Day 10 — Talking to the Experts
Getting out of the building when you’re forced to stay in
One of the silver linings of the pandemic has been how easy it has become to connect with people in sweatpants around the world…in sweatpants. Simply put, everyone knows how to Zoom. Sure, it’s hard to beat real face-to-face interaction, but in many ways it’s never been easier to connect with others.
My goal this week is to talk to 5 parents to evaluate whether an idea is a good one or not. Going into the week, my goal was to test a key hypothesis for an idea to teach kids with type 1 diabetes (and eventually other chronic health issues) the skills to manage their care. It seemed like a good idea, but is it actually? And is it the right problem to solve? Today I speak to the first couple parents and a healthcare practitioner to find out.
I leave today having learned a lot…and feeling less confident about my hypothesis.
Hypothesis Under Test
Teaching kids with type 1 diabetes the skills and confidence to manage care is a key pain point for parents.
Interview Inputs
JIRA Setup
I’m tracking our progress in a JIRA board. This is the first week using this process — it’s still a bit clunky, but it’s at least a measure of progress and we can improve it over time.
Interview Guide
I developed an interview guide with 4 simple questions as talked about here.
Interview Notes Spreadsheet
Through 100+ interviews since starting Invincible, I’ve used a spreadsheet to capture notes for my conversations with school nurses, kids, parents, and healthcare providers. I’ve found what may seem insignificant at first can turn into really valuable insights when paired with other interviews.
Interviewees
I reached out to 10 families on Monday asking for 30 minutes of their time. By today, I scheduled 4 toward my goal of 5.
Interviews
1. Talked to 2 Families — 45 minutes each
Today I talked to 2 families who have kids with type 1 diabetes. While I had an interview script in hand, I try to let the family guide the conversation toward what matters most to them. I learn so much every time.
2. Talked to an HCP — 45 minutes
I also spoke with a diabetes nurse educator. The script changed up a bit for this interview, but I think it’s an important input to this conversation, especially since educators are the true experts and offer experience from teaching hundreds of families.
The Way-Too-Early Takeaways:
- Helping kids be kids. When we discussed goals, we heard the true goal: letting kids be kids. Managing a chronic health issue is hard work, but parents just want their kids to have a childhood. How might we help kids just be kids?
- We’re not the experts. Having lived with type 1 diabetes for the past 15 years, it’s easy to feel like the expert. But managing your own care is notably not the same as managing care for a child. How might we partner with the experts?
- We can deliver scalable care in a fun way. Families and healthcare practitioners quickly become experts in care. There’s nobody better in the world than getting to know a child. How might we play a role that plays to each of our strengths?
Now What?
I’m not sure if my experiment setup was a very good one…I think the hypothesis could be clearer and I’m not sure my sample size is large enough, especially when considering child age. But that’s also part of the learning. Here’s to hoping we learn just as much tomorrow.
See ya tomorrow.
My goals for writing this series are to 👇:
For the next 6 months, I plan to start building Invincible in public. What’s in it for you? Hopefully, mistakes you can avoid mixed with some good ideas and tools that can be useful to you. And for me? Getting back some accountability you lose when you become your own boss.
