Gino Schiavo  Design Thinking for Innovation

Learning Launch

Reﬂection

Challenge

Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.

My company imports, markets and resells technical products for scientiﬁc research in

Italy. In my company I’m responsible for scouting new products that could be interesting for

our customers, and adding them to our portfolio. As a new product requires commitment

with the supplier, intensive training and the purchase of samples and demo units, the

challenge is to identify successful products before spending lots of money, and avoid the ones

the customer won’t buy.

Selection

In your own words, brieﬂy describe the tool you selected (e.g., what it is and why you selected  it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references).

In order to solve this challenge, I’ve selected the tool “Learning Launch”, i.e. small,

cheap and fast experiments in order to test different product ideas in the real marketplace. I

selected this tool because presenting a cheap prototype to customer is the best way to

introduce a new product and collect feedback.

It is quite easy for my company to reach a good amount of customers quickly, because

we take part to many exhibitions; we usually have a booth where the customer can speak with

representatives and learn about new products. I just need to deﬁne the experiments.

Application

Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g., what you did and how  the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively).

Some months ago I’ve been contacted by an English company that was manufacturing a

new version of a quite common instrument [details of the instrument are not disclosed on

purpose], usually available to all biology labs. This new instrument, although being more

expensive, is signiﬁcantly faster (8x) than the state of the art, and requires less reagents and

less consumables. Before committing with the manufacturer, and buying a demo unit I needed

LEARNING LAUNCH REFLECTION �1

to collect a feedback from the customers. As it was not the case to create a physical prototype,

the experiment was conducted by creating technical brochure and leaﬂets, with pictures and

real data, as if the customer could buy the instrument right away.

Insight

Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g.,  how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more  broadly).

The application of the tool was a success, because thanks to just some pieces of paper

and technical data I was able to test the market and understand the feeling of the potential

customers. In particular, the customers appreciated the velocity and the lower usage of

reagents, but weren’t really willing to buy because of the higher cost and the unknown brand.

Even if in the end they would have spent less, thanks to purchasing politics and procedures,

they could not justify the initial higher investment. Thanks to this learning launch I

understood that it would have been very difﬁcult to sell the instrument and I refused to

distribute the product:  I could avoid expenses that would have taken to no, or very few, sales.

I believe that the methods of design thinking can be used for choosing the best products

and suppliers, to focus on their sales.

Approach

Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected or a  different one -- and the reason(s) why.

I realized that a single version of the technical brochure would have too many details

and had made more difﬁcult to understand the straights and weaknesses of the product, as

seen by the customer. If I had to repeat the experiment (and I will, with different products) I

could try different versions of the brochure, highlighting different points, in order to

understand better the solutions of high appeal to the customer.

LEARNING LAUNCH REFLECTION �2


Gino Schiavo Design Thinking for Innovation Learning Launch Reﬂection Challenge Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . My company imports , markets and resells technical products for scientiﬁc research in Italy . In my company I ’m responsible for scouting new products that could be interesting for our customers , and adding them to our portfolio . As a new product requires commitment with the supplier , intensive training and the purchase of samples and demo units , the challenge is to identify successful products before spending lots of money , and avoid the ones the customer wo n’t buy . Selection In your own words , brieﬂy describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . In order to solve this challenge , I ’ve selected the tool “ Learning Launch ” , i.e. small , cheap and fast experiments in order to test different product ideas in the real marketplace . I selected this tool because presenting a cheap prototype to customer is the best way to introduce a new product and collect feedback . It is quite easy for my company to reach a good amount of customers quickly , because we take part to many exhibitions ; we usually have a booth where the customer can speak with representatives and learn about new products . I just need to deﬁne the experiments . Application Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . Some months ago I ’ve been contacted by an English company that was manufacturing a new version of a quite common instrument [ details of the instrument are not disclosed on purpose ] , usually available to all biology labs . This new instrument , although being more expensive , is signiﬁcantly faster ( 8x ) than the state of the art , and requires less reagents and less consumables . Before committing with the manufacturer , and buying a demo unit I needed LEARNING LAUNCH REFLECTION � 1 to collect a feedback from the customers . As it was not the case to create a physical prototype , the experiment was conducted by creating technical brochure and leaﬂets , with pictures and real data , as if the customer could buy the instrument right away . Insight Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . The application of the tool was a success , because thanks to just some pieces of paper and technical data I was able to test the market and understand the feeling of the potential customers . In particular , the customers appreciated the velocity and the lower usage of reagents , but were n’t really willing to buy because of the higher cost and the unknown brand . Even if in the end they would have spent less , thanks to purchasing politics and procedures , they could not justify the initial higher investment . Thanks to this learning launch I understood that it would have been very difﬁcult to sell the instrument and I refused to distribute the product : I could avoid expenses that would have taken to no , or very few , sales . I believe that the methods of design thinking can be used for choosing the best products and suppliers , to focus on their sales . Approach Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . I realized that a single version of the technical brochure would have too many details and had made more difﬁcult to understand the straights and weaknesses of the product , as seen by the customer . If I had to repeat the experiment ( and I will , with different products ) I could try different versions of the brochure , highlighting different points , in order to understand better the solutions of high appeal to the customer . LEARNING LAUNCH REFLECTION � 2