From 2020 - 2021, I've been designing new concepts and experiences at OLG Innovation Lab. Among all, "Group Play" - designing the best digital solution for people playing lottery as a group - is the most important project that I've worked on. In 2021, the solution successfully got green-lighted by the OLG board and as the Design Lead, I have been working with cross-functional teams, owners, and stakeholders to deliver it.
Why Lottery Lab? Lottery has an aging and declining customer base. Our lab aims to design new, digital, innovative concepts which will appeal to U35s (under 35 players), casual players (who sometimes play), and non-players (who don't play but not against it) to bring in new, young customers for OLG.
Our Projects? Imagine a digital treasure hunt; a party bingo game that's in a box; a golden ticket (yes, inspired by THAT chocolate factory) that you can reveal with AR and win you 1 million... Through rapid product design iterations, we conceptualize, visualize and evaluate our concepts with customers, and deliver those that has a great market potential.
1. I don't play lottery. That means, I knew absolutely NOTHING about lottery industry when I joined OLG - Scrach cards? LottoMax? Prize Centre? They're all are new terms to me. I started by taking in (a lot). ✏️
Result: after my rapid learning of lottery (which I enjoyed!), now you may AMA about any Ontario lottery products, How it Works, processes; and I know fair a bit about lottery industry around the globe.
2. Group Play project kicked off during my second week. This made my learning curve a bit more steeper; but I actively communicated to other product owners and stakeholders, seek help when needed. Appreciate their support!
Result: I was able to co-lead the Group Play project with Clark Chen since my second week, and I started to lead it alone after 8 months and speak to this project as the UX lead (Clark was assigned to other projects).
3. Group Play was such a big, revolutionary project. Group Play project had over 100 stakeholders - design team, game owners, development team, legal team, data team, board members... It was the most shining project going on. To balance their needs, concerns, and interests, numerous interviews, field trips, and meetings were held... and I only had 2 years of experience. 😅
Result: We successfully held a hackathon across the company. Project was successfully green-lighted & stakeholders were all aligned.
4. We were doing innovation in a government company. The environment is just not ready - no ops, no templates, no how-to playbooks, no agile work method, no dedicated tools, and not even the mental of supporting UX and innovation from our stakeholders.
Result: Along with this project, we initiated to evangelize innovation and agile work method. OLG is now transitioning.
Check this Group Play & Guest Checkout presentation to see my work! 😄
Thank you for reading!