From d2ed4ede2737ab6887e6ff29d64b14f851d6462a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Eike Hirsch Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2015 00:02:47 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] added post about the smartsteuer snap app --- _posts/2015-12-31-smartsteuer-snap-app.md | 109 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 109 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _posts/2015-12-31-smartsteuer-snap-app.md diff --git a/_posts/2015-12-31-smartsteuer-snap-app.md b/_posts/2015-12-31-smartsteuer-snap-app.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfd651c --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2015-12-31-smartsteuer-snap-app.md @@ -0,0 +1,109 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: Creating the smartsteuer 'snap' app +subtitle: A backstage report +description: A behind the scenes view of the birth of our youngest creation. +category: smartsteuer +author: Eike Hirsch +author_email: eike.hirsch@smartsteuer.de +--- + +### Motivation ### + +As we at smartsteuer really enjoyed how this app was imagined and eventually created, I thought it might be fun to +write about it. This blog post is not that much technical but describes our journey to a product which (hopefully) +will create value for our customers. + +### Background + +At smartsteuer we create tools for people who want to do their tax filings online. For that, we +continuously seek for smart solutions to make this task as easy as possible. One example is an app that we created to +answer one question which always nags our customers: + +> Why should I care? Can I even expect a refund? + +To answer this seriously you have to do a whole lot of calculations for which you need quite some information +from the user. Which in turn would create a process which is _not_ fast and easy. So, some years ago we created this +app which would do two things: + +1. Only asks for about five thinks every user knows of the top of their heads. +2. Make some educated guesses to answer all the other questions with rough estimates. + +The result couldn't be exact but it was good enough to answer said question. It worked quite well even though you still +had to provide those five figures. + +### Theory + +Now, with the help and cooperation of our fellow colleagues from "Haufe Lohn & Gehalt" we wanted to take the app to the +next level. It was our aim to reduce the number of questions the user needs to answer and at the same time increase the +accuracy of the calculation. I will spare you the details but the result of our efforts was a QR-Code which every user +of "Haufe Lohn & Gehalt" would get and which would contain all wage and tax information an employee needs to file her +taxes. + +So the plan was to enhance the app with a qr-code scanner to safe the user some typing. + +We created a quick briefing for our mobile dev agency - they returned an offer - we signed it - the deal was sealed. + +You might wonder why I am writing the blog post in the first place, as this sounds all to familiar and is in any regards +special. Well you are right. Up until here this story is _only_ an example of solid work. +But please bare with me and read on. + +### Reality kicks in + +About an hour before the agency would come by to kick the project off I was holding an internal meeting to get everybody +on the same page. During this meeting it came to light that the project somehow managed to stay under the radar and that +everybody in the room did not know about it. This is quite uncommon in our company as everybody is eager to know what is +going on and to contribute her ideas and we encourage everyone to do so. But in this particular case this somehow did +not happen until said meeting. + +And so it was this meeting when all the experts where questioning the new feature and its purpose: + +> Why are we doing this? +> What is the benefit for the user? +> Is the benefit big enough to justify the work? +> What data is included in the qr-code? +> Is this really the best we can do for our customers? +> … + +It turned out that, while we would get a lot more data to replace some of our guesses with real values, the user +would still need to answer four out of the former five questions and instead would need to turn on the scanner and snap +the code. +That was not the benefit we hoped to deliver. + +### Adaption + +Luckily we did not stop there. When you happen to have a bunch of smart people in the room, new ideas come up and +so a totally new app slowly came into shape. + +**What can we do with that qr-code?** It contained lots of data which the user would need to manually enter into her tax +filing - a tedious and error-prone process. + +**But our main product - the tax filing software - runs in the browser on desktop-PCs.** You don't normally scan qr-codes +with an desktop-PC. + +**What if we could transform the qr-code-scanner into an input device for our software?** We would need to find a way to +link the app with the software without needing the user to do some fancy stuff or even worse needing to understand the +whole process. And at the same time keeping her data safe and protected. + +**Can't we create a second qr-code which contains the data needed for the linking?** + +**And why not use OCR to read any other document** + +By the time the agency arrived we had totally rewritten the plan. And they had no idea… + +### Outcome + +Well, we had to start the meeting with a lot of apologies. The app we original signed up for was from the table but we +still wanted *an* app. Luckily our agency was flexible enough to adapt to the new plan and within only one week we had a +working prototype. +From that day on everything worked according to the plan and now the app is in the +[app store](https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/smartsteuer/id1068423226?mt=8) and will very soon be in +the play store as well. Check it out if you like and let me now what you think. + +Finally I'd like to give a big shout out to our colleagues at [Haufe-Lexware](http://haufe-lexware.com) and to our +agency [Wissenswerft](http://wissenswerft.net) for the great teamwork and flexibility! + + + + +