Trades businesses do not spend their days sitting behind desks. Their work happens on site, in vehicles, at suppliers and wherever the next job takes them. My Apprentice was built for the phone from the beginning, rather than treating mobile as a smaller version of a desktop system. The tools people need most are kept close at hand and designed to work quickly when there is real work to get back to.
01 · Building the platform
Principles that had to hold true.
For us, calling something a core principle means it must hold true when the product is released. Naturally, some time passed between the conception of My Apprentice and its first release, but that time allowed us to build the foundations properly.
When approaching the design of My Apprentice, we landed on three core principles that would drive the build. The app had to be:
A platform for trades cannot become useless the moment reception drops out. My Apprentice is designed to keep working through patchy coverage, remote sites and areas where a reliable connection simply is not available. Users can continue working with confidence, knowing the platform will safely bring everything back together once they reconnect.
No two trades businesses operate in exactly the same way. Instead of forcing every user into one rigid process, My Apprentice can be configured at the feature level to suit the way each business actually works. Businesses can use what is useful to them, leave out what is not and shape the platform around their operation rather than reshaping their operation around the software.
02 · Engaging with the community
Built with the people doing the work.
My Apprentice is not being built towards a fixed idea of what the platform should eventually become. Its future is being shaped alongside the tradespeople and businesses using it every day. As that community grows, so does our understanding of the problems worth solving, the features worth improving and the opportunities that could make the increasing administrative complexities of working in the trades simpler. Whether someone has been using the platform since inception or has only just heard about it, we want them to have a voice in where it goes next.
The number one lesson we have learned from managing My Apprentice and supporting its users is that a platform’s true purpose can only be realised through direct engagement with the people using it to perform real work. Every time we meet one of our users on site, at their warehouse or simply over a coffee, we gain a fresh perspective on how My Apprentice is helping them run their business and how it could be better.
Those conversations feed directly into the platform. Sometimes they uncover a small frustration we can remove. Sometimes they reveal an entirely new way My Apprentice could help. Either way, the people using the platform are not simply customers - they are active participants in its evolution.
Have your say
Help shape what comes next.
Have feedback for My Apprentice or considering how you could use it in your business? Reach out to Marcus or Cam for a chat.
Download My Apprentice from the App Store today and try the demo in two taps, no email sign up or credit card needed.