Design Thinking for the Business Innovation – Edson Barbosa

1. Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.

My challenge as a consultant in my first experience, is help companies to develop costum- ers and to growth in a sustainable way your business model, creating value through the  new capabilities from employees, collaborative and iterative way. Due of this, I searched  for the last two year for the more modern techniques, methodologies and concepts involv- ing innovation, design, strategy, entrepreneurship, etc., like Business Model Canvas, Value  Proposition Canvas, Customer Development, Jobs to Be Done and Lean Startup. All these  knowledges are deeply guided by fast testing and experimentation, to really build, measure  and learn, with solid based evidence (and not only opinions) the understanding the really  matters for the costumers, and, in this sense, for the unique creation of value, both for  people and for the organization.

2. Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g., what it is and

why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture refer- ences).

A learning launch is a scientific method designed to test, experiment and prototype busi- ness ideas, avoiding the risks of invest a lot of money and waste time on unverified hypoth- eses in the market. In a very similar way to the concept of Lean Startup, by Eric Ries, where  the main objective is a validated learning, the main purpose of the Learning Launch method  is to obtain is to learning, but heavily on the design entrepreneurial lens. In this context,  because I already believe and practice the processes and principles of Lean Startup, it was  easy to choose this methodology, with the belief and the objective of adding even more  knowledge to my consultancy.

Lean Startup:

http://martin.com/app/tags/searchregister.php

Learning Launch:

https://ideas.darden.virginia.edu/the-learning-launch-how-to-grow-your-business-with- the-scientific-method

3. Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g., what

you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively).

For my consulting, I developed a Business Design approach based on "learning by doing".  In collaborative and iterative workshops, people learn while developing new customer-cen- tric business ideas. For that, it is necessary that many ideas, hypotheses and value propo- sitions emerge, and that can be tested, quickly and cheaply. Bringing evidence and infor- mation that allows learning and progressing in the deep knowledge of the target customer  segment, innovating, improving or creating a new business model.

First, the consultancy starts following these steps (inspired in concepts and tools by Strat- egyzer© co-founded by Alexander Osterwalder) below:

After the initial three steps (where the existing business context is mapped) when the pro- cess enters the Test Tools, I linked and crossed the work with the Learning Launch, where  we have the following stages:

Key Stage 1 – Immerse yourself in the data you’ve got, looking for patterns and possibil- ities:

In this stage, the team observe and analyze all data, beginning with a far view of the Busi- ness Model Environment and approximating the zoom in passing initially by the Business  Model until the clear and crystal view by the Value Proposition.

The focus on this moment is to find patterns and possibilities of innovation in all in the 09  building blocks of your business model, adapted by the 04 key forces that affect and influ- ence how the company create, delivery and capture value.

Key Stage 2 – Generate a new business idea — an educated guess about an opportunity  you see.

At this moment, using the Value Proposition Canvas mapped, and others information col- lected about the high value jobs, the team rank the hypothesis based in order of im- portance and relevance for the customers pains and gains. After this, the team starts to  design thinking and creating the new business ideas based in all evidence that what really  matters to the customers.

Key Stage 3 – Articulate the assumptions on which the new business idea’s success is  based.

However, until this last stage, all ideas are still only guesses. Therefore, the team now seeks  to understand the critical elements that turn new ideas into risks and uncertainties. That  is, the objective is learn about the context inserted, separating that really matters for the  success unknown.

Key Stage 4 – Design and conduct a learning launch to test assumptions.

Now, in a synthetic way, experimentation and prototyping begins. Based on small tests,  which allow you to go through the validated learning cycle (build, measure and learn) by  finding the minimum viable product (MVP).

Key Stage 5 – Revise or kill the idea based on your findings.

Based on the outcome of tests, the team iteratively continue to pursue the new idea, re- fining and improving it as you go, or kill it if results suggest it. The concept of pivot devel- oped by Eric Ries on the Customer Development by Steve Blank, enter in scene.

Key Stage 6 – Scale the business idea when appropriate.

At this stage, using the method Customer Development by Steve Blank, after the Customer  Delivery and Customer Validation are successful, the efforts shift the focus from learning  to accelerate growth of the company, scaling the business idea.

4. Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your chal-

lenge (e.g., how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design  thinking more broadly).

Blending all these concepts and methodologies with the "Learning Launch" method, I de- veloped a powerful approach to Business Design and Design Thinking. Fundamentally, the  best insight that I gained applying this tool on this way is the confirmation how the learning

can be so strong, evidenced based, to developing sustainable in the business ideas innova- tions. As I read once, the Design Thinking is the glue of all knowledges. Certainly, no defini- tion can fit better in this project.

5. Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool

you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s) why.

Next time, I will apply the same tool, but I want to insert the innovation metrics. This can  avoid vanity metrics influence in the project development and bring a better management  along the testing.

