Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge    After several months of creating a customer experience strategy, a small cross-functional team was  assigned the task of designing the initial engagement experience for this strategy.   Once an understanding of the customer’s needs had been documented, the group set about generating  ideas over several ideation sessions.   The challenge that confronted the group was which of the ideas would be most effective in engaging the  target customer segment.     Selection    To deal with the challenge of identifying which ideas would be most effective, the Design Thinking tool I  leveraged was the Learning Launch Tool. As Matthias Behrens enthusiastically discusses in his lecture 18 video, this  tool encourages fast and cheap experimentation of ideas to determine if they will in fact meet the business  need, which in our case was effectively engaging our target customer segment.    Application    To mitigate confirmation bias, the first task I had the group complete was prioritising the ideas based on  the popular vote of the group. Also by selecting the top 3 ideas, it assisted in narrowing our initial focus.  For the next step, we broke off into pairs and allocated each pair one idea. Each pair designed a hypothesis  for their given idea. Each hypothesis outlined the customer need, what we could do to meet that need and  what might be the result of meeting that need.  The testing of hypotheses was executed via an organisational test and learn function with a small customer  segment. We also involved a behavioural specialist and other SMEs to provide input and advice.      Insight    One of the best insights we gained from utilising this tool was in relation to ideas that people originally  thought were ‘gold’ back in the ideation sessions.   When these ideas were tested the with customer segment, it became obvious that they didn’t care about  certain gimmicks or certain tactics we thought would get the desired result. This feedback lead to a  revision of the hypotheses which are being retested. It was fantastic to see the power this tool had in  changing opinions of members of the working group – not to mention the valuable customer insights it  produced!    Approach    In a situation where a new service or product is being designed, I will use the learning launch tool every  time to determine if the ‘idea’ has merit and is worth proceeding with. It provides results that you could  never come up with by making assumptions or by guessing. It produces results that are scientific and  factual which cannot be disputed because they come from your customers in the real world.


Reflection – Learning Launch Challenge After several months of creating a customer experience strategy , a small cross - functional team was assigned the task of designing the initial engagement experience for this strategy . Once an understanding of the customer ’s needs had been documented , the group set about generating ideas over several ideation sessions . The challenge that confronted the group was which of the ideas would be most effective in engaging the target customer segment . Selection To deal with the challenge of identifying which ideas would be most effective , the Design Thinking tool I leveraged was the Learning Launch Tool . As Matthias Behrens enthusiastically discusses in his lecture 18 video , this tool encourages fast and cheap experimentation of ideas to determine if they will in fact meet the business need , which in our case was effectively engaging our target customer segment . Application To mitigate confirmation bias , the first task I had the group complete was prioritising the ideas based on the popular vote of the group . Also by selecting the top 3 ideas , it assisted in narrowing our initial focus . For the next step , we broke off into pairs and allocated each pair one idea . Each pair designed a hypothesis for their given idea . Each hypothesis outlined the customer need , what we could do to meet that need and what might be the result of meeting that need . The testing of hypotheses was executed via an organisational test and learn function with a small customer segment . We also involved a behavioural specialist and other SMEs to provide input and advice . Insight One of the best insights we gained from utilising this tool was in relation to ideas that people originally thought were ‘ gold ’ back in the ideation sessions . When these ideas were tested the with customer segment , it became obvious that they did n’t care about certain gimmicks or certain tactics we thought would get the desired result . This feedback lead to a revision of the hypotheses which are being retested . It was fantastic to see the power this tool had in changing opinions of members of the working group – not to mention the valuable customer insights it produced ! Approach In a situation where a new service or product is being designed , I will use the learning launch tool every time to determine if the ‘ idea ’ has merit and is worth proceeding with . It provides results that you could never come up with by making assumptions or by guessing . It produces results that are scientific and factual which can not be disputed because they come from your customers in the real world .