Designing Boater Advocacy: A Lean UX Mobile App Project to Increase Emergency Response Accountability

Abstract

Based on an ongoing UX research project into the development of a grant-funded mobile safety application for recreational boaters, this paper details a workflow for aligning user advocacy with organizational accountability. Essentially, boating safety regulations have not been updated since the 1970s due to successful lobbying by boating manufacturers. Meanwhile, numerous boating safety concerns and associated incidents go unreported each year. User research into this context has taught us that recreational boaters most want a mobile application that will help them enjoy their boating trips while remaining safe. State agencies most want to locate boaters who are in distress without having to launch costly, and often ineffective, searches over large areas. Based on a review of best practices from amassed literature, as well as our own analysis of user interviews with 141 stakeholders obtained during an NSF grant devoted to this purpose, we will discuss a Lean UX workflow for mobile application development that balances user goals with organizational accountability.