PawCare Solo product build (discovery → prototype)

Role: Solo PM/Designer/Researcher (practice project).

Time: 3–4 weeks. Goal: practice an end-to-end, metrics-first product process.

TL;DR (60-sec)

I practiced a full PM loop by designing PawCare, a pet-health companion (smart collar + app). I ran quant + qual surveys (I directly did that by asking people in street in Châtelet les halles), built personas, empathy maps, journeys, ideated with Crazy-8, prioritized with MoSCoW, then produced IA, wireframes, and high-fidelity mocks. Surveys (n≈100) surfaced clear problems: 44% can’t track their pet’s health outside the vet; 48% visit vets for false alarms. I defined an MVP with clear North Star & guardrails, plus a simple experiment plan to validate habit formation.

1) Problem

Owners lack continuous, trustworthy, easy pet-health feedback; anxiety → unnecessary vet visits.

Survey highlights: 51% dog owners, 37% cats; 44% cannot track health (outside vet); 48% report “false-alarm” vet visits; only 18% feel they fully understand their pet’s health.

Problem statement: How might we give pet owners a low-friction way to see issues early and avoid false alarms, without turning care into work?

2) Users & JTBD (from research)

• Léa (anxious first-time owner): When my dog behaves oddly, I want a simple “all-good / check this” signal so I know whether to act.
• Julie (busy caretaker): When I’m juggling work and family, I want auto-tracking + reminders so my pet’s basics don’t slip.

Artifacts produced: personas, empathy maps, and before/after user journeys (you show rising sentiment post-solution).

3) MVP (solution snapshot)

Core loop: Sense (collar) → Signal (app) → Simple action

• Must-have (MoSCoW): health dashboard (activity/sleep/HR), vital & anomaly alerts, basic trends, lightweight verification, clear language.
• Should-have: urgent-vet contact, GPS, health reminders, monthly report.