DESIGN THINKING ASSIGNMENT submitted by Rehab Mariam

Example Reflection– Learning Launch

Challenge

I am an avid tech enthusiast always looking for new ways to make life better and easier. Having worked  in the tech space for over 5 years and offering turnkey solution from different OEMS to different  customers including leading hotel chains. Throughout my discussions with one of the leading coffee  chains I discovered we had a common problem which was inclusivity and by this I mean making it  possible for disabled people, deaf and dumb to be precise to dine in and still feel welcome naturally. Our  challenge now is to have the right tools and process either through people or technology or combination  of both in place. The project will involve having one branch of the coffee chain with around 10  employees this includes wait staff as well as the branch manager get trained on sign language as well as  a new system/tool geared towards taking orders more efficient, this will essentially take 30 days as we  try to incorporate actual walk in customers who are already skilled in sign language to mimic the  anticipated scenario. Imagine a situation where the wait staff are not trained on sign language with no  access to paper or pen for communication between a solo deaf and dumb diner and the wait staff. In the  process we will work towards uncovering what the stakeholders in this case the waiters, branch  managers and customer believe are barriers to success of this pilot.

For this experiment we shall call the deaf and dumb as D&D.

Some of our assumptions are

1. The deaf and dumb do want to be included in social functions  2. The wait staff will adapt to this clientele requirements from order taking to having extras

substituted to issuing complaints.

Selection

Our combined team from the restaurant branch and my tech resources have gone through the different  design thinking tools and settled on using the learning launch to test our assumptions and hypothesis for  inclusivity. We shall pilot both the sign language and tech systems- the ordering app simultaneously.

Application

For our first leaning launch we had the branch and my tech staff trained on sign language for 7 days as  there was no need to get trained on use of the ordering app that would enable the D&D make orders  should it prove difficult to communicate in sign language. Next was to have 10 trained sign language  individuals come in with 5 D&D friends of theirs to try out the new learning launch.

The idea is to have the 15 individuals come in at the same time where the sitting arrangements would  be 2 sign language experts seated with 1 D&D. The waiters would then be tasked with delivering quality  service per table for this focus groups. At the onset the wait staff will try to identify which of the guests  is D&D by greeting the guests in sign language and directing them to their tables whilst also offering the  booklet menu. The guests will be asked to make there orders in sign language by the waiters for the  complicated ones the order taking app will be used where the D&D can type in their meal option as well

as ask for invoices and extras comfortably should they at one point in time dine in the restaurant un  accompanied by a sign language expert.

These sessions went on for 3 weeks with weekly shifts between accompanied D&Ds as well as solo D&D  clients. Our tech team were in the background customizing the ordering app based on the feedback  from the weekly sessions where the sign language experts would give their feedback on how to make  the whole process from the moment a customer walks in to the point they get handed their bill. This  tested our assumption that D&D clients want to be included in social functions, but everyone has to play  their part either through learning sign language or using technology. We also incorporated surveys for  the clients which included questions about our new dining experience, improvements they would like to  see as well as whether they would return to the restaurant, these were conducted on a weekly basis.

Insight

Based on the rate of repeat customers from the D&D group it was evident that communication is a  barrier and needs to be fixed in all scenarios and in this instance using the ordering app made it  seamless such that the waiters still had time to perfect their  sign language skills while the D&D clients  didn’t feel pressured to express themselves and could still enjoy social interactions. Courtesy of this  learning launch we managed to test out 2 earlier assumptions. We even got better data quality and  more stakeholder buy in where in this case the stakeholders were the restaurant management as well as  clients from the D&D group. The data quality from the surveys on customer and wait staff feedback  enabled my tech company improve the ordering app user experience to include digitized menus  available once a customer logs on to the restaurant wifi. This info proved useful for roll out across he  entire restaurant chain.

Approach

Since the teams are conversant with the launch tool as part of design thinking to develop new ideas and  are ready to roll out in mass across their chain of restaurants I would also recommend the use of mind  mapping for future launches as a precursor to the learning launch, this way we can gather more ideas to  be tested out and more assumptions as well.

