Example Reﬂection - Learning Launch

Challenge I am part of a team which evaluates new  capabilities and products which should be built  by my Technology company. The challenge for  our team has been to promote innovation in the  organization and get more people to participate  in the process along with their regular jobs. The  objective is to generate new capabilities on a  consistent and scalable basis. While my organization has products which are  well received in the market place and are cash  cows, recent  technological changes and  advances have made innovation a core  objective.

Selection I selected Learning Launch as the tool to tackle  this challenge, and the primary reason was the  need to create lots of fast and cheap  experiments, and have this percolated to all  levels of the organization. While the other  thinking tools are appropriate for parts of our  challenge, but does not address the need for  enterprise-wide participation.

My primary reference is the Learning launch  video lecture by Marco Klein in Week 4.

Application Our team created and announced a company- wide Hackathon event, framed the rules of  participation and decided evaluation criteria.  Employees were allowed to spend 10% of their  working time every week to prepare for this event.  They were encouraged to work on products  outside their daily work. Each self-selecting team  should have a minimum number of cross- functional members, and the depth of their  collaboration was one of the evaluation criteria. The core of this innovation was about  understanding the customer’s needs, their  journeys and pain points they face. Each team had  to take a few of these customer insights and  create a hypothesis about how they will solve this  problem. Most of the organization was energized and we  witnessed nearly 100 different teams participating  in this challenge. The ﬁrst gate was about  identifying which of these hypotheses/ideas were  solvable, and had a large potential market to be  captured. We had to keep a high bar here as the  next step involved more resources, and many

teams qualiﬁed. The next step was actually creating a prototype  which can be tested with customers, and their  feedback and insights captured. These teams had  to present their prototype to the Executives along  with customer feedback and their insights. Finally,  a handful of ideas were selected to be  productized, and the remaining were kept for  future usage.

Insight Learning launch is a valuable tool for us, and the  customer insights has been especially useful.  They were enthused as their opinion was sought  and they had the potential to inﬂuence the  product. Disconﬁrming facts have been very effective as  they weeded out a lot of ideas which did not have  sufﬁcient depth of real data. Overall, our design thinking initiatives were very  successful, and we can see the potential for more  such tools to be used across our business.

Approach One of the issues we had was that people became  really passionate about THEIR idea, and the  rejection was not taken up well. We need to

educate the value of generating ideas even if they  do not get selected. All people involved in this  exercise should be celebrated in a much better  way. The other issue was that the challenge was  deﬁned very broadly, and so we had people  participating in areas which were completely  outside their expert areas. In the future, we might  focus the challenge around our existing product  lines and add a few new products, as we need  product owners to act as guardians.


Example Reﬂection - Learning Launch Challenge I am part of a team which evaluates new capabilities and products which should be built by my Technology company . The challenge for our team has been to promote innovation in the organization and get more people to participate in the process along with their regular jobs . The objective is to generate new capabilities on a consistent and scalable basis . While my organization has products which are well received in the market place and are cash cows , recent technological changes and advances have made innovation a core objective . Selection I selected Learning Launch as the tool to tackle this challenge , and the primary reason was the need to create lots of fast and cheap experiments , and have this percolated to all levels of the organization . While the other thinking tools are appropriate for parts of our challenge , but does not address the need for enterprise - wide participation . My primary reference is the Learning launch video lecture by Marco Klein in Week 4 . Application Our team created and announced a company- wide Hackathon event , framed the rules of participation and decided evaluation criteria . Employees were allowed to spend 10 % of their working time every week to prepare for this event . They were encouraged to work on products outside their daily work . Each self - selecting team should have a minimum number of cross- functional members , and the depth of their collaboration was one of the evaluation criteria . The core of this innovation was about understanding the customer ’s needs , their journeys and pain points they face . Each team had to take a few of these customer insights and create a hypothesis about how they will solve this problem . Most of the organization was energized and we witnessed nearly 100 different teams participating in this challenge . The ﬁrst gate was about identifying which of these hypotheses / ideas were solvable , and had a large potential market to be captured . We had to keep a high bar here as the next step involved more resources , and many teams qualiﬁed . The next step was actually creating a prototype which can be tested with customers , and their feedback and insights captured . These teams had to present their prototype to the Executives along with customer feedback and their insights . Finally , a handful of ideas were selected to be productized , and the remaining were kept for future usage . Insight Learning launch is a valuable tool for us , and the customer insights has been especially useful . They were enthused as their opinion was sought and they had the potential to inﬂuence the product . Disconﬁrming facts have been very effective as they weeded out a lot of ideas which did not have sufﬁcient depth of real data . Overall , our design thinking initiatives were very successful , and we can see the potential for more such tools to be used across our business . Approach One of the issues we had was that people became really passionate about THEIR idea , and the rejection was not taken up well . We need to educate the value of generating ideas even if they do not get selected . All people involved in this exercise should be celebrated in a much better way . The other issue was that the challenge was deﬁned very broadly , and so we had people participating in areas which were completely outside their expert areas . In the future , we might focus the challenge around our existing product lines and add a few new products , as we need product owners to act as guardians .