RELIANCE JIO
WHO THEY ARE
Jio launched commercially in 2016 and permanently reset the price of mobile data in India. In 2014 none of that existed yet; there was a network being tested in public and an audience who had never seen it.
This was the first WiFi Jio deployed. The 4G product everyone remembers came later.
THE BRIEF
Staff the trial deployments — get people connected, troubleshoot what went wrong, and explain a product nobody had used before.
WHAT I DID
Worked as testing and front-desk crew for the trial runs at the Metropolis conference and other venues.
Helped people connect, troubleshoot and understand a genuinely new product — which meant translating an unfamiliar technology into instructions someone could follow standing in a queue.
A trial deployment is a live usability test. Every question asked at that desk is a signal about what the product does not yet explain about itself.
THE THINKING
Stand where the product meets the person
A front desk at a trial is the shortest path between what was built and whether it works for someone who has never seen it.
Explain, do not demonstrate
People had to connect their own devices. The job was making the steps sayable, not doing it for them.
Treat every question as data
Repeat troubleshooting questions are the product telling you where it is unclear.