Assignment – Learning Launch

Challenge

I work in an Indian offshore center of a Global corporation. As part of my responsibilities I also host  the delegations of customer from outside of India in our Customer hosting center who either come  to see their offshore operations done by us or come here to see robustness of our offshore delivery  to give new/more business.

I am trying to reduce the carbon footprint of customer hosting center and have applied design  thinking to find out ways how we can reduce the carbon footprint. During the What is, What if, What  wows phases we identified various initiatives that we can take to reduce the carbon footprint. These  initiatives were then taken through Learning Launch phase.

Selection

In the subsequent section I will talk about the initiative to replace Packaged water bottle that were  made of plastic. There were two options 1) Replace packaged water with reusable glass water  bottled filled with filtered water 2) Replace packaged plastic bottles with packaged glass bottles.

OR

Both options used glass bottles but option 1 was better as it reduces need for transportation and  hence had a smaller carbon footprint.

We decided to do Learning Launch of Option 1. Learning launch was a good option as it provided  quick way to test our assumptions, get direct feedback from visitors and provides flexibility to  improve the offering that can match the user expectations without incurring any major cost.

Application

Consequently, for the next visit we replaced packaged 300ml plastic water bottles with 1 L glass  water bottles filled with filtered water. 1 glass bottle was kept for two guest each with glasses to  use.

Then we observed the guests and their usage. Surprisingly none of the guest used the water bottles  and relied on coke, Tea and Coffee to quench their thirst.

So at dinner table in informal discussion I candidly discussed this observation  with the guest to  understand the reason. I came to know that any visiting delegation to India is given medical advice  to drink only bottled water and no other water to prevent amebiasis. Hence they feel safe to use  sealed personal water bottles.

The filtered water that we provide is Lab tested for safety however this was not a question of logic  as the product was failing to meet implicit needs of the customer to “feel” safe. Hence we decided to  ran this issue through the design thinking process once again and do one more round of Learning  launch with a slightly modified product to meet the needs.

We made following changes

1) Instead of 1L glass water bottles we swapped it with 500 ml glass water bottles   2) Instead of 1 bottle for two guest we planned 1 bottle for each guest   3) We selected bottled with mechanical seal that require to be opened for use (see below)  4) To avoid comparison with packaged water we made it flavored water

5) Made 2-3 flavored water (Lemon/ Mint/ Cucumber) and let the guest choose their preferred

flavor to have

The flavored water in small resealable glass bottle launch was successful and we were able to use  it to completely to remove plastic bottle usage.

Approach and Insight

In the hindsight, even though our first learning launch was not successful we were able to learn  from the shortfall and modify our solution the second time to successfully bring the change. In  below table I have captured the need that we uncovered in first failed launch and the fixes we  brought in the 2nd learning launch

Criteria  1L glass bottle  500 ml glass bottle

Personal use  No. It was to be shared  between two persons

Yes. Its small size is suitable  for single person use

“Feel” of Safety  Water was safe to drink but the  regular bottle cap did not give  the impression of safety.

Water is safe to drink.  Mechanical seal on the bottle  helped it appear safe.

Customer engagement  No. Only plain water  2-3 options of Flavored water.  Guest by choosing gets  involved in the change. Direct

comparison with bottled water  was also avoided

This experience also highlighted to us the importance for Journey mapping during “What is” phase.  Had we done the journey mapping on the plastic packaged water problem during the “What is”  phase the findings that we identified in learning launch could be easily uncovered earlier in first  iteration itself. Nevertheless, learning launch by providing working solution to the end customer to  use and then give something concrete to discuss with customer and brings out the implicit needs  more prominently. It has helped us greatly in quickly identifying the functionality of solution that is  working and that is not working. We fixed the aspects which were not working and made a  successful solution to this peculiar problem. Its an important technique to “Fail fast”


Assignment – Learning Launch Challenge I work in an Indian offshore center of a Global corporation . As part of my responsibilities I also host the delegations of customer from outside of India in our Customer hosting center who either come to see their offshore operations done by us or come here to see robustness of our offshore delivery to give new / more business . I am trying to reduce the carbon footprint of customer hosting center and have applied design thinking to find out ways how we can reduce the carbon footprint . During the What is , What if , What wows phases we identified various initiatives that we can take to reduce the carbon footprint . These initiatives were then taken through Learning Launch phase . Selection In the subsequent section I will talk about the initiative to replace Packaged water bottle that were made of plastic . There were two options 1 ) Replace packaged water with reusable glass water bottled filled with filtered water 2 ) Replace packaged plastic bottles with packaged glass bottles . OR Both options used glass bottles but option 1 was better as it reduces need for transportation and hence had a smaller carbon footprint . We decided to do Learning Launch of Option 1 . Learning launch was a good option as it provided quick way to test our assumptions , get direct feedback from visitors and provides flexibility to improve the offering that can match the user expectations without incurring any major cost . Application Consequently , for the next visit we replaced packaged 300ml plastic water bottles with 1 L glass water bottles filled with filtered water . 1 glass bottle was kept for two guest each with glasses to use . Then we observed the guests and their usage . Surprisingly none of the guest used the water bottles and relied on coke , Tea and Coffee to quench their thirst . So at dinner table in informal discussion I candidly discussed this observation with the guest to understand the reason . I came to know that any visiting delegation to India is given medical advice to drink only bottled water and no other water to prevent amebiasis . Hence they feel safe to use sealed personal water bottles . The filtered water that we provide is Lab tested for safety however this was not a question of logic as the product was failing to meet implicit needs of the customer to “ feel ” safe . Hence we decided to ran this issue through the design thinking process once again and do one more round of Learning launch with a slightly modified product to meet the needs . We made following changes 1 ) Instead of 1L glass water bottles we swapped it with 500 ml glass water bottles 2 ) Instead of 1 bottle for two guest we planned 1 bottle for each guest 3 ) We selected bottled with mechanical seal that require to be opened for use ( see below ) 4 ) To avoid comparison with packaged water we made it flavored water 5 ) Made 2 - 3 flavored water ( Lemon/ Mint/ Cucumber ) and let the guest choose their preferred flavor to have The flavored water in small resealable glass bottle launch was successful and we were able to use it to completely to remove plastic bottle usage . Approach and Insight In the hindsight , even though our first learning launch was not successful we were able to learn from the shortfall and modify our solution the second time to successfully bring the change . In below table I have captured the need that we uncovered in first failed launch and the fixes we brought in the 2nd learning launch Criteria 1L glass bottle 500 ml glass bottle Personal use No . It was to be shared between two persons Yes . Its small size is suitable for single person use “ Feel ” of Safety Water was safe to drink but the regular bottle cap did not give the impression of safety . Water is safe to drink . Mechanical seal on the bottle helped it appear safe . Customer engagement No . Only plain water 2 - 3 options of Flavored water . Guest by choosing gets involved in the change . Direct comparison with bottled water was also avoided This experience also highlighted to us the importance for Journey mapping during “ What is ” phase . Had we done the journey mapping on the plastic packaged water problem during the “ What is ” phase the findings that we identified in learning launch could be easily uncovered earlier in first iteration itself . Nevertheless , learning launch by providing working solution to the end customer to use and then give something concrete to discuss with customer and brings out the implicit needs more prominently . It has helped us greatly in quickly identifying the functionality of solution that is working and that is not working . We fixed the aspects which were not working and made a successful solution to this peculiar problem . Its an important technique to “ Fail fast ”