Design Thinking for Innovation

University of Virginia

Peer-graded Assignment:

Reflection

María José Reyes

Ecuador, March 2018.

Challenge & Selection

I will apply the Learning Launch Tool in the company I’m working in. This company sells cars, provides  spare parts for the vehicles they sell and give post sale service. The challenge I found is the delayed car  delivery time. Usually, a customer bring his car for a checkup, so the workshop makes the maintenance  of it, and then gives the customer a certain hour where the car is going to be ready; Then the customer  arrives, gets his car back, and pays for the service given. The problem here is that most of the time the  ‘come back’ hour predicted is not right, so the client arrives to the workshop and has to wait minutes or  even hours to receive their car back. That’s considered a bad service, so the quality of the workshop is  dropping. Usually customers don’t have enough time in their busy day to wait a longer time to receive  their vehicles back, so the challenge is to find a solution that explains why the process in the workshop  gets delayed and how can the extra time get reduced, so the quality of their service can get better. Since  I work in the human resources area, I was able to carry on this little experiment.

This tool allows me to find possible necessities to be resolved in a specific group of costumers. In order to  apply this tool, I am going to use the video reference of week #4, and create a hypothesis that will allow  me to make a small and cheap experiment based on the truthful information I researched previously. I  choose this tool because I want to resolve a necessity that has been there quite a while, so I have to search  the roots of the delayed work, and then see what I can do about it. Also, the cost of this process is not  high, and I will not need expensive resources to try to fix this issue in the company.

Application

The hypothesis in this process is: ‘Analyzing the root of an internal problem allows the company to know  and solve it completely’. Based on that, I began the experiment by gathering data that will help me identify  or not the truthfulness of the hypothesis. I made short-individual interviews to the workshop staff; I asked  them 4 questions based on their daily activities and level of satisfaction in their area. Also, questions based  on their actual organizational environment, so I can evaluate where the issue comes from (the questions  are attached in the last page).

The results of this interviews were basically the following:

-The environment between workers is not good.

-People is not communicating right so, most of the time they got confused between processes, so their  work lasts longer due to lack of information.

- They have a time limit for each step in the workshop, but these time is only predicting the time where  the worker makes the technical work, it is not taking on account the time in which a person goes to the  bathroom, resolves stuff with their mates, takes a glass of water and so on (informal time), because they  are not robots, they need to humanize.

The data recollected was useful to prepare communication projects between employees of the workshop.  There, they are separated into groups of 4 people, and each person has 3 minutes to write down one  compliment and one recommendation (related to the job) for the other 3 members of the group. When  they’re done writing, they have approximately 7 minutes in total to tell their group what they’ve written.  After that, they mix into another group, so at the end everyone will receive compliments and  recommendations from all their working partners. This experiment was made on a day that they didn’t  have too much work to do, so there will be no wasted time or disappointed clients.

At the end, I let the employees give their own feedback of the project and asked how they feel regarding  to their communication between employees, before and after the realization of this experiment.

After that, I realized that employees where communicating better on their daily work, each person  receives complete information and gets more motivated, so the final work arrives on a good time and  customers don’t get angry because of a delayed delivery of the vehicle!

The tool and experiment applied in an effectively way since everyone wanted to try a new approach to  enhance communication and felt better after doing it. The hypothesis

Insight & Approach

I’ve learned that this exercise helped employees of the workshop by letting them perceive what they are  doing good and what they can improve, so their work can help the entire area. It is really important that  they also understand the roots of the problem that are related with the delivery time, so if they create a  more communicative environment every process will improve and everyone gets beneficiated.

Based on the 3rd result of the surveys made, I discovered that another tool such as Visualization can be  applied between workers and general management, so they can understand that the time given for  several processes is not enough, and then they all can get into a flexible solution.

Survey Questions:

1. Are you satisfied with your daily work? Why?  2. What activities do you think could be improved?  3. How is the work environment of the workshop?  4. If you could, what would you change from the work  environment?


Design Thinking for Innovation University of Virginia Peer - graded Assignment : Reflection María José Reyes Ecuador , March 2018 . Challenge & Selection I will apply the Learning Launch Tool in the company I ’m working in . This company sells cars , provides spare parts for the vehicles they sell and give post sale service . The challenge I found is the delayed car delivery time . Usually , a customer bring his car for a checkup , so the workshop makes the maintenance of it , and then gives the customer a certain hour where the car is going to be ready ; Then the customer arrives , gets his car back , and pays for the service given . The problem here is that most of the time the ‘ come back ’ hour predicted is not right , so the client arrives to the workshop and has to wait minutes or even hours to receive their car back . That ’s considered a bad service , so the quality of the workshop is dropping . Usually customers do n’t have enough time in their busy day to wait a longer time to receive their vehicles back , so the challenge is to find a solution that explains why the process in the workshop gets delayed and how can the extra time get reduced , so the quality of their service can get better . Since I work in the human resources area , I was able to carry on this little experiment . This tool allows me to find possible necessities to be resolved in a specific group of costumers . In order to apply this tool , I am going to use the video reference of week # 4 , and create a hypothesis that will allow me to make a small and cheap experiment based on the truthful information I researched previously . I choose this tool because I want to resolve a necessity that has been there quite a while , so I have to search the roots of the delayed work , and then see what I can do about it . Also , the cost of this process is not high , and I will not need expensive resources to try to fix this issue in the company . Application The hypothesis in this process is : ‘ Analyzing the root of an internal problem allows the company to know and solve it completely ’ . Based on that , I began the experiment by gathering data that will help me identify or not the truthfulness of the hypothesis . I made short - individual interviews to the workshop staff ; I asked them 4 questions based on their daily activities and level of satisfaction in their area . Also , questions based on their actual organizational environment , so I can evaluate where the issue comes from ( the questions are attached in the last page ) . The results of this interviews were basically the following : -The environment between workers is not good . -People is not communicating right so , most of the time they got confused between processes , so their work lasts longer due to lack of information . - They have a time limit for each step in the workshop , but these time is only predicting the time where the worker makes the technical work , it is not taking on account the time in which a person goes to the bathroom , resolves stuff with their mates , takes a glass of water and so on ( informal time ) , because they are not robots , they need to humanize . The data recollected was useful to prepare communication projects between employees of the workshop . There , they are separated into groups of 4 people , and each person has 3 minutes to write down one compliment and one recommendation ( related to the job ) for the other 3 members of the group . When they ’re done writing , they have approximately 7 minutes in total to tell their group what they ’ve written . After that , they mix into another group , so at the end everyone will receive compliments and recommendations from all their working partners . This experiment was made on a day that they did n’t have too much work to do , so there will be no wasted time or disappointed clients . At the end , I let the employees give their own feedback of the project and asked how they feel regarding to their communication between employees , before and after the realization of this experiment . After that , I realized that employees where communicating better on their daily work , each person receives complete information and gets more motivated , so the final work arrives on a good time and customers do n’t get angry because of a delayed delivery of the vehicle ! The tool and experiment applied in an effectively way since everyone wanted to try a new approach to enhance communication and felt better after doing it . The hypothesis Insight & Approach I ’ve learned that this exercise helped employees of the workshop by letting them perceive what they are doing good and what they can improve , so their work can help the entire area . It is really important that they also understand the roots of the problem that are related with the delivery time , so if they create a more communicative environment every process will improve and everyone gets beneficiated . Based on the 3rd result of the surveys made , I discovered that another tool such as Visualization can be applied between workers and general management , so they can understand that the time given for several processes is not enough , and then they all can get into a flexible solution . Survey Questions : 1 . Are you satisfied with your daily work ? Why ? 2 . What activities do you think could be improved ? 3 . How is the work environment of the workshop ? 4 . If you could , what would you change from the work environment ?