Design Thinking – Learning Launch – My Lawn Watering

Problem Statement:  As a new home owner we thought of having a good lawn but for a green lawn first and foremost think it needs is  watering. A proper sprinkler system needs too much money and yearly maintenance. On the other side in our  neighborhood we have even and odd day watering program from 6am - 9am and 6pm - 9pm only. So that means we can  use water for lawn every alternate day. We want a solution that will be in budget and reliable too. Below are some of  the facts about the lawn,     What is -

a. around 2000 sq. ft lawn  b. Lawn is square in shape  c.  2 water tapping wheel point (Front, Right Side)

Journey Mapping:

Functional –

1. Come from office   2. take garden hose nozzle  3. spray as much as possible

Emotional –

1. Frustration on missing on some days to water  2. Some patched of grey lawn  3. Buying more seeds to patch those lawns

Brain Storming –

1. Sprinkler system (Professional Installation)  2. Oscillating Sled Lawn Sprinkler  3. Rotating Lawn Sprinkler  4. Impulse Lawn Sprinkler

Selection –   We have gone through several session of brain storming sessions, so we are ready to try the learning launch tool.   Because method says to try and experiment your ideas and prototype quickly.     Application –   1st Learning launch –   On this first iteration we bought the contractor grade 75 ft hose pipe and Oscillating Sled Lawn Sprinkler.   Advantage - Cost effective & easy to assemble  Disadvantage – Time consuming & Monitoring

2nd Learning launch –   On this we reuse the hose pipe with Rotating Lawn Sprinkler.   Advantage – Cost efficient and easy to assemble

Disadvantage – Constant change of place to cover the whole yard which is time consuming

3rd Learning Launch –   This time we reused the hose pipe with Impulse lawn sprinkler which can rotate 360 degree. Which needs to be pegged  to the ground and it has got variable area coverage setting with amount of water use. This time we also used a Digital  Hose Faucet Timer which gives us the flexibility of scheduling on alternate days.    Advantage – Easy to assemble, Reliable, steady, less use of water, wide coverage  Disadvantage – Bit pricy

Insight –   By applying the Journey mapping, Brainstorming and learning launch tool, we identified our needs and designed quick  prototypes to test our assumptions. In this process we faced some failure which resulted in change of plan. This activity  of doing a test and reviewing the advantage and disadvantages gives us a good understanding of out needs.   Each iteration refined the process and clarified out needs. All these are not too expensive so we are in budget at the  same time designed a reliable and flexible sprinkler system.    Approach –     With this course I have taken a new approach to any kind of problem and solving it.   “WHAT IS?” – Analyzing the current reality with accurate assessment of what is going on right now. (Journey Mapping)  “WHAT IF?” – Generating ideas and possible solution (Brainstorming)  “WHAT WOWS” – Put your right concept for a quick test (Prototyping)  “WHAT WORKS?” – Low fidelity prototypes with actual material (Iterations)

