Shane Murphy: Testing a Bahamas Travel App Idea Before Building the Screens

By Shane Ian Murphy | Global Secure founder commentary

An early product idea does not always need an interactive prototype to become clearer. For an invented Bahamas travel journey, I would begin with paper cards representing the main decisions. The purpose is to examine a proposed Global Secure experience before visual polish makes an incomplete sequence feel finished.

One card might represent choosing a payment source. Another might show a review step. A third could describe a pending outcome. Each card needs enough information for a participant to decide what they would do next. If the facilitator repeatedly has to explain missing details, those explanations are evidence about what the design still needs.

I would introduce an interruption early. The traveller closes the app, changes their mind or loses a connection. Where do they return? Which information is preserved? What tells them whether the earlier action completed? These questions are easier to discuss when changing a card costs very little.

The exercise should include more than the person who already understands the product. An unfamiliar reader can reveal assumptions the team has stopped noticing. Their hesitation is useful. It may show that a label is ambiguous, that a decision arrives too early or that the next step depends on information never supplied.

The record of the session matters more than an enthusiastic reaction. I would note where someone paused, what they believed would happen and what the team intended. Those observations give the next design iteration a concrete purpose. “Make it easier” becomes a specific change to information or sequence.

I would prepare the paper session around one question rather than ask participants whether they like the whole product idea. For example, can a new reader identify the payment source and explain the next step without assistance? That narrow purpose makes observations easier to interpret. It also prevents enthusiasm about the broader concept from concealing a specific problem with the sequence. The exercise should produce evidence about the proposed journey, not a general vote of confidence in the business or its presentation.

The facilitator's role needs discipline. When someone hesitates, it can be tempting to explain the intended answer immediately. Instead, ask what information they are looking for and what they think the available choices mean. Their response can show whether the missing piece concerns wording, order or an unstated assumption. Record the observation before offering help. Otherwise, the team may remember a smooth session even though the participant completed the task only because the facilitator supplied information the product did not contain.

I would create separate cards for unusual outcomes rather than treat them as footnotes. A delayed confirmation, an abandoned action and a changed selection can each alter the person's next decision. The participant should see the information the proposed design would actually provide in that state. Where the team has not yet decided what happens, leave that as an explicit design question. Filling the gap with an improvised answer makes the exercise easier to finish but less useful to learn from afterwards.

After the walkthrough, the team can prioritise changes according to the decisions they affect. A confusing label on the confirmation step may deserve attention before a decorative detail on the opening screen. That prioritisation should come from what was observed, with uncertainty preserved where the session was inconclusive. The paper exercise is a starting point for further design and testing. Its value lies in giving the next iteration a concrete purpose while changes remain inexpensive and easy to discuss with the people involved.

The Bahamas context is hypothetical; the method is a way of making a product discussion practical. Before investing in detailed screens, I want to know whether the journey makes sense in ordinary language. A small, inexpensive walkthrough can reveal which decisions deserve more careful design.

Disclosure: This founder commentary was drafted with AI assistance. Illustrative cover photograph; it does not depict a company project or asset.