Example Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge:

I’m leading the digital transformation program within operating facilities. Digital transformation

introduces distributive technologies that are usually challenged and resisted. This is contributed to the  fact that digital transformation has an impact on the roles, responsibilities and might require  organizational restructuring that may result in eliminating some jobs (e.g., use of robotics to manage  warehouses instead of human operator) and creating new ones (e.g., robotic engineers). The resistance  can be contributed to the uncertainties associated with the proposed changes, difficulty of un-training  and re-training individuals on new jobs, lack of career paths and advancements in newly created roles.  This contributes to the lack of interest in joining the new roles, or lack of the training programs itself.  Studies reveals though, that there is resistance in deploying these technologies from operating facilities  personnel (especially middle managers) who like to keep control of the data access and avoid reports that  could magnify issues and inefficiency within operations.  In other words, organizational and behavioral  issues are usually the barriers that limits the realization of the full digital transformational benefits.  Implementation of technologies without securing the adoption and utilization of these technologies (i.e.,  doing things in a more efficient and innovative way), is a wasted effort. Adoption and change management  are among the most difficult challenges preventing the benefits of the digital transformation

Selection:

Several design thinking and fair practices have been used throughout the journey of digital  transformation. Thus, Learning Launch was selected as a tool to evaluate the hypothesis and  assumptions of the best change management approach, select what the light bulbs that work, tweak  assumptions and trash what didn’t work as detailed in the Learning Launch Tool video by Thomas Rion.

Application:

The hypothesis followed was that the “fair practice” of involving the end users in the design and  implementation of the digital transformation projects improves the adoption management level. The  design of the Learning Launch is as follows:

Learning Launch Design  Key Assumptions to Test  Learning Launch#1

Value Test: to evaluate the best change  management approach by examining the  expected value of the digital transformation form  the end user’s perspectives and evaluate if they  are willing to use it. The involvement of end users  increases the level of adoption.  Execution Test: selecting a unit within a site to  pilot and evaluate what works and what didn’t  work before proceeding with the  implementation. This includes checking if the co- development is to be followed or just the fair  practice of keeping people involved in the design

Who: end users and middle managers  Where: operating facilities  How: conducting ethnographic interviews,  brainstorming sessions, seeking feedback, co- creation  Cost: $100K  Time: 3 months

phase. This is used as a prototype and the result  is used for scaling up.  Scale Test: scaling up the implementation to the  whole site after selecting what works (fair- practice), tweaking the assumption and pivoting  what didn’t work (co-development).

Insight

The learning launch tool helps in testing the hypothesis by facilitating the involvement of the end-users  or customers, that helped in prioritizing the assumptions followed by the team of evaluating the  effectiveness of co-development and fair practices. The test resulted in selecting the “fair practice” or  involving the end users in the design process (not the development) as the best approach to increase  the adoption level. As the demography of the end users and middle managers are almost the same  across all operating facilities, the team elected to stop testing, adjusting the assumption to focus on the  involvement and then scaling up the approach accordingly. This insight helps in focusing the team’s  effort and adjusting accordingly. It also helps addressing the challenge of adoption management by  increasing the level of awareness and thus acceptance from end users.

Approach

Different tools have been used in the design thinking process, including mind mapping, brainstorming,  etc. and the Launch Learn was found to be the best fit for the adoption management process. The  comprehensive component of the Learning Launch including stating the hypothesis, stating the key  assumptions, map it to the customers’ needs, defend it, prioritize and select the most appropriate tools  have helped in focusing the team’s effort. The confirmed data that the “fair practice” was a better  approach and assumption than the co-development was an insight that helped in catering future  launches to focus continuing the development of digital transformation using “fair practice” rather than  co-development.

