Challenge

Like many sizable privately-held and historically successful companies, we have a  tendency to develop ideas in a slow and methodical fashion largely free from  management pressure and the need to keep shareholders satisfied. We often welcome a  diverse set of opinions and countless stakeholders to the table when defining strategic  initiatives. The result is an ever increasing scope and with that comes high cost and slow  delivery. The traditional ‘business case’ is a prerequisite in our current processes, and as  noted in this course there are many inefficiencies here due to the reliance on broad and  often baseless assumptions. Due to the disruption in our industry we often discuss the  need to become more agile and nimble but that too has proven to be a daunting task.

Selection

As part of the ‘Experimentation’ phase of the Design Thinking methodology, Learning  Launch is in essence an adaptation of A/B testing traditionally applied in statistics. The  premise is based on a hypothesis, a point of view that you believe to be true, through  which a series of tests are executed in order to validate that idea. The tests performed  during this validation phase should be applied in real world situations in order to  establish a qualitative result. If the result is positive you can further develop iteratively  and scale the product, and if unsuccessful you lose only a very small investment. In  Learning Launch you are “launching out there into the unknown”, but with a specific  purpose which is to prove that there is value in your ideas.

Application

The Learning Launch tool and the presentation by lecturer Dennis Schmidt inspired me to apply  the concepts in our business. We started by agreeing with senior management on the  location for a test site, a franchise location where we could perform rapid tests on new  ideas before scaling to other franchise outlets. After a series of ideation sessions,  utilizing several of the techniques outlined in this course, we narrowed down a list of  potential ideas/initiatives that we intended to explore further.

One specific case was based on a hypothesis that we could optimize commercial floor  space based on a deeper analysis of customer traffic patterns. We worked with a start- up focused on wireless beacon technology and implemented a solution to capture the  data needed to validate our idea. Based on the traffic data we performed tests in areas  of the shop floor that we identified as low volume, whereby we made significant changes  to either product or communications in the area and measured the result of those  changes.

Insights

The outcome of our Learning Launch activities were mixed, some positive and some  negative. One reflection was that through these small tests we found that it is quite easy  to leverage existing resources to produce a greater outcome, getting more out of what  you already have versus simply investing more resources or creating additional  complexity. The greatest benefit of Design Thinking as a whole is that it fosters  creativity. Its often quite easy to come up with an idea that mushrooms into a monolithic  product, but it can be difficult to step back and take stock in existing assets and rethink  what is possible.

Approach

Generally I would follow this same approach in future evaluations, the only change being  scale where I would like to be able to run many more parallel tests in order to churn out  more innovative solutions. Likewise, much earlier on in the process it would be nice to  disprove ideas that could be shelved and allow us to focus on those with the highest  potential.


Challenge Like many sizable privately - held and historically successful companies , we have a tendency to develop ideas in a slow and methodical fashion largely free from management pressure and the need to keep shareholders satisfied . We often welcome a diverse set of opinions and countless stakeholders to the table when defining strategic initiatives . The result is an ever increasing scope and with that comes high cost and slow delivery . The traditional ‘ business case ’ is a prerequisite in our current processes , and as noted in this course there are many inefficiencies here due to the reliance on broad and often baseless assumptions . Due to the disruption in our industry we often discuss the need to become more agile and nimble but that too has proven to be a daunting task . Selection As part of the ‘ Experimentation ’ phase of the Design Thinking methodology , Learning Launch is in essence an adaptation of A / B testing traditionally applied in statistics . The premise is based on a hypothesis , a point of view that you believe to be true , through which a series of tests are executed in order to validate that idea . The tests performed during this validation phase should be applied in real world situations in order to establish a qualitative result . If the result is positive you can further develop iteratively and scale the product , and if unsuccessful you lose only a very small investment . In Learning Launch you are “ launching out there into the unknown ” , but with a specific purpose which is to prove that there is value in your ideas . Application The Learning Launch tool and the presentation by lecturer Dennis Schmidt inspired me to apply the concepts in our business . We started by agreeing with senior management on the location for a test site , a franchise location where we could perform rapid tests on new ideas before scaling to other franchise outlets . After a series of ideation sessions , utilizing several of the techniques outlined in this course , we narrowed down a list of potential ideas / initiatives that we intended to explore further . One specific case was based on a hypothesis that we could optimize commercial floor space based on a deeper analysis of customer traffic patterns . We worked with a start- up focused on wireless beacon technology and implemented a solution to capture the data needed to validate our idea . Based on the traffic data we performed tests in areas of the shop floor that we identified as low volume , whereby we made significant changes to either product or communications in the area and measured the result of those changes . Insights The outcome of our Learning Launch activities were mixed , some positive and some negative . One reflection was that through these small tests we found that it is quite easy to leverage existing resources to produce a greater outcome , getting more out of what you already have versus simply investing more resources or creating additional complexity . The greatest benefit of Design Thinking as a whole is that it fosters creativity . Its often quite easy to come up with an idea that mushrooms into a monolithic product , but it can be difficult to step back and take stock in existing assets and rethink what is possible . Approach Generally I would follow this same approach in future evaluations , the only change being scale where I would like to be able to run many more parallel tests in order to churn out more innovative solutions . Likewise , much earlier on in the process it would be nice to disprove ideas that could be shelved and allow us to focus on those with the highest potential .