Reflection – Learning Launch Tool

Challenge   I work for a medical supplies agencies that was recently chosen by Ministry  of Health to distribute its medicines and medical supplies the Arid and Semi  – Arid counties in Kenya. Our challenge was to introduce this new drugs and  surgical equipment’s into an area full of people who still practice the old  traditional surgical methods and even the mid wives are still using the  traditional methods to help expectant mothers deliver their babies  The scope of this assignment involved working with the health facilities in  these areas and sensitizing the locals who are sparsely located because of the  geographical terrain of the region. The solution included intense offering  trainings and stipends to encourage the women to use the health facilities  during giving birth. This in a way would help reduce the infant mortality  rate in these areas.     Selection   We have already gone through the design thinking process and we at the  experimentation stage. Our aim was to learn as we move on with the  process, allow ourselves to learn from mistakes that we were to encounter,  if any, make the testing cheap and fast. Our focus was on what we did not  know and how to learn what we did not know.     Application   1. Market penetration – our first learning launch focus was to train the mid  wives and the community health workers who are already in these areas. we  sought to increase the number of Community health workers and also equip  them with medical equipment’s which they can use in their day to day  visitation to various homes in these areas.     2. Channels of distribution – our second learning launch focus was to reduce  the minimum terms and conditions for the parties involved in the  distribution channel. This would test our assumption that more stringent  rules would reduce network coverage in the region.     3. Intense marketing – our third learning launch focus was to intensely  market our products through the same community health workers so as to

increase awareness of the new medical methods that have been introduced  to help the region.     Insight   By applying the learning launch tool, our team identified our assumptions  and designed launches to test these assumptions. From our client journey  mapping insights, from both the end users and parties involved in the  distribution channel, our actual results were slightly different from our  expected results.     1. The health facilities required that the supplies company provide them with  refrigerators for various reasons:

 The region is very hot, therefore, most of the drugs in these area

could get spoilt due to the harsh climatic conditions

2. We also took concern of the frequency of distribution in the region  because of the distance from the manufacturing plant, geographical terrain  and security issues.   3. Our key stakeholders emphasized that reduced prices, did not  automatically result into

increased sales and market share. We therefore needed to reconsider the  cost of production or find ourselves in the struggling position.   5. The stakeholders view was that we needed to revise the terms and  conditions for the distributors to create a more trusted channel. They are in  the opinion that, to have a credible and trusted channel, it is important to  introduce exhaustive measures.     Moving forward, our team will review these insights and incorporate them  into future launch designs. Our major insight is the learning and  improvement in our future launches.   Approach   Given that our team has already gone through several design thinking  activities tools and are at this stage in the timeline, the learning launch is the  appropriate tool. As previously mentioned, our team needs to review the  insight gained from our first launch and incorporate this insight into future  launch designs. Future launch designs should reflect insight gained, progress  made, and come closer to a compelling solution ready for full rollout.

