Addressing the challenge of new parking arrangements through a Learning Launch

My submission follows the criteria of 10 paragraph limit, with all 5 elements flowing from “Challenge” to  “Approach”.

1. Challenge:

The college I teach at recently declared that students would now longer be able to park inside the  main campus. Instead they must use the parking just outside the main gate and leave the limited  inside parking for staff and faculty. Understandably, students are upset and demand consideration.  Recently there have been accidents and improper parking by students that lead to this decision. The  inside parking is about 100 meters from the classroom buildings, while the outside parking is about  500 meters from the classroom buildings. A parking pass must be shown to security to get inside the  gated front entrance. There is no walking path from the college entrance to the classroom buildings.

2. Selection:

I’ve selected the tool of Learning Launch to address this challenge. Students are upset and have a  number of varied demands to make the situation tolerable. College administration realizes  something should be done, and quickly. The advantage of learning launch is that it allows us to test  the attractiveness of ideas, lots of ideas, quickly and cheaply. This is part of the experimentation  phase of our course, finding out “What wows” and “What works”. The main justification for the tool  is that finding the truth quickly saves you money and time.

This tool is appropriate for this challenge because the group performing the challenge is students of  an innovation course who have studied Design Thinking. They are familiar with the first steps of  developing empathy, then using this knowledge to generate ideas (What is and What if). In fact, the  students are the ‘customers’ in this case, so the idea generation has already bubbled to the surface.

3. Application:

I applied the tool in each of the 3 classes I teach. They had the whole class of 2 hours for this  challenge. First, they were told the problem, then that the College Director wanted suggestions from  them for ways to make the new parking work. I put the students into small groups of 4. I gave them  a 7 step document to fill out, each step having a time frame. Step one was to document their  interviewing of each other to list the problems. They had 15 minutes to come up with as many  problems as possible, digging deep past the obvious ones of distance and discomfort. Second,  drawing on their learning about empathy, they had 10 minutes to find student (customer) needs and  insights based on what they think the interviewees think and feel. Third they as a group had to pick  one need that was the greatest in their opinion.

Now each group was given several sheets of flipchart paper and markers, and 10 minutes to  generate ideas to solve the one greatest problem that they had identified. They did various things  with the paper, listing features of the solution, drawing parts or concepts of the solution, and  eventually were told to draw their suggested solution to the problem they had identified.

For step 5, in the last hour, they were to build quickly and with minimal materials at their disposal, a  prototype or model of their idea. I had brought  boxes of supplies such a aluminum plates, tape,  cardboard, toothpicks, small round candles, glue, scissors, colored paper, paper cups, sticky notes,  etc. for them to use. This was the heart of the Learning Launch, the experimentation, after  grounding it in the design thinking idea generation phase taught in this Coursera course. At the end  they had to display their models and ask feedback from other students (customers) which was step  6.   They shared out loud the things they found interesting and relevant and most surprising. I  collected the solutions, photographing some, and sharing them with the College Director.

4. Insights:

I was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm of the students tackling the challenge. The first half  hour they needed lots of help from me to dig deeper, finding meaningful problems and insights into  why they were problems. However, having a challenge that personally affected them made them  more aware of what design thinking was, and how it can benefit problem definition and ideas  generation.

Having a relatively short time frame in which to agree on one specific problem and solution before  building made them focus and be active, which brought good ideas to the table. People who don’t  usually participate in traditional meetings and discussions found a way to build part of the learning  launch. Unknown skills such as drawing came out.

The main thing I learned is that minimal materials are needed to do the learning launch, and it can  be done very quickly by a team. Getting something 3D so customers can see it and comment on it,  allows us to learn quickly from real customers how they see using it, which needs it meets and  which it doesn’t meet, and which of our assumptions were good and those that were bad. Having  the customers on hand during the building of alternatives is key to getting quick feedback and  redesign.

5. Approach:

For an alternative approach, next time I will take one class and not do the first half hour of design  thinking prep – building empathy and generating ideas – I will give all groups a fixed hypothesis  about the solution and tell them just to make it wow! Then go and test it with customers and see  what works. In this way there will be more iterations of solutions, starting likely with poor ones but  learning quickly from customer feedback to make good solutions for the challenge.

(see 4 photos following for an idea of the ideas launched and learned from!)

1. Parking lot of the right, blue arch entrance, covered walkway on left, pink golf carts ready to

transport those wishing a lift, aluminum classroom buildings.

2. Another design in process

3. Yet another design

4. An air conditioned golf cart for transporting students


Addressing the challenge of new parking arrangements through a Learning Launch My submission follows the criteria of 10 paragraph limit , with all 5 elements flowing from “ Challenge ” to “ Approach ” . 1 . Challenge : The college I teach at recently declared that students would now longer be able to park inside the main campus . Instead they must use the parking just outside the main gate and leave the limited inside parking for staff and faculty . Understandably , students are upset and demand consideration . Recently there have been accidents and improper parking by students that lead to this decision . The inside parking is about 100 meters from the classroom buildings , while the outside parking is about 500 meters from the classroom buildings . A parking pass must be shown to security to get inside the gated front entrance . There is no walking path from the college entrance to the classroom buildings . 2 . Selection : I ’ve selected the tool of Learning Launch to address this challenge . Students are upset and have a number of varied demands to make the situation tolerable . College administration realizes something should be done , and quickly . The advantage of learning launch is that it allows us to test the attractiveness of ideas , lots of ideas , quickly and cheaply . This is part of the experimentation phase of our course , finding out “ What wows ” and “ What works ” . The main justification for the tool is that finding the truth quickly saves you money and time . This tool is appropriate for this challenge because the group performing the challenge is students of an innovation course who have studied Design Thinking . They are familiar with the first steps of developing empathy , then using this knowledge to generate ideas ( What is and What if ) . In fact , the students are the ‘ customers ’ in this case , so the idea generation has already bubbled to the surface . 3 . Application : I applied the tool in each of the 3 classes I teach . They had the whole class of 2 hours for this challenge . First , they were told the problem , then that the College Director wanted suggestions from them for ways to make the new parking work . I put the students into small groups of 4 . I gave them a 7 step document to fill out , each step having a time frame . Step one was to document their interviewing of each other to list the problems . They had 15 minutes to come up with as many problems as possible , digging deep past the obvious ones of distance and discomfort . Second , drawing on their learning about empathy , they had 10 minutes to find student ( customer ) needs and insights based on what they think the interviewees think and feel . Third they as a group had to pick one need that was the greatest in their opinion . Now each group was given several sheets of flipchart paper and markers , and 10 minutes to generate ideas to solve the one greatest problem that they had identified . They did various things with the paper , listing features of the solution , drawing parts or concepts of the solution , and eventually were told to draw their suggested solution to the problem they had identified . For step 5 , in the last hour , they were to build quickly and with minimal materials at their disposal , a prototype or model of their idea . I had brought boxes of supplies such a aluminum plates , tape , cardboard , toothpicks , small round candles , glue , scissors , colored paper , paper cups , sticky notes , etc . for them to use . This was the heart of the Learning Launch , the experimentation , after grounding it in the design thinking idea generation phase taught in this Coursera course . At the end they had to display their models and ask feedback from other students ( customers ) which was step 6 . They shared out loud the things they found interesting and relevant and most surprising . I collected the solutions , photographing some , and sharing them with the College Director . 4 . Insights : I was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm of the students tackling the challenge . The first half hour they needed lots of help from me to dig deeper , finding meaningful problems and insights into why they were problems . However , having a challenge that personally affected them made them more aware of what design thinking was , and how it can benefit problem definition and ideas generation . Having a relatively short time frame in which to agree on one specific problem and solution before building made them focus and be active , which brought good ideas to the table . People who do n’t usually participate in traditional meetings and discussions found a way to build part of the learning launch . Unknown skills such as drawing came out . The main thing I learned is that minimal materials are needed to do the learning launch , and it can be done very quickly by a team . Getting something 3D so customers can see it and comment on it , allows us to learn quickly from real customers how they see using it , which needs it meets and which it does n’t meet , and which of our assumptions were good and those that were bad . Having the customers on hand during the building of alternatives is key to getting quick feedback and redesign . 5 . Approach : For an alternative approach , next time I will take one class and not do the first half hour of design thinking prep – building empathy and generating ideas – I will give all groups a fixed hypothesis about the solution and tell them just to make it wow ! Then go and test it with customers and see what works . In this way there will be more iterations of solutions , starting likely with poor ones but learning quickly from customer feedback to make good solutions for the challenge . ( see 4 photos following for an idea of the ideas launched and learned from ! ) 1 . Parking lot of the right , blue arch entrance , covered walkway on left , pink golf carts ready to transport those wishing a lift , aluminum classroom buildings . 2 . Another design in process 3 . Yet another design 4 . An air conditioned golf cart for transporting students