Role | Volunteer Product & Operations Lead
The Context & The Challenge
Following the October 7th attacks, a national crisis unfolded. Tens of thousands of evacuees were relocated to hotels, disconnected from information and support systems. The official response was overwhelmed, leading to chaos, misinformation, and critical unmet needs.
My Role
1. Discovering the Real Needs (Rapid Field Research)
I didn't start with solutions; I started with people.
Process: My team of volunteers and I spent our first days in hotel lobbies, talking directly to dozens of evacuees. I didn't use surveys understanding the sensitive state people are at during this crisis; I used conversations. I asked, "What do you need right now that you don't have?"
Prioritization: A clear hierarchy of needs quickly emerged: 1) Essential supplies (food, medicine, cloth), 2) Mental and physical health support, and 3) Activities for the community. This insight drove every subsequent decision.
2. Designing the Human-Powered Network
I architected a multi-layered, hub-and-spoke system designed for scalability and trust.
The WhatsApp Network: I created a central WhatsApp group with key stakeholders: hotel managers and "Angels"—trusted community leaders from within the evacuee population who were motivated to help. This central group was my command center. From there, information was streamlined down to the individual community WhatsApp groups that each hotel/leader managed.
The "Angels" - My Distributed Feedback Loop: The "Angels" were my on-the-ground user research team. They had the community's trust, so they could effectively identify granular needs (e.g., "Floor 3 needs baby formula") and report them back to the central hub.
The "Field Guides" - High-Touch Onboarding: I recognized that not everyone, especially under stress, could self-serve from a link. I deployed volunteers as "Field Guides" inside the hotels. Their job was to provide a "grab-by-the-hand" approach, personally walking people through how to use the central landing page and access resources. This addressed the varying levels of digital literacy and user anxiety.
3. Acting as the Central Hub (Information Flow Management)
My primary function was to be the human API at the center of this network, managing the two-way flow of information.
My Workflow (Needs Up): An "Angel" would report a need from their community to the central group. I would then leverage my connections with aid organizations to source and confirm delivery of the required support.
My Workflow (Info Down): When I received verified information or a link to a new resource, I would push it to the "Angels" and managers in the central hub, who would then disseminate it to the thousands of end-users in their respective communities.
Outcome & Human Impact
Became the Primary Support Network for Over 40,000 Evacuees. My system achieved a massive adoption rate, directly serving more than two-thirds of the 60,000 evacuees. It became the de-facto operational backbone for aid delivery in the city.
Achieved Near-100% Request Resolution. The system's efficiency was so high that over 95% of direct requests for aid were met with full support. For the complex remaining 5%, we engineered alternative, sufficient solutions, demonstrating a deep commitment to solving every user's problem, no matter the difficulty.
Became the Central Hub for National Aid Organizations. The network was so effective that I became the primary strategic point of contact for the city council, national hospitals, and major emergency organizations. They came to me for ground-truth data and to coordinate their own aid efforts, solidifying my system as a piece of critical infrastructure.
Earned Public Recognition. The initiative's immense impact was recognized in national news coverage, validating the effectiveness of our grassroots, user-centered, and systems-based approach to crisis management.
Product is the Entire Value Chain, Not Just the App: This crisis taught me that a "product" is not a piece of software, it's the complete system for delivering value. I could have wasted weeks trying to build a perfect app. Instead, I focused on designing the entire system - the human network, the communication protocols, the stakeholder APIs, and the onboarding process. The landing page was the least important part of the product I actually built. This systems-first approach is my core product philosophy.
Simplicity is the Ultimate Scaler in a Crisis: Managing the needs of 40,000 people was only possible because the system I designed was brutally simple and repeatable. A single WhatsApp hub, clear roles for "Angels," and a single source of truth prevented chaos. This taught me a critical lesson for any high-pressure environment: complexity is the enemy. The most robust and scalable systems are often the simplest ones, because they build trust and reduce cognitive load for everyone.
Design for the Most Vulnerable User First: Our near-total adoption rate wasn't an accident. It was the direct result of a conscious decision to design for the least tech-savvy, most stressed-out user. The "Field Guides" were not a nice-to-have; they were the key. By solving the onboarding problem for the most vulnerable, we inadvertently made the system easier and more accessible for everyone. This is the ultimate principle of inclusive design, and it proved to be our most powerful growth strategy.
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Made by Tomer Miara | 2024