Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge and Selection

As a founding member of a university-based start-up, I took over some of the main engineering tasks  and was leading the team associated with them. The whole group was kind of disorganized and  everybody was looking so lost and confused. Most of the group’s members didn’t even know how to  start and where to start from. The technical challenge was to design an electric racing automobile and  we sure had the skills to do so, but the real challenge was to ignite the spark, unite the teams, motivate  their members and actually innovate.

I couldn’t waste a lot of time drawing and graphing etc. Therefore, visualization was not really an option.  I didn’t have any story to tell. My engineer brain oversimplified my thoughts around the challenge and  went on with actually testing and designing and testing again and designing again and so on, getting lost  in the abyss of technical analysis and testing. I was basically using the Learning Launch technique  without even realizing  My customers were my colleagues and their need was to unlock their  innovative skills and potential. I started thinking of the optimal way to find a solution to this early-stage  problem.

Application

In the beginning, I was kind of lost too, but took the initiative to put some more effort and at least start  with something. Then, I could work on it, put everything together and try to continue building around it.  The problem was that although we had the ideas and the technical skills, my colleagues seemed to be  not motivated enough. Something was missing. We wanted to do something really innovative but we  were not being creative enough. I thought I needed to do something about it as soon as possible.

I had to think of a way to do that and was searching for the most optimal and least time consuming  technique. At the same time, I had to continue with the engineering design so I immediately realized  what’s better way to combine both. Why not show everybody what my thinking process is in regards to  the engineering work I am doing, so at least my colleagues get excited and start playing around with the  tools we had, as I did!!

My main task was to design part of the cooling system of the electric vehicles, the most significant being  the aluminum frame and the water cooling pipes around the electric motors. Different designs could be  found after research yet no optimal design was being suggested by the literature. With a top-down  approach I could sort out the most used ones and decided to start studying three of them.

For several days and nights, I would continuously think about the best decision. The clock was ticking  and the stress was increasing. My final decision was to design all three of them and show my colleagues  the process, criteria and parameters I used. At least, we could all sit down and decide what’s best, all  together. At the same time, knowledge was gained and transferred amongst the members of all teams.

From design to simulation and back to designing the components again. Doing that several times for  each of the different designs can be painful, time-consuming but also lot of fun. My colleagues started

doing the same, following a similar approach, asking for feedback, trying to put the pieces to the puzzle.  Progress was being made, following with excitement and enthusiasm. Finally, the group wouldn’t feel so  useless and everybody started believing in the dream. We were sharing the same vision, a vision which  died soon and then, it was alive again. You see, sometimes, all it takes is a just little bit of light in the  tunnel, a little bit of spark to ignite the combustion.

Insight and Approach

What I’ve learned through the process, especially in engineering and when it comes to innovation, is  that iterative testing can be a valuable means of transferring knowledge and bringing insight to the  team, also making its members feel purposeful and unstuck. In some way, it helps unlock part of our  brains specifically related to innovation and creativity.

Next time, I will try to incorporate this technique much sooner in the designing process, and introduce it  to my colleagues in the early stages of the organization and the building up of the teams. Thus, they will  have a great tool to use from the very beginning, which they can use to help them unlock their potential.

