Example Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge

The pre-launch ramp up of an industrial product (non-software nor service) is complex process.  The developed product, which has only seen relatively controlled conditions, faces then an  expensive and too often dramatic reality check. Involving various stakeholders and agendas:  Manufacturing something new in higher scale and lower control conditions in a facility trained  for ‘always do the same’. Field application by specialized users, used ‘the usual stuff’ and  observing the newcomer as an unnecessary change.

Selection

In this context, many factors/properties, not intrinsic to product performance or specifications,  are key to its correct manufacturing and application success. Both required (yet not sufficient)  for a commercial success.

Instead of gesstimating these factors, it is preferred and more efficient to perform a learning  launch with a minimum viable product (MVP). Which is usually more mature than a SW/Service  equivalent. But still open to take in the lessons and modifications raised by a learning launch  going through both manufacturing and application stages, gathering customer feedback.

Application

We used learning launch in a new product development to update a product range unchanged  for +10yr. Which involved manufacturing process modification, field application updates and a  lot of organizational expectation – anxiety.

Second development iteration (out of four) yielded an acceptable MVP. Which was taken to a  series of manufacturing rounds scaling up 104 the usual batch size and taken for field application.  Selection of ‘close’ locations allowed not only to adjust the technical parameters, but most  relevant gathering the feedback from operators, shift and site managers. Generally overlooked  stakeholders, but whose insight and buy – in is critical for product quality, performance, and  ‘reputation’.

Insight

Assistance of product developers to the learning launch allowed to gather and translate  ‘observational’ into technical parameters. Many of these (i.e. block stiffness and internal color)  were not affecting product performance and would have never been identified in standard  product profiling. Moreover, post launch learning would neither be possible since developers  would by then be mobilized to other projects, away from this one.

On the flip side, organization anxiety effects were underestimated. The learning launch didactics  and communication did not prevent bad mouthing for product underperformance. Disregarding  that this could be expected for the MVP and the learning launch goal was not the superior  performance of the specific MVP tested.

Approach

Next time will not overlook but rather take advantage that learning launch also offers learning  possibilities on how the organization will react at political level, what are the undeclared  expectations and positions of the different collectives.

