Example Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge

I am a member of my organization’s online marketing department and my/our challenge is to improve

the workflow (activities and projects) within the department in order to increase sales in the online
channel and to spend marketing budgets on the right campaigns. The project scope includes the online
marketing department composed of ten employees, as well as the larger marketing department and IT
department, with whom we work closely. The project is limited to internal resources (i.e., budget and
employee time). The project should not exceed 30 business days and the solution should include an
even distribution of working hours amongst the team members. We will focus on trying to uncover what
our team members, as well as key stakeholders within the larger marketing department and IT
department, consider to be ineffective or problematic with regard to the workflow.

Selection

Our team has already gone through several design thinking activities/tools, so we are ready to try the
learning launch tool. Broadly speaking, the learning launch is an experiment meant to quickly test an
idea and prototype.

Application

For our first learning launch, we focused on the structure/execution of our online marketing tasks. In
particular, we wanted to see if we could structure our tasks, projects, and processes to adapt the
methods of Scrum project management for our work (e.g., time boxed, daily, specific meetings, reviews,
etc.) in an effort to become more agile. This tested our assumption that the structure and execution
were the main causes of our workflow challenge. Our team went through a two-day training with a
Scrum project management coach. Next, we went through five workshops to structure our tasks and
processes in a more agile way. These two sessions occurred within in a three-week timeframe. We
expected to produce a document with a clear description of our new, more agile processes/workflow.

For our second learning launch, we focused on gaining clarity about our tasks and priorities. This tested
our assumption that our prioritization of tasks was the main cause of our workflow challenge. Our team
completed an anonymous survey. Additionally, five key stakeholders from the larger marketing
department and IT department also completed an anonymous survey. The surveys included questions
about our new, proposed process, understanding the process and the prioritization of tasks, and feelings
about the change, and were conducted within a one-week timeframe.

Insight

By applying the learning launch tool, our team identified our assumptions and designed launches to test
these assumptions. Additionally, we thought through anticipated results, expecting to find that a more
agile approach would improve our workflow, and that both our team and the key stakeholders would be
fairly open to the new prioritization of tasks and process. Our actual results were slightly different from
what we anticipated: while our team was open to the prioritization of tasks and process, the key
stakeholders in the larger marketing department and IT department expressed some concerns. Moving
forward, our team will review this insight and incorporate it into future launch designs. The ongoing
incorporation of insight is particularly important at this stage, as launches come before a full rollout in
the design thinking timeline.

Approach

Given that our team has already gone through several design thinking activities/tools and are at this
stage in the timeline, the learning launch is the appropriate tool. As previously mentioned, our team
needs to review the insight gained from our first two launches and incorporate this insight into future
launch designs. Future launch designs should reflect insight gained, progress made, and come closer to a
compelling solution ready for full rollout.