Background

John Deere, a global leader in agriculture and manufacturing, continues to evolve its digital solutions to support data-driven decision-making for modern farmers. One of its key innovations is the Harvest Mobile App, a tool designed to deliver real-time data and geospatial insights during field operations.

As farmers increasingly rely on precise and timely information to monitor yield, assess variety performance, and manage planting variability, the Harvest Mobile App plays a crucial role in linking live and historical data to active fieldwork.

Recognizing the growing demand for in-field comparisons, John Deere identified the need for a new Dual Map Display feature that would enable users to visually compare multiple data layers—such as seed variety, population, and yield—simultaneously.

This functionality empowers users to uncover patterns, identify contributing factors, and make more informed decisions during critical phases like planting and harvest.

John Deere single harvest prototype.

Challenge

Operators needed to simultaneously view and compare different map layers in real time. The feature also needed to be technically viable across existing platforms while ensuring intuitive usability.

• Compare live and historical field attributes side-by-side to identify trends and insights

• Enable real-time decision-making with minimal disruption to ongoing operations

• Align product design with user needs, technical constraints, and brand standards

Additional requirements included preserving accessibility to live mapping functions, integrating background data layers (e.g., soil type, elevation), and ensuring compatibility with legacy systems such as 2630, SeedStar Mobile, and Field Analyzer. Preference for side-by-side visual comparison was confirmed through internal validation and competitive analysis of peer tools such as FieldView.

Solution

OneSpring applied its JAM (Joint Application Modeling) methodology to rapidly align stakeholders, generate design concepts, and validate user needs in a compressed three-week engagement.

In the first week, our multidisciplinary team was assembled, including business, IT, UX, and product stakeholders. The team reviewed existing functionality and pain points from previous systems and tools, including Apex and Field Analyzer. A competitive analysis helped establish design standards. Initial use case scenarios were created, and a low-fidelity prototype was developed in preparation for the upcoming collaborative workshop. 

Next, OneSpring facilitated a two-day JAM Session, bringing together core stakeholders to align on design priorities and validate the initial prototype. Rapid iteration resulted in a medium-fidelity prototype focused on side-by-side map comparison, legend clarity, layer switching, and follow-me mode. Discussions addressed key constraints such as zoom synchronization, data source pairing (live/live or live/historical), and map attribute compatibility.

"The JAM Sessions and iterative design process streamlined our product innovation, cutting design time in half while delivering a highly usable, validated prototype."

– Director, Technology

By our final week, the prototype and functional documentation were finalized. User stories, acceptance criteria, annotated screens, and business rules were compiled for handoff. Demo videos were created to communicate the final design to stakeholders beyond the core team, improving buy-in and accelerating organizational awareness.

John Deere dual harvest prototype.

Results

The project yielded a functional prototype, validated across multiple user scenarios, that directly supports field operators in making real-time, data-informed decisions. The documentation also enabled faster engineering collaboration and reduced downstream development risk. The effort produced measurable outcomes in delivery speed, design quality, and stakeholder alignment. 

• 50% reduction in design-to-specification time

• 75% faster validation of complex feature functionality

• Seamless experience for comparing multiple data attributes in the field

• Increased design clarity and development readiness