Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge

I am a Product Manager at a medical healthcare startup in India associated with EHR and  Prescription Printing. When I joined my organization within six months of its’ inception, I was handed  with a challenge of revamping an existing product which was currently not receiving much traction in  the market.

In other words, the challenge was that we had a product which was built solely through the minds of  a software company based on requirements provided to them by the business head. We were trying  to sell a product that had only considered what we thought were the needs of the end  user/customer and never ran a beta phase or dipstick to understand if the product we were  developing is wat the end user/customer wants. Thus, we were facing problems in the adoption of  our product which also led to a huge outflow of capital.

Selection

The tool I have selected is ‘Learning Launch’. In addition to this, we also emphasized the use of  ethnography to understand the needs of our end user/customer. The reason why we used the  ‘Learning Launch’ as a tool is because we planned on having multiple short experiments in the  market with different prototypes of the product. Using this tool would give us relevant insight, if our  design logic and customer journey was appreciated and if it solved the pain point of the end  user/customer.

Application

Initially we set out to understand how doctors go about their daily work. We did this by stationing an  individual to note all the steps the doctor took while he was visited by a patient.

Post this phase, we set out with journey mapping, which gave us a better idea of how to design the  product. We then went ahead created a set of 6-8 wireframe diagrams, which then we filtered down  to 3 through intense discussions with industry experts and some volunteer doctors. We then  converted these three to functional prototypes.

We then provided our first & most preferred prototype to a set of 10 doctors from various  specialities and received their response. Following the feedback, we provided second prototype t the  doctors and received a positive response but with a few additions that they required.

Insight

The insights we received from the exercise taught me that it is always better to understand the  needs and wants of the customer and then run ‘Learning launches’ so as to understand which idea is  the best fit for the customer. Also, we must be open to fine tuning our ideas after we have found the  best fit as we must always strive to provide a product which is above and beyond the customers’  expectations. I have learnt that using design thinking methodologies helps us in increasing  go-to-

market efficiency by providing a product with a possibly high acceptance rating. The micro- experiments also helps in minimising the capital flow that could occur due to any possible downfall  of the product due to an ill-conceived idea.

Approach

Something that I might do differently the next time is to increase the sample size and introduce  more diversity within the testing group to provide a better view of customer needs. I would also look  at gathering more secondary data to supplement the existing ethnographic data that we have  gathered to get a holistic idea of how our end users function and if there remains any hidden,  untapped pain points.

