How a New Feature Took Flight in 96 Hours

Back when we launched the new Goosechase Studio in October, it wasn’t just a facelift (though the updated design was pretty sweet if we do say so ourselves…) - under the hood, we had also made extensive changes to the foundations of the Goosechase platform to set our creators up for success for years to come. Since I joined the flock, one of the biggest frustrations I would encounter was that our old infrastructure was not allowing us to grow and serve our customers’ needs as they evolved - it was actively holding us back.

Well, the last few days helped us demonstrate just how much things have changed, as we were able to take some customer feedback on a Thursday, prototype a feature in response by the end of the day, and test it over the weekend, before releasing it to creators on a Monday!

Thursday 27th March, 11:56 AM Eastern

Theresa, one of our fantastic Account Managers, passed on this piece of feedback to the Product Development team from one of our Ambassadors. This one caught my eye, as I suspected our new platform would make it straightforward to make this change:

I check our database of customer feedback (a Lesson from the Chase for another day!) and see that there are a couple of other creators who have felt our 50m radius is too limiting, especially where they are doing outdoor tours in a location like a zoo or forest preserves, where the GPS signals are good, but the locations of each Mission are closer than 50m apart. Hmmm, maybe we can do something about this!

Thursday 27th March, 1:20 PM

I ask the question of our web team and got an immediate response (thanks, Radu!):

A one line change! Amazing - I can change one line. Even I can’t screw that up, right?

Thursday 27th March, 1:53 PM

Ok, it was a two line change. You live and learn.

Thursday 27th March, 1:56 PM

We have a prototype ready to play with in our testing environment!

I decided to add 25m and 10m options to the list - I agreed with Radu that 5m would be too small - phones don’t tend to have that accurate a GPS signal, especially in built-up areas (iPhones and Airpods are located with a combination of other signals). I suspected that 25m would be ok, but 10m might be a little finicky. I set up a test experience for myself to check in at a few locations near my house over the weekend and see how accurate it was.

Friday 28th March - Sunday 30th March

As I initially suspected, the 25m radius option was fine, especially in outdoor locations. Around taller buildings and without good line of sight to the GPS satellites above us, it might be a little bit unreliable, but not that much more so than a 50m radius. 10m, on the other hand, was frustrating - even in locations that were outdoors, my phone would take 20-30 seconds for the little blue dot to find an accurate position on the map. Sometimes I’d have to restart the Mission check-in to try and get a new location within the accepted radius. I could already imagine our Customer Success folks giving me the third degree if we decided to ship the 10m option - like a flock of angry geese, but angrier.

Monday 31st March, 4:31 AM (look, I’m in a different timezone)

I remove the 10m radius option from the prototype and let our team know that the 25m option is ready to launch.

Monday 31st March, 9:54 AM

The 25m radius option is live and ready for our customers to use! A great way to start the week and sneak another feature out the door to make at least a few creators very happy 😃

What is Goosechase?

At Goosechase, experience is everything. Originally inspired by scavenger hunts, Goosechase is an online platform that enables organizations and schools to engage, activate, and educate their communities through delightful interactive experiences. Sign up and try creating a free recreational Experience, or check out our Pricing!