Assignment

Cost-o-vation in the Administration activities:

Innovation that gives your Customers exactly what they want and nothing more. Laptop instead  of Desk top.

Example Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge

I am a member of my organization’s Procurement team and our Innovation team has challenged  each member of the Organization for Cost-o-vation in the Administrative activities.

Cost-o-vation is the Innovation that gives our internal customers exactly what they want and noth- ing more.

Our Administration currently provides a Desk Top Computers to each employee. The current  challenges of the Pandemic have made it imperative for employees to work from home.

The challenge is to introduce Lap Top use by employees in place the current Desk Top to increase  the efficiency.

Will focus on trying to uncover what the internal customer considers exactly what they want.

Selection

Having gone through several design thinking, I am ready to try learning launch tool. The learn- ing Launch is a tool to quickly test an idea.

Application

In the first phase of design thinking process, I took a look at the current reality ie “What is”. In  doing so, I amassed data on the current situation. I wanted to see if I could influence an idea  which could give our internal customers exactly what they want and nothing more.

The first thing I needed was a hypothesis. I had got an idea, to relate to our internal customers that  had this specific problem. They got a pain, a customer pain that I am going to try and solve. That's  what I think. So, the hypothesis is, offering Lap Tops to Employees. My idea meets that need better  than the current alternatives because, Desk Tops are not suitable for Work from Home

For this I contacted some employees and got their view of the alternates that they considered as  the best solution, with a short survey.

For the second learning launch I focused on gaining clarity about their view as to what amount  they considered appropriate as compensation should the Organization decide that a onetime  payment be made for the employees to buy their own Laptops, that they could  use for Official  work, with a short survey.

The process involved coming up with, what are my key customer execution and defensibility assump- tions. Learning launches involve figuring out what customer need is so burning that someone is going  to buy your answer to that need. Most learning launches involve getting out there and talking to cus- tomers, very, very quickly.         The purpose of a learning launch is to get the truth and then the truth either confirms or dis-confirms  the assumptions.    The truth is so important because in most cases the truth saves money or creates value for money.   It must be true for me to have this urgent need to solve this problem.     Why will the idea, under what circumstances will the idea be a bad idea? Why will someone not buy  this solution? And I make a list of this, of disconfirming facts. I search for them either in conversation. I  walk in the shoes of the potential customer ie., the employees of the Organization.  People with different mindsets bring different knowledge to the process.

If few of us are a team, and we go out, and we see and observe something, we will see something  different. My cognitive processes will prevent me from seeing things which I don't believe or know and  so is applicable for others.  A small, diverse is adequate So we'll all see different things, and   therefore, we've got to share and collaborate.

My favorite person on the team is a skeptic. Skeptic is important to protect from confirmation bias.    There was this situation as how many customers, potential customers do we need to talk to? For the  activity it was decided to divide the stakeholders into group of 5-6 participants each representing a  different area of interest. Each group receives a poster-size copy that they can write on directly or  use sticky notes to make comments. I give them two-three questions to answer. The learning  launch is a success when they get several persons to say what the assumption were true. The ques- tions were open ended such as: 1) What key elements are missing in the current scheme of things?  2) What change is required to improve the situation? 3) What key insights do you have of the solu- tion. I give 20 minutes to each to discuss the questions. We thus begin a conversation

Insight    As each group report out, I record the commonalities in the insights of each group I create a view  that combines the shared and new insights. The more valuable aspect of the activity is the shared  insights and shared learning that occurs while working to define the problem.

Approach    If the assumptions we go out and gather facts, they're more likely to be true or more likely to be true.  If my idea is not suitable, which means I change my idea, amend it and keep going. Or put the idea in  a trash can, while it's not a real trash can, it's a make believe because I put it on the shelf, because  later it may be valuable.

A learning launch is not a failure so long as we learn something. Ideas are like sand on the beach:  plentiful. There will always be more ideas. If a learning launch doesn't work, so long as we are learn- ing, it's not a failure, it's not a mistake.     I put my idea into hypothesis, figuring out our key assumptions.   Customer, execution, design the test, do the test, confirming data we continue development. Discon- firming, I would pivot or put it on the shelf. How long's it going to take and what it's going to cost? Learn- ing launches can be quickly and cheaply implemented.

I discovered that the most valuable aspect is the shared insights and learning, next time I would  use the visualization activity as a starting point for a series of design thinking activities.

