Mall kiosks for driver recruitment.

Uber piloted mall kiosks to recruit drivers from a market that was not going to sign up online: people without smartphones, people who needed a human to walk them through it. Each kiosk had a few reps sharing a single iPad.

Reps were stitching three tools together on one device, in a noisy mall, while a stranger was being asked to type personal information standing up. The iPad had become a wall between the rep and the candidate instead of a bridge.

Field research first. I went to a kiosk and ran the signup myself as a candidate. Most of what I learned was not in any rep's feedback.

Designed for the worst case. Almost no candidates had their documents ready. Every step after name and contact became optional, so a candidate could leave as a qualified lead even with nothing on them.

Offline first. Mall WiFi was losing leads to dropped connections. The app captured and queued locally and synced when it could.

Shipped to the pilot kiosk program. Lead capture increased after the optional-fields change; rep training time dropped.