to type new terms which they think important to them and that the platform should learn…..
In TASKER, “Bubbles” is going to be central to most of everything we do from Product Engineering, Machine Learning to our Engagement, Growth & Monetisation strategy. Users will experience this in the coming days and future releases.
So what are these “Bubbles”? close examination of data and the founding team’s previous experience in interviewing, selecting, and positioning the right resources for tasks confirms that the experts should have sufficient experience in the “Domain”, where they apply specific “Knowledge, “Skills” and “Expertise”. In TASKER, we have brought out a lexicon that has keywords and relationships inbuilt at the heart of the system which forms the Bubbles.
In practice, however, the users (Experts) should not be worrying about definitions of Knowledge, Skill, or Expertise (Applying Cognitive Load Theory). Rather they will be guided towards accomplishing the objective they are in the platform for, namely: register their professional capabilities and get closer to achieving their first task. Thus the user is prompted with simple questions like “What you are good at”.
Once the user enters all the information they would like to express about their professional capabilities, the system comes up with feedback to the user on what it has learned, how the current data is bucketed, and also displays “There are new terms, which the platform needs to learn”. The profile in such cases goes for a validation process and the platform informs the user when the process is completed. The image below shows an early prototype of a confirmation screen
So, there will be a natural doubt about what happens to the already entered data on the platform. The answer is, we will be carefully reviewing the data and porting and assigning them to the right categories including correcting errors as we go through the profiles. Existing users will be informed of the upcoming changes to the platform and as and when the profile is validated, will be informed of the transition and requested of their acceptance of the profile suggestions from TASKER (sample given below).
As you read this, we have gone live with “Bubbles”. We hope this would be an exciting stage for more users to join the platform and also for more businesses to join the search for the right expertise. Each new “Joining” and each “Search” takes us closer to making the platform more intelligent and more meaningful for both parties in the platform (and for those who will partner with us in the future).
What’s coming up next?
- We are working on a great update in terms of user experience on Mobile
- We would be continuing our quest to adapt theories which could be beneficial for experts to find Tasks and businesses to identify potential Experts whom they “Trust” would add “Value”
So for now, enjoy popping bubbles and invite your network to TASKER. Spread the Freedom…
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