Local First Software
Developing software for bike messengers brings along some unique challenges. Most obviously: It needs to be fast and reliable.
Local first software as described in a paper by research company Ink & Switch tries to achieve exactly this.
Speed and Reliability
Two out of seven ideals stated in the local first paper by ink & switch match core values of bike messenger companies: speed and reliability. Accepting orders and dispatch is incredibly fast-paced. When creating an order takes mere minutes to fulfill, every little delay is a hindrance.
Even though internet access in western cities, where most or many bike messenger companies operate, is very reliable, delays and outages happen. Due to the design of the internet, applications should accept this as the norm, not an exception.
Collaboration
To be able to fulfill these short delivery timeframes most bike messenger companies rely heavily
on close collaboration.
Agents accept orders from customers and relay them to dispatchers which then relay them to the riders. Experience shows
that this works best if the participants work very closely together.
Modern software should enable not hinder this collaboration.
Security and Privacy
With stronger laws becoming the norm, security and privacy need to be addressed, especially when customers are in health, finance or international travel sectors. Every company needs to assess their handling of private data. Bike messenger companies often have access to very sensitive information from hospitals or medical labs, visa services or just private homes.
The long now
Switching core tools always means a great deal of work, evaluating, configuring, training. Time that is not spent doing actual delivery work. This work needs to be minimized by making software that can be provided long-term and be adapted to changing needs. The best case is, that the software keeps working even if the creating company is no longer in business.