Carbon Software Strategy

Designing Carbon Software Around Grower Behavior Change

How I helped reframe Indigo's carbon software strategy around trust, seasonal decision-making, and the real stages of practice adoption.

Role
Project Strategy Lead
Context
Cross-functional research
and strategy initiative
Scope
Grower research,
behavior-change framing, strategy
Output
Three-phase research insights
and product strategy frameworks
Executive Summary

Indigo's carbon business depended on growers adopting genuinely hard new practices. But the product was designed around enrollment and data collection — not the behavioral journey that actually determined whether growers said yes. Across three phases of research, I synthesized qualitative findings from 120+ growers, agronomists, and internal stakeholders into a practical strategic framework for how Indigo's carbon software should be designed.

120+
growers, agronomists, and cross-functional stakeholders synthesized across three phases of research
3 journeys
annual farm cycle, carbon farming, and carbon program layered into one unified strategic model
Foundation
directly informed the platform redesign and grower experience work that followed across subsequent initiatives
Innovator, middle adopter, and resistor grower framework
01 — Frameworks

The strategic outputs from three phases of research.

Head Heart Gut motivation framework

Head / Heart / Gut motivation framework

At each adoption stage, growers are driven by different primary motivations. Rational logic, emotional friction and trust, and identity and confidence each dominate at different points — and the same message lands differently depending on where a grower is in their journey.

Three journeys framework overlay

Three interacting journeys

Carbon software had to fit into three layered journeys — the grower's annual farm cycle, the carbon farming journey, and the carbon program journey. Together these defined when growers are open to learning, when they need planning support, and when they need proof of progress.

Software opportunity map across the annual grower cycle

Seasonal software opportunity map

Each phase of the grower's year calls for a different kind of support. This map identified specific software opportunity clusters per phase — a repeatable lens for evaluating product concepts against real grower needs and seasonal timing.

02 — Research Foundation

Three phases of qualitative research building toward a unified product strategy.

This strategy was grounded in a substantial base of research conducted over roughly a year — synthesizing grower interviews, field ride-alongs, cross-functional internal interviews, and prior Carbon team efforts across Grower Insights 1.0, Grower Insights 2.0, and the Carbon Software Strategy initiative.

Three research phases diagram
03 — The Challenge

Growers weren't approaching carbon as a software workflow — they were evaluating it through risk, identity, and whether it fit their farm.

Trust Relevance Confidence Seasonal timing
Grower challenge and barrier landscape
04 — The Insight
Growers don't adopt new practices because they were shown a feature or offered a payment. They adopt when they have enough trust, relevance, and confidence to believe a new path is both worthwhile and survivable.

That reframed the product question from "how do we get growers through enrollment?" to "what does software need to provide at each stage to help a grower move forward?" At different points, different things matter — early on, emotional friction dominates; later, planning support and confidence matter more than information.

05 — The Solution

Three interacting journeys, mapped to when growers actually need each kind of support.

Rather than treating carbon software as a single product for form-filling and record submission, the strategy framed it as a system of supports that had to fit the grower's real annual cycle. The framework mapped six phases — Learn, Plan, Prep, Execute, Monitor, Wrap Up — and layered the Carbon Farming and Carbon Program journeys on top, defining the what and the when of product thinking across the full grower year.

Three journeys layered framework
06 — My Contribution

What I owned.

Research planning and synthesis across 120+ growers, agronomists, and cross-functional stakeholders
Motivation layer analysis across Head, Heart, and Gut dimensions
Behavior-change framework and adoption journey modeling
Three-journeys framework integrating Annual, Carbon Farming, and Carbon Program journeys
Translation of research findings into product strategy and opportunity mapping
Grower archetype development and barrier mapping
Per-phase software opportunity identification across the grower's annual cycle
Cross-functional alignment and direct influence on product roadmap prioritization