Reﬂection - Learning Launch

Challenge

I am a student of a university where we have a lot of group activities and projects. The  environment here does not enable a group of people to think and take decisions that are  in the best interest of the group. The teams go through a tough time managing  themselves and making the right choices.  While we had to complete technical project  under a faculty, I was asked to lead a team. The project had a deadline and was limited in  terms of ﬁnances. My challenge was to keep the groups expectations high, help them  realise their strengths, keep the activity fun-ﬁlled and more than anything make the end  result that pleased the team.

Selection

The group consisted of 7 members which was what I thought was an easy number to  handle. It later turned out to be a hectic job but we somehow crossed the line with a  pretty impressive result.

To accomplish the result I used the learning launch tool. Learning launch is way to test to  an idea immediately, and if the output is desirable we move forward with the idea.

Application

For our ﬁrst learning launch, I called my team for meetings and discussed with them  regarding our project. I wanted them to brainstorm regarding the idea instead the  opposite happened. The group didn’t seem interested in talking, the cabin seemed dull  and everyone seemed lost. Clearly our idea to work together had failed. Partially, the  reason behind failure was less knowledge and commitment as well.

Note - The advantage in the ﬁrst learning launch was the physical presence of team  members and the disadvantage was lack of interest.

I suspected there to be a problem ( Members of my team were not comfortable together)  and I tried a second method.

For our second learning launch, I focussed on keeping the team members in their comfort  zones. I invited my team to work alone at their respective residences. I gave them speciﬁc  tasks and a deadline. To my surprise I actually got responses and the team coordinated  better over mobile devices and the work was done well before the deadline. Also, the  discussions included questions, new ideas and prioritisation of our project.

Note - The advantage during the second learning launch was that the team members  enjoyed working in comfort zones and the disadvantage was miscommunication as the  work was divided and the team did not know which team member had completed how  much work.

contd.

Insights

By applying the learning launch tool, I was able to ﬁnd the appropriate working  environment for my team. Our actual result slightly deviated from our anticipated result  but we pulled oﬀ a project that seemed impossible to ﬁnish at the start of the ﬁrst learning  prototype. There were few concerns about miscommunication which I am still trying to  address for my next learning launch.

Approach

Blind to the fact the the team members had unknowingly gone through a lot of design  thinking themselves, I used the learning launch tool to ﬁgure out the best way to make the  team work as team and get the desired result. Also as mentioned, I still need to work on  few of the insights gained from my both learning launches and be ready with the solution  for the next time I become a team leader again.

Alternatives

The alternative that I would probably use the next time is let the team work individually  but ask them to come and meet on a timely period and let the members discuss the  discoveries of each group.

