Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge    I am a member of my organization’s online procurement department and my/our challenge is to  improve the workflow (activities and projects) within the department in order to increase sales in the  online channel and to spend procurement  budgets on the right campaigns with vendors. The project  scope includes the online procurement  department composed of ten employees, as well as the larger  procurement  department and IT department, with whom we work closely. The project is limited to  internal resources (i.e., budget and employee time). The project should not exceed 30 business days and  the solution should include an even distribution of working hours amongst the team members. We will  focus on trying to uncover what our team members, as well as key stakeholders within the larger  marketing department and IT department, consider to be ineffective or problematic with regard to the  workflow.    Selection    Our team has already gone through several design thinking activities/tools, so we are ready to try the  learning launch tool. Broadly speaking, the learning launch is an experiment meant to quickly test an  idea and prototype.    Application    For our first learning launch, we focused on the structure/execution of our online procurement  tasks. In  particular, we wanted to see if we could structure our tasks, projects, and processes to adapt the  methods of Scrum project management for our work (e.g., time boxed, daily, specific meetings, reviews,  etc.) in an effort to become more agile. This tested our assumption that the structure and execution  were the main causes of our workflow challenge. Our team went through a two-day training with a  Scrum project management coach. Next, we went through five workshops to structure our tasks and  processes in a more agile way. These two sessions occurred within in a three-week timeframe. We  expected to produce a document with a clear description of our new, more agile processes/workflow.    For our second learning launch, we focused on gaining clarity about our tasks and priorities. This tested  our assumption that our prioritization of tasks was the main cause of our workflow challenge. Our team  completed an anonymous survey. Additionally, five key stakeholders from the larger procurement   department and IT department also completed an anonymous survey. The surveys included questions  about our new, proposed process, understanding the process and the prioritization of tasks, and feelings  about the change, and were conducted within a one-week timeframe.    Insight    By applying the learning launch tool, our team identified our assumptions and designed launches to test  these assumptions. Additionally, we thought through anticipated results, expecting to find that a more  agile approach would improve our workflow, and that both our team and the key stakeholders would  be fairly open to the new prioritization of tasks and process. Our actual results were slightly different  from what we anticipated: while our team was open to the prioritization of tasks and process, the key  stakeholders in the larger marketing department and IT department expressed some concerns. Moving  forward, our team will review this insight and incorporate it into future launch designs. The ongoing

incorporation of insight is particularly important at this stage, as launches come before a full rollout in  the design thinking timeline.    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 two launches 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.

