Mentoring overview, mentoring empathy map, competitor user reviews, competitor app study, and user journey map
Discovery
2.
Research
During my discovery phase I first explored an overview of mentoring in general, apart from an app. I asked a variety of people about their experiences and turned them into an empathy map.
Then I looked at competitors' apps and their user reviews. Lastly I had two volunteer testers download a mentoring app of their choice and I mapped their journey.
Mentoring overview
Mentoring seems to be widely seen as a powerful tool in personal and professional growth. For example I saw a lot of statistics about high school students with mentors engaging in less risk-taking behavior and entering into college at higher rates.
Common challenges that came up:
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Not connecting interpersonally
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Failing to find overlapping time slots
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Having a transactional experience
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Feeling uncomfortable asking for help
Best practices that were noted:
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Employing empathy & active listening
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Focusing on actionable guidance
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Engaging with a growth mindset
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Modeling flexibility
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Identifying hopes, fears, and goals
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Having a formal but flexible meeting rhythm
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Establishing clear expectations
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Pairing folks from similar industries or with similar interests
Mentoring empathy map
First, I fleshed out an empathy map by polling friends and family about their mentoring experiences, both as mentors and mentees. I then organized their comments into things they say, think, do, and feel. Lastly I distilled their ideas into pain points and hopes.
Say
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Where do people find mentors?
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Do I need to already be a mentee to use this?
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Does this app vet the mentors?
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Why do they need a photo of me?
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I want to meet Carolyn Guerrero!
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Learning about your mentee and asking them about their priorities every time you meet is key
Think
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Do other people need mentors?
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Will mentoring really make a difference?
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Am I too busy for this?
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What if I don't like the person I'm matched with?
Do
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Asked about mentoring on their social media channels
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Volunteer with an organization
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Developed the knowledge or expertise necessary to be a mentor in that particular area
Feel
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I felt worried that I didn't have enough experience/expertise to offer
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Am I being overly needy?
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Am I good at what I do?
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Will I be liked?
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This could be a cool mentor
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Hope, anticipation, reduction of frustration
Pain points and hopes
Pain points
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Lack of guidance from the mentor program
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I thought my mentees would have a better idea what they wanted from me as a mentor than they did
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Having to admit how much you don’t know
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When it turns out they’re not willing to listen
Hopes
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This is an opportunity for growth not just for the mentee but the mentor as well!
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The absolute joy in seeing them grow and I hope that they will someday surpass you and then pass it on to others.
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Get the support I need
Competitors
Almost all of the apps I looked at either focused on professional or academic mentoring. The majority of existing mentor apps appear to be limited to organizations that subscribe to them. The remaining apps had relatively negative customer reviews.
Competitor reviews
Here's a sample of some of the user reviews I came across
Catalin Rapeanu
March 14, 2020
Brilliant idea but the app is horrible to use. Will try again in a few years when the app is working.
jelena stajic
March 23, 2019
A good idea, awful execution. The user experience is confusing. It's not really clear what a user is supposed to do after signing up. On top of that the design is outdated and cluttered with useless UI elements.
Obrad Kostic
June 2, 2019
I just downloaded the app, but i can see there is no option for classifying as just a high school student. I can understand why, but I would like to find help from mentors too, without having to explain to them that i'm actually not from some random university that i picked.
Competitor app study
I convinced two friends to choose and download a mentor app and report on the experience
MentorMe
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I chose because it was the first one that actually seemed to be clear about its function in its name
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I signed up easily without requiring an email
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It prompted me to select my interests from a very narrow list... the three that I chose were peripheral because none of the options were actually close to my interests
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When I was offered the list to pair with mentees, the closest in matching interests was 60% and the furthest was 40%- whatever that means
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I was not able to see any information about any of the people at all unless I wanted to connect with them
Mentor
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It seemed to be obvious about what it was. It was not.
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When I went to sign up it sent me an email confirmation and the link worked directly
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I was asked to pick interest areas, but from an extremely limited set of business terms
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I was sent to a "begin conversation" screen with a woman's thumbnail in a bubble. There was no explanation about what the conversation would be about.
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I went to the listings and found that I was in the "agile" group- no idea what that meant
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I found some modules that seemed to explain what I was supposed to do, but nothing made sense to me except that it seemed to be made for a specific company or curriculum
User journey map
I took the comments and synthesized them to map out an experience with a competitor app
