Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge     3 Years back, I had been requested from my company’s (a leading group for building and operating  shopping malls across MENA) technical director to look at the security surveillance systems and how  technology can help them to modernize and innovate the surveillance experience. To achieve the  mission I used to meet with all the relevant stakeholders, who are the control room operators, the  security managers, the mall operations manager, the asset directors and the police department in order  to understand all their requirement and classify them.   This gave me the opportunity to better understand the needs of each group as well as define the  solution criteria.    Selection    Me and my team selected to use the learning Launch, actually at that time I wasn’t aware of that name  but I was following the “seeing is believing” rule, building a small example in order to document what’s  good and what’s not, collect stakeholders feedback and any improvement they would like to see or get  their approvals to move to bigger or scale installation of the solution.     Application     Initially, the process started by contacting all the potential surveillance system integrators and discuss  their solutions, mapping it to the solution criteria developed after understanding the stakeholder’s  requirements and organise them from the most matching the criteria to the least matching and provide  a reason for each design elements whether it is matching or not.     I always use KPI matrix template contains 3 columns and multiple rows showing the design criteria,  system integrator rating for each KPI and the detailed reason for the rating. This is clearly visualise to the  stakeholders the potential solutions.     Eventually, we asked all the potential system integrators to install a demo of their solutions in order to  gather information related to how easy to install, how long it will take to operate, does the solution  provide the promised quality ? . We convert one of our meeting rooms into a selection room, where we  installed multiple screens connected to each of the installed solutions. We also provide number for each  screen and of course we hidden all the system integrators or manufacture information. We then provide  a selection sheet to each of the stakeholders and requested them to rate each of the systems shown in  each screen based on the stakeholder’s needs collected during the initial stage. Surprisingly, the  stakeholder’s selection or voting for the system was in line with our technical recommendation which  was not shown to them prior to the selection stage.    Management approves to launch the solution at one of the smallest shopping malls we own as a  Learning Launch in order to confirm or not the suitable of the solution in a real life situation not only on  a technical lab. The learning launch had demonstrate to the business team and the stakeholders the  powerful of the solution and how easy is the installation, operation and maintenance

In the first few days, the security team had reported an increase of capturing security incidents inside  the shopping malls by 60% compared with the old system which was still running on parallel with the  learning launch system. That was enough to the business to approve the solution to be rolled out at all  of our shopping malls. We now have completed the installation for 15 shopping malls with more than  6000 cameras centrally managed from our head offices.     Insights     What I learnt from conducting the learning launch that it is very important to do the small experiment of  the idea in a real live situation outside the lab, along with engaging the relevant customers and  continuous gathering their feedback to confirm or enhance the idea .  The learning launch gave the stakeholders a starting point to discuss their point of view and agree on a  way forward, it also gave them the opportunity to interact with the project team.     Approach     According to the feedback we received and the successful of the learning launch tool at the above  mission, we are now using the learning launch at most if not all of our projects.  Learning launch helped us to interact with the business team in their language not using the technical  language and that overcome the main problem when interacting with technical teams.     We are now using learning launch in other innovation solutions like the malls indoor navigation, the  malls Wi-Fi solution and the SMART parking solution which prove every time that it is a powerful tool  not just to prove the ideas but to start a strong relation with the customers and drive a massive  feedback channel.    I will continue using it as the best visualization tool for any of the innovation ideas we propose to the  business users.


Reflection – Learning Launch Challenge 3 Years back , I had been requested from my company ’s ( a leading group for building and operating shopping malls across MENA ) technical director to look at the security surveillance systems and how technology can help them to modernize and innovate the surveillance experience . To achieve the mission I used to meet with all the relevant stakeholders , who are the control room operators , the security managers , the mall operations manager , the asset directors and the police department in order to understand all their requirement and classify them . This gave me the opportunity to better understand the needs of each group as well as define the solution criteria . Selection Me and my team selected to use the learning Launch , actually at that time I was n’t aware of that name but I was following the “ seeing is believing ” rule , building a small example in order to document what ’s good and what ’s not , collect stakeholders feedback and any improvement they would like to see or get their approvals to move to bigger or scale installation of the solution . Application Initially , the process started by contacting all the potential surveillance system integrators and discuss their solutions , mapping it to the solution criteria developed after understanding the stakeholder ’s requirements and organise them from the most matching the criteria to the least matching and provide a reason for each design elements whether it is matching or not . I always use KPI matrix template contains 3 columns and multiple rows showing the design criteria , system integrator rating for each KPI and the detailed reason for the rating . This is clearly visualise to the stakeholders the potential solutions . Eventually , we asked all the potential system integrators to install a demo of their solutions in order to gather information related to how easy to install , how long it will take to operate , does the solution provide the promised quality ? . We convert one of our meeting rooms into a selection room , where we installed multiple screens connected to each of the installed solutions . We also provide number for each screen and of course we hidden all the system integrators or manufacture information . We then provide a selection sheet to each of the stakeholders and requested them to rate each of the systems shown in each screen based on the stakeholder ’s needs collected during the initial stage . Surprisingly , the stakeholder ’s selection or voting for the system was in line with our technical recommendation which was not shown to them prior to the selection stage . Management approves to launch the solution at one of the smallest shopping malls we own as a Learning Launch in order to confirm or not the suitable of the solution in a real life situation not only on a technical lab . The learning launch had demonstrate to the business team and the stakeholders the powerful of the solution and how easy is the installation , operation and maintenance In the first few days , the security team had reported an increase of capturing security incidents inside the shopping malls by 60 % compared with the old system which was still running on parallel with the learning launch system . That was enough to the business to approve the solution to be rolled out at all of our shopping malls . We now have completed the installation for 15 shopping malls with more than 6000 cameras centrally managed from our head offices . Insights What I learnt from conducting the learning launch that it is very important to do the small experiment of the idea in a real live situation outside the lab , along with engaging the relevant customers and continuous gathering their feedback to confirm or enhance the idea . The learning launch gave the stakeholders a starting point to discuss their point of view and agree on a way forward , it also gave them the opportunity to interact with the project team . Approach According to the feedback we received and the successful of the learning launch tool at the above mission , we are now using the learning launch at most if not all of our projects . Learning launch helped us to interact with the business team in their language not using the technical language and that overcome the main problem when interacting with technical teams . We are now using learning launch in other innovation solutions like the malls indoor navigation , the malls Wi - Fi solution and the SMART parking solution which prove every time that it is a powerful tool not just to prove the ideas but to start a strong relation with the customers and drive a massive feedback channel . I will continue using it as the best visualization tool for any of the innovation ideas we propose to the business users .