Reflections: Learning Launch    Challenge:  I joined my organization in a business unit where there was almost no presence of a  designer, there were only a couple of graphic designers who mainly worked on creating  graphics for presentations and branding. For most of people, design meant good-looking  graphics. The challenge was to break this mindset of the business unit and to transform the  team to a “design thinking” mindset. I needed to bring this change at various levels of the  team, right from senior management, to middle manager to developers, testing teams,  business analysts and even HR and IT Infrastructure team. The team wanted to be “design- led”. Also, the teams needed to be informed at least 30 days in advance, regarding any  learning sessions that would need more than 60 minutes.    Selection:  Design thinking workshops are one of the best ways to evangelize design thinking, and so I  decided to conduct a series of workshops in my new organization. The teams had never  been part of any design thinking workshops, so I initially planned a workshop for a small set  of colleagues as part of the learning launch.     Application:  The first bare-bones design thinking workshop was planned for 90 minutes and I was able to  get the extra 30 minutes by including lunch in the session. The presentation content was  generic; the problem that the team would solve using design thinking was aligned to solving  a daily challenge which most people faced in my city. The team would experience & use  “design thinking” in solving the problem of being stuck in traffic jams when commuting  to/from work. The focus of the learning launch was to get more insights about expectations,  context setting, refining & contextualizing the content, time needed to conduct workshops  and also to understand the response of the participants to learning through experiencing.     In the first learning launch, the participants were able to understand what design thinking  was all about. They came up with multiple ideas for solving the problem of being “stuck in  jam”. The response was very positive. An important insight received was that though they  were able to think of ideas, they were unable to relate it to their specific domain of work.  The participants were part of the off-shore development team which was far from customer  and end users. During the workshop they also shared the challenges they faced and hoped  to be part of a follow-up design workshop that would help them solve their work-related  challenges.    The contents of the second design thinking workshop were improved based on the insights  gained from the first workshop. In the second 90 min “experience the design thinking  mindset” learning launch, the teams were able to relate to design thinking methods. The  participants empathized with each other, listed problems, ideated and created solutions for  better ways of working.     Insights:  By applying learning launch tool, I was able to test the idea of conducting a design thinking  workshop, and determine the response from teams that work in tight deadlines and the

participation and enthusiasm of the participants. I had assumed that participants would be  able to relate what they learnt from a generic design thinking workshop and would be able  to apply it to their work. However, the actual result was different and participants  requested for follow-up sessions on how to use what they learnt to their day-to-day tasks.  As a result, I was also able to get ideas about the content that I needed to develop for these  teams.     I had also assumed that teams may not like the idea of extending the workshop into their  lunch time, however, the team responded differently. They not only participated in the  workshops enthusiastically, but loved trading their lunch time with the workshop. Future  workshops after the learning launches have pizzas included.     The participants now use design thinking methods to build solutions for problems they face  and test these solutions in the following work sprints, and meet again and iterate.    Approach:  The teams that I am working with, have not had any exposure to design thinking. They are a  great engineering team and their understanding of design has been limited to improving  graphics. As a design thinking coach, I feel that the choice of selecting the learning launch  tool has been appropriate in promoting design thinking. The tool has helped to improve the  ways of conducting the design thinking workshops. The insights gathered have helped in  contextualizing and improving the content of the workshops. Future design thinking  workshops have been planned for longer durations, the content has been developed for  various types of participants and they focus on how to use design methods to understand  the customers in specific work areas.


Reflections : Learning Launch Challenge : I joined my organization in a business unit where there was almost no presence of a designer , there were only a couple of graphic designers who mainly worked on creating graphics for presentations and branding . For most of people , design meant good - looking graphics . The challenge was to break this mindset of the business unit and to transform the team to a “ design thinking ” mindset . I needed to bring this change at various levels of the team , right from senior management , to middle manager to developers , testing teams , business analysts and even HR and IT Infrastructure team . The team wanted to be “ design- led ” . Also , the teams needed to be informed at least 30 days in advance , regarding any learning sessions that would need more than 60 minutes . Selection : Design thinking workshops are one of the best ways to evangelize design thinking , and so I decided to conduct a series of workshops in my new organization . The teams had never been part of any design thinking workshops , so I initially planned a workshop for a small set of colleagues as part of the learning launch . Application : The first bare - bones design thinking workshop was planned for 90 minutes and I was able to get the extra 30 minutes by including lunch in the session . The presentation content was generic ; the problem that the team would solve using design thinking was aligned to solving a daily challenge which most people faced in my city . The team would experience & use “ design thinking ” in solving the problem of being stuck in traffic jams when commuting to / from work . The focus of the learning launch was to get more insights about expectations , context setting , refining & contextualizing the content , time needed to conduct workshops and also to understand the response of the participants to learning through experiencing . In the first learning launch , the participants were able to understand what design thinking was all about . They came up with multiple ideas for solving the problem of being “ stuck in jam ” . The response was very positive . An important insight received was that though they were able to think of ideas , they were unable to relate it to their specific domain of work . The participants were part of the off - shore development team which was far from customer and end users . During the workshop they also shared the challenges they faced and hoped to be part of a follow - up design workshop that would help them solve their work - related challenges . The contents of the second design thinking workshop were improved based on the insights gained from the first workshop . In the second 90 min “ experience the design thinking mindset ” learning launch , the teams were able to relate to design thinking methods . The participants empathized with each other , listed problems , ideated and created solutions for better ways of working . Insights : By applying learning launch tool , I was able to test the idea of conducting a design thinking workshop , and determine the response from teams that work in tight deadlines and the participation and enthusiasm of the participants . I had assumed that participants would be able to relate what they learnt from a generic design thinking workshop and would be able to apply it to their work . However , the actual result was different and participants requested for follow - up sessions on how to use what they learnt to their day - to - day tasks . As a result , I was also able to get ideas about the content that I needed to develop for these teams . I had also assumed that teams may not like the idea of extending the workshop into their lunch time , however , the team responded differently . They not only participated in the workshops enthusiastically , but loved trading their lunch time with the workshop . Future workshops after the learning launches have pizzas included . The participants now use design thinking methods to build solutions for problems they face and test these solutions in the following work sprints , and meet again and iterate . Approach : The teams that I am working with , have not had any exposure to design thinking . They are a great engineering team and their understanding of design has been limited to improving graphics . As a design thinking coach , I feel that the choice of selecting the learning launch tool has been appropriate in promoting design thinking . The tool has helped to improve the ways of conducting the design thinking workshops . The insights gathered have helped in contextualizing and improving the content of the workshops . Future design thinking workshops have been planned for longer durations , the content has been developed for various types of participants and they focus on how to use design methods to understand the customers in specific work areas .