Challenge and selection . 

 I ’m employee as system Engineer in a French major corporate and in parallel ; I ’m Entrepreneur as   application developer with my brother . 

 Our Entrepreneur business model is to develop mobile application for smartphone . We are inspired   by two books « Fail Fast or Win Big » of Bernard Schroeder and “ Art of Innovation ” of Tom Kelley . To   summarize our challenge : “ Big win or Fail fast ” : Be lean and prototype quickly to validate or not our   idea . I have always plenty of idea of new applications that we could develop but because we have a   limited budget , resources and time ; Our challenge is to choose among these ideas which one we   must launch or not . The learning launch activity is an experiment conducted quickly and   inexpensively and it is all what we need . 

 Our challenge is for each idea ; we put in place two learning launch steps : 

 -   Step 1 : Is the application answer to a real need from customers ? 

 -   Step2 : Verification : Is the application cover properly this need ( Human Machine Interface ,   function , technical difficulty … ) ? 

 The Learning Launch tool helps me to pass these two steps to know if we have to launch a new   application development . So let me introduce how I apply the Learning Launch tool . 

 Application 

 To pass the step 1 : Is the application answer to a real needs from customer ? 

 First I try to go walk in the shoes of my potential customers . I imagine a list of scenario on a paper   where my futures customers could really need my application . I try to discover for which scenario ,   my application would work and would not work . I ask myself the question if I would install this   application on my mobile and if I would pay to get it . Of course at the beginning of this step , I have   made a lot of assumptions and the goal of the learning launch will be to tests these critical   assumptions . So I do a list of all my assumption that I will try to validate . 

 I then select between 10 and 20 different people ( different age / sex / culture ) . I choose them among   friends of my friends to avoid a bias due to friendship . I organize a meal or have a drink with each   one in face to face to avoid a group that could be influenced by others expressing their opinions at   the same time . During the meal , I guide the discussion to discover if in the life ’s interviewee , it exists   some situation where my application would help him / her . My objective is to know if the application   answers the need or not . I try to know if the critical assumptions I have taken are true . For that I use   the list of key assumptions that I have elaborated before . Then , I explain to my interviewee how my   application could help him / her in this situation . First I just observe the reaction of the visage . From   my prospective it is more important to observe reactions than ask directly the question « do you   think it is a good idea » ? It protects myself from confirmation bias due to the fact that people does n’t   want to hurt me for example . 

 When I have validate the step 1 , I go to the step 2 : Is the application cover properly this need on a   functional aspect ( Human Machine Interface , function , technical difficulty … ) ? 

 To answer this question I experiment with a role - play with a group of 4 - 5 people . 

 At this step I have not yet a first beta version ( prototype ) of the application , so what I do is that I   begin to imagine the different screens of the mobile application and function to do a kind of   « prototype sketch » . I prepare by drawing on several cardboard of the size of a Smartphone , the   different possible screens of my application that I have imagined . And with these cardboards , we   “ emulate ” the application during a role play of scenarios that I have elaborated and selected in step   1 . It allows me to observe the behavior of the participants . I can test the remaining assumption . I   collect the feedback of participants to adapt / add / remove some functionality or detail in the   application and to improve the interface . If some change has to perform , we perform the changes   and do the role - play again by iterative cycle . If this step is conclusive , we begin / continue to develop a   beta version . When we have a first beta application version available , I again organize a role - play   with the real application . It allows me to validate deeply the technical aspect of the application ,   mostly when I use technology linked to real environment of the Smartphone like geo - tracking with   GPS   or internet access functions … 

 Insight & Approach 

 What I have learn by conducting this Learning launch activities on two different ideas / applications is   that sometimes the interviewee people just do n’t answer the question that I had prepare but instead   of prefer to give their opinion . They try to assess the chance of success of the application instead of   focusing to answer if the application could help them or not . That why now I will try to understand if   my application could help them by guiding discussion before explaining them what is the goal of the   application . Another situation that I met was that people involved in the role - play was shy and I   guessed they modify the way they would use the application in the real life and then it could bias the   conclusion . But I consider the Learning Launch tool like an estimator and an estimator is never   perfect but it is better than nothing . 

 All these steps are the first contact with the real world and it helps us to refine the application and to   fix some issues prior either losing a lot of money because the application does n’t stick any real needs   or saving a lot of money because performing later change in an application is always more expensive   than at the beginning of development . Sometimes it could be discouraging when the feedback of the   Learning Launch activities concludes that it is not a so good idea ( in fact I realize that the application   would be good for me in my special context but not applicable to enough other people ): sometimes I   have to struggle with myself abandon an idea . In that case I tried to remember that “ Innovation is a   probability game ” and soon I will have another good idea I will test it with “ Learning Launch ” tool   because it is definitely a tool that I will continue to use . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Challenge and selection . 

 I ’m employee as system Engineer in a French major corporate and in parallel ; I ’m Entrepreneur as   application developer with my brother . 

 Our Entrepreneur business model is to develop mobile application for smartphone . We are inspired   by two books « Fail Fast or Win Big » of Bernard Schroeder and “ Art of Innovation ” of Tom Kelley . To   summarize our challenge : “ Big win or Fail fast ” : Be lean and prototype quickly to validate or not our   idea . I have always plenty of idea of new applications that we could develop but because we have a   limited budget , resources and time ; Our challenge is to choose among these ideas which one we   must launch or not . The learning launch activity is an experiment conducted quickly and   inexpensively and it is all what we need . 

 Our challenge is for each idea ; we put in place two learning launch steps : 

 -   Step 1 : Is the application answer to a real need from customers ? 

 -   Step2 : Verification : Is the application cover properly this need ( Human Machine Interface ,   function , technical difficulty … ) ? 

 The Learning Launch tool helps me to pass these two steps to know if we have to launch a new   application development . So let me introduce how I apply the Learning Launch tool . 

 Application 

 To pass the step 1 : Is the application answer to a real needs from customer ? 

 First I try to go walk in the shoes of my potential customers . I imagine a list of scenario on a paper   where my futures customers could really need my application . I try to discover for which scenario ,   my application would work and would not work . I ask myself the question if I would install this   application on my mobile and if I would pay to get it . Of course at the beginning of this step , I have   made a lot of assumptions and the goal of the learning launch will be to tests these critical   assumptions . So I do a list of all my assumption that I will try to validate . 

 I then select between 10 and 20 different people ( different age / sex / culture ) . I choose them among   friends of my friends to avoid a bias due to friendship . I organize a meal or have a drink with each   one in face to face to avoid a group that could be influenced by others expressing their opinions at   the same time . During the meal , I guide the discussion to discover if in the life ’s interviewee , it exists   some situation where my application would help him / her . My objective is to know if the application   answers the need or not . I try to know if the critical assumptions I have taken are true . For that I use   the list of key assumptions that I have elaborated before . Then , I explain to my interviewee how my   application could help him / her in this situation . First I just observe the reaction of the visage . From   my prospective it is more important to observe reactions than ask directly the question « do you   think it is a good idea » ? It protects myself from confirmation bias due to the fact that people does n’t   want to hurt me for example . 

 When I have validate the step 1 , I go to the step 2 : Is the application cover properly this need on a   functional aspect ( Human Machine Interface , function , technical difficulty … ) ? 

 To answer this question I experiment with a role - play with a group of 4 - 5 people . 

 At this step I have not yet a first beta version ( prototype ) of the application , so what I do is that I   begin to imagine the different screens of the mobile application and function to do a kind of   « prototype sketch » . I prepare by drawing on several cardboard of the size of a Smartphone , the   different possible screens of my application that I have imagined . And with these cardboards , we   “ emulate ” the application during a role play of scenarios that I have elaborated and selected in step   1 . It allows me to observe the behavior of the participants . I can test the remaining assumption . I   collect the feedback of participants to adapt / add / remove some functionality or detail in the   application and to improve the interface . If some change has to perform , we perform the changes   and do the role - play again by iterative cycle . If this step is conclusive , we begin / continue to develop a   beta version . When we have a first beta application version available , I again organize a role - play   with the real application . It allows me to validate deeply the technical aspect of the application ,   mostly when I use technology linked to real environment of the Smartphone like geo - tracking with   GPS   or internet access functions … 

 Insight & Approach 

 What I have learn by conducting this Learning launch activities on two different ideas / applications is   that sometimes the interviewee people just do n’t answer the question that I had prepare but instead   of prefer to give their opinion . They try to assess the chance of success of the application instead of   focusing to answer if the application could help them or not . That why now I will try to understand if   my application could help them by guiding discussion before explaining them what is the goal of the   application . Another situation that I met was that people involved in the role - play was shy and I   guessed they modify the way they would use the application in the real life and then it could bias the   conclusion . But I consider the Learning Launch tool like an estimator and an estimator is never   perfect but it is better than nothing . 

 All these steps are the first contact with the real world and it helps us to refine the application and to   fix some issues prior either losing a lot of money because the application does n’t stick any real needs   or saving a lot of money because performing later change in an application is always more expensive   than at the beginning of development . Sometimes it could be discouraging when the feedback of the   Learning Launch activities concludes that it is not a so good idea ( in fact I realize that the application   would be good for me in my special context but not applicable to enough other people ): sometimes I   have to struggle with myself abandon an idea . In that case I tried to remember that “ Innovation is a   probability game ” and soon I will have another good idea I will test it with “ Learning Launch ” tool   because it is definitely a tool that I will continue to use .
### Output: 