REFLECTION - LEARNING LAUNCH

CHALLENGE

One of the key performance index following the take-over of a franchise area of power

distribution company previously owned by the government by my employer includes the mandate to conduct an enumeration exercise of all electricity distribution assets and consumer within the franchise area with expected outcomes and within a given time scale of 3 years.

The exercise aims to build a database of assets and consumers which will allow the

implementation of technologies that will bring about efficiency and transparency in the industry.

The enormity of the challenge associated with the project relates first to the coverage area

of our franchise which spans about 20,000km2 with attendant effect on the budget, other challenges include the constraint associated with time, the lack of skilled personnel to carry out a project of such magnitude, ever-changing requirements and the diverse nature of expected outputs. SELECTION

Having gone through several design thinking activities to arrived at our proposed project

methodology and following an agreement with relevant stakeholders such as vendors who will carry out the adopted methodology. It was time to try out the learning launch tool. The Learning Launch tool allows for experimentation of ideas and prototype and in our case project methodology.

APPLICATION

The Consumer and Asset within the coverage of the Distribution Substation was the extent of

focus for the first Learning Launch. The Distribution Substation is the closest power substation to the consumers. It is from this substation that consumers receive electricity supply in most cases via distributor lines connected from the substation. This coverage is the basic milestone for our project completion. In our first learning launch, the focus was on testing the entirety of the project methodology at that scale from pre-data collection activities to field data collection activities, data quality checks, data processing and final output delivery. As part of this launch, data collection vendors and their team as well as all other stakeholders at that scale were trained on the project methodology. At the end of the first learning launch which lasted for 10 days, the weakness of several aspects of the project methodology was discovered. A more agile project management process was adopted to adapt the methodology to realities.

In the second learning launch, the scale of the coverage was expanded to several Distribution

Substations within the Feeder. The focus at this time was to test the updated project methodology while also understanding the extent of diversity across space. This was conducted within 6 weeks. INSIGHT & APPROACH

The Learning Launch tool enables us to test the adopted project methodology as well as the

assumptions behind the methodology and the insight gained were mind-blowing. During the Learning launches, it was discovered that the project methodology hadn’t thoroughly considered the scale and diversity of the realities on the ground leading to the need for a revamp of the project methodology and process.

Another insight gained from the learning launches is the adoption of a robust Agile project

Management strategy that focuses on continuous improvement using learning, updating and testing through implementation. This means the adoption of update-based learning launches even in the full roll-out of project implementation.

The incorporation of these insights led to the change in approach. Such that considering

coverage scale, budget, timelines and expected output it was decided that the project approach going forward will involve the use of in-house recruited and trained personnel against external vendors. Future learning launch design is expected to build on these insights in a bid to continuously improve them at different scales till project completion.


REFLECTION - LEARNING LAUNCH CHALLENGE One of the key performance index following the take - over of a franchise area of power distribution company previously owned by the government by my employer includes the mandate to conduct an enumeration exercise of all electricity distribution assets and consumer within the franchise area with expected outcomes and within a given time scale of 3 years . The exercise aims to build a database of assets and consumers which will allow the implementation of technologies that will bring about efficiency and transparency in the industry . The enormity of the challenge associated with the project relates first to the coverage area of our franchise which spans about 20,000km2 with attendant effect on the budget , other challenges include the constraint associated with time , the lack of skilled personnel to carry out a project of such magnitude , ever - changing requirements and the diverse nature of expected outputs . SELECTION Having gone through several design thinking activities to arrived at our proposed project methodology and following an agreement with relevant stakeholders such as vendors who will carry out the adopted methodology . It was time to try out the learning launch tool . The Learning Launch tool allows for experimentation of ideas and prototype and in our case project methodology . APPLICATION The Consumer and Asset within the coverage of the Distribution Substation was the extent of focus for the first Learning Launch . The Distribution Substation is the closest power substation to the consumers . It is from this substation that consumers receive electricity supply in most cases via distributor lines connected from the substation . This coverage is the basic milestone for our project completion . In our first learning launch , the focus was on testing the entirety of the project methodology at that scale from pre - data collection activities to field data collection activities , data quality checks , data processing and final output delivery . As part of this launch , data collection vendors and their team as well as all other stakeholders at that scale were trained on the project methodology . At the end of the first learning launch which lasted for 10 days , the weakness of several aspects of the project methodology was discovered . A more agile project management process was adopted to adapt the methodology to realities . In the second learning launch , the scale of the coverage was expanded to several Distribution Substations within the Feeder . The focus at this time was to test the updated project methodology while also understanding the extent of diversity across space . This was conducted within 6 weeks . INSIGHT & APPROACH The Learning Launch tool enables us to test the adopted project methodology as well as the assumptions behind the methodology and the insight gained were mind - blowing . During the Learning launches , it was discovered that the project methodology had n’t thoroughly considered the scale and diversity of the realities on the ground leading to the need for a revamp of the project methodology and process . Another insight gained from the learning launches is the adoption of a robust Agile project Management strategy that focuses on continuous improvement using learning , updating and testing through implementation . This means the adoption of update - based learning launches even in the full roll - out of project implementation . The incorporation of these insights led to the change in approach . Such that considering coverage scale , budget , timelines and expected output it was decided that the project approach going forward will involve the use of in - house recruited and trained personnel against external vendors . Future learning launch design is expected to build on these insights in a bid to continuously improve them at different scales till project completion .