Learning Launch

Challenge & Selection

I work in a small architectural firm and our main area is the management of high standard  residential works.  In addition to the in-house office staff, we manage a large number of partners, from companies  providing construction materials to the numerous specialists performing construction services.  We deal with a multitude of variables that must work well aligned, so that the construction  respects the cost estimate and all the execution deadlines. And for everything to work, it is  essential that communication between everyone is fast, clear and accurate.    We are currently in the process of implementing agile methodologies, our top managers  attended a course and began to deploy these techniques primarily with the in-house office staff.  And we have obtained good results.    Our main challenge at the moment is to expand good results out of the office and the first target  is to improve communication with the numerous specialists who perform construction services.  And after an on-site follow-up survey of these professionals, and some evaluation sessions we  were able to discern the design criteria needed to devise some procedures for improving our  communication with them.    However, as there are many teams of professionals, we chose to use the learning launch tool.   Because this tool is an experiment that allows you to quickly and cheaply test a prototype or  idea. And in this case, it allowed us to test with a team the solution we developed.      Application

In the follow-up research we identified that when deploying the use of technologies such as apps  to improve communications, the greatest resistance was found in professionals with low  education. Especially because they are afraid of not knowing how to use the apps correctly and  are ashamed of it.

But that resistance was very low, if there was a follow up on the use of the app during the first  uses.

So to test this hypothesis, we organized a workshop as a training base and provided a  professional to accompany them in the construction for a week, and at the end of the period,  we conducted an evaluation survey with the professionals.

Insight & Approach

It was very interesting to apply this tool as it allowed us to test our hypothesis with a small  number of people before making a much bigger move and involving all our partners.

A problem soon realized was that the difficulty of low-educated professionals reflected an  emotional condition. They did not feel prepared to use technology. The workshop and follow- up helped on a technical basis, which made it easier for them to lower their guard to begin the  learning process. However, they would have to become proactive in order to increase their  efficiency across various apps and secondary features. And we realized that for that they would  need a different, more emotional, more motivational stimulus to re-signify their relationship  with technology and thus improve our communication using modern technologies.

As this first move was quick and small, we soon evaluated alternatives to solve this problem and  re-tested it with another team of professionals and got significantly better results.

It is much easier to organize a quick and small test, and the result is much more valuable because  it is the result of reality. In addition, it provides more security to make the necessary  adjustments.

Now we often use this tool, we are always thinking of practical and fast ways to test our  hypotheses.

