Kevin Taylor | Reflection | Learning Launch | Coursera Assignment Submission | 4th July 2020 

 Page | 1 

 Reflection – Learning Launch     Challenge & Selection   As a software architect and system designer , my day to day work entails , convincing the   stakeholders about the viability of the technological solutions to solve a business problem . To   achieve this objective , I use visualization , storytelling , and prototyping of brainstormed ideas . Out   of these aforementioned tools , I have had the most success with prototyping and eventually   learning launches .     The stakeholders are most impressed and convinced when they see a hypothesis in action .   Visualization does help in bringing all the parties on the same page but when the ideas come alive   that is when their interest is sparked and a plethora of feedback is generated .     A while ago , when I was working with a banking product company , I was tasked to generate ideas   for ' one to one messaging - based payment system ' . The challenge was to delve into an uncertain   domain , evaluate the existing solutions , and then come up with ideas , prototypes to show how a   better solution can be designed to help the customers leverage their existing messaging platform   to do monetary transactions .     We picked the most convincing ideas from the idea generation phase . Since we were dealing with   a moving target , we wanted deeper insights into an uncertain requirement and its associated   challenges . We thought that to get to the bottom of the requirement we must develop a quick   prototype and bring it into the hands of a small set of actual users . As it is also mentioned in Ricardo Nummer 's description of the tool - " The purpose of the learning launch is a search for the truth " .     I was certain that this " Learning Launch " design tool will help us reach our users directly and early   in the process of finding out the worth of the idea . If our initial facts about the solution are   corroborated then we can safely proceed with the solution at a larger scale .     Application    To start with , we went ahead and created a mobile app to tap the SMSs sent and received in a very   specific format to identify the Payor / Payee and the purchased items in a transaction . The mobile- enabled users to select specific items based on the registered merchants and the items they offer .   To get significant data we launched the program as an alternative payment system in the company   cafeteria . I convinced the five vendors in the cafeteria to allow specific users to use SMSs to pay   for snacks , beverages , and lunches . On the other hand , we asked the users of the application to   submit a set limit of the cash amount which will be translated to the digital amount in the mobile   application .     To monitor the daily transactions , we set up an automated reporting pipeline . Each transaction   would be recorded in the database as a credit or debit transaction . Then reporting scripts would   generate pivots for each registered merchant . At the end of each day , we would visit all the   merchants with the transaction report of that day and make a payment in cash to them . Of course ,   this set up was manually orchestrated but we wanted to focus on the channel - based payment   solutions instead of other operational aspects . 

 Kevin Taylor | Reflection | Learning Launch | Coursera Assignment Submission | 4th July 2020 

 Page | 2 

 We ran the program for 90 days . With everyday feedback , we kept fixing the race condition errors   and usability issues . We learned a lot about user behavior and merchant behavior .      Many times , users were on different mobile plans . Each plan has a different signal strength in the   area . Which caused disparities in receiving SMS confirmations and subsequently delayed the   propagation of the notification to the POS receipt printer . Many users were not happy with the   delays and complained that they had to wait for the receipts to be printed due to network delays .   To help those users we gave them an on - demand receipt printing option so that they can complete   a transaction any time and later they can simply approach the merchant and print the receipt token .     Merchants complained about the extra work of monitoring different categories of users ( SMS   Payment Users ) and having to wait for the final payment until the very end of the day . We   addressed their concerns by appointing one of our team associates to sit with the merchants during   the peak hours to support sample users and added additional incentive of 1 % extra payment to   participate in the exercise .     The learning launch of our program was super effective to unveil the hidden challenges and must- have features for such a payment methodology . The key factor to our success was being empathetic   to our sample users and quickly adapting to the discoveries in the requirements .     Insights   We gained valuable insights from the learning launch . Though the aforementioned solution was   not completely adopted . But many of its components and research insights became instrumental   in giving birth to new growth initiatives . It spurred great enthusiasm among all stakeholders that   they got interested in our other endeavors as well .      We documented all the hurdles , customer apprehensions , and gaps in the solution . The modules   created for POS and SMS modem communication were received well and were adopted in another   line of business to incorporate a similar feature . The wonderful insights gained from customer   behavior in the cafe paved the way for a punch card - based payment system . We learned a lot about   mobile transaction security and accuracy .      Transparency with our sample users gained their confidence and they even expressed their desire   to be part of the future experiments as well . We not only reaped tangible benefits but we also   fueled important organizational parameters like innovation culture and growth mindset .     Approach   I have been part of many " Learning launches " and this course has reinforced my understanding of   the methodology . It has helped me to explain and convey the approach better . My future learning   launches are going to be crispier and better planned with the techniques I have learned in this   course . I love the feedback on a live product and will use it not just on technology solutions but in   Process enhancements as well . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Kevin Taylor, Kevin Taylor
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: Kevin Taylor | Reflection | Learning Launch | Coursera Assignment Submission | 4th July 2020 

 Page | 1 

 Reflection – Learning Launch     Challenge & Selection   As a software architect and system designer , my day to day work entails , convincing the   stakeholders about the viability of the technological solutions to solve a business problem . To   achieve this objective , I use visualization , storytelling , and prototyping of brainstormed ideas . Out   of these aforementioned tools , I have had the most success with prototyping and eventually   learning launches .     The stakeholders are most impressed and convinced when they see a hypothesis in action .   Visualization does help in bringing all the parties on the same page but when the ideas come alive   that is when their interest is sparked and a plethora of feedback is generated .     A while ago , when I was working with a banking product company , I was tasked to generate ideas   for ' one to one messaging - based payment system ' . The challenge was to delve into an uncertain   domain , evaluate the existing solutions , and then come up with ideas , prototypes to show how a   better solution can be designed to help the customers leverage their existing messaging platform   to do monetary transactions .     We picked the most convincing ideas from the idea generation phase . Since we were dealing with   a moving target , we wanted deeper insights into an uncertain requirement and its associated   challenges . We thought that to get to the bottom of the requirement we must develop a quick   prototype and bring it into the hands of a small set of actual users . As it is also mentioned in Ricardo Nummer 's description of the tool - " The purpose of the learning launch is a search for the truth " .     I was certain that this " Learning Launch " design tool will help us reach our users directly and early   in the process of finding out the worth of the idea . If our initial facts about the solution are   corroborated then we can safely proceed with the solution at a larger scale .     Application    To start with , we went ahead and created a mobile app to tap the SMSs sent and received in a very   specific format to identify the Payor / Payee and the purchased items in a transaction . The mobile- enabled users to select specific items based on the registered merchants and the items they offer .   To get significant data we launched the program as an alternative payment system in the company   cafeteria . I convinced the five vendors in the cafeteria to allow specific users to use SMSs to pay   for snacks , beverages , and lunches . On the other hand , we asked the users of the application to   submit a set limit of the cash amount which will be translated to the digital amount in the mobile   application .     To monitor the daily transactions , we set up an automated reporting pipeline . Each transaction   would be recorded in the database as a credit or debit transaction . Then reporting scripts would   generate pivots for each registered merchant . At the end of each day , we would visit all the   merchants with the transaction report of that day and make a payment in cash to them . Of course ,   this set up was manually orchestrated but we wanted to focus on the channel - based payment   solutions instead of other operational aspects . 

 Kevin Taylor | Reflection | Learning Launch | Coursera Assignment Submission | 4th July 2020 

 Page | 2 

 We ran the program for 90 days . With everyday feedback , we kept fixing the race condition errors   and usability issues . We learned a lot about user behavior and merchant behavior .      Many times , users were on different mobile plans . Each plan has a different signal strength in the   area . Which caused disparities in receiving SMS confirmations and subsequently delayed the   propagation of the notification to the POS receipt printer . Many users were not happy with the   delays and complained that they had to wait for the receipts to be printed due to network delays .   To help those users we gave them an on - demand receipt printing option so that they can complete   a transaction any time and later they can simply approach the merchant and print the receipt token .     Merchants complained about the extra work of monitoring different categories of users ( SMS   Payment Users ) and having to wait for the final payment until the very end of the day . We   addressed their concerns by appointing one of our team associates to sit with the merchants during   the peak hours to support sample users and added additional incentive of 1 % extra payment to   participate in the exercise .     The learning launch of our program was super effective to unveil the hidden challenges and must- have features for such a payment methodology . The key factor to our success was being empathetic   to our sample users and quickly adapting to the discoveries in the requirements .     Insights   We gained valuable insights from the learning launch . Though the aforementioned solution was   not completely adopted . But many of its components and research insights became instrumental   in giving birth to new growth initiatives . It spurred great enthusiasm among all stakeholders that   they got interested in our other endeavors as well .      We documented all the hurdles , customer apprehensions , and gaps in the solution . The modules   created for POS and SMS modem communication were received well and were adopted in another   line of business to incorporate a similar feature . The wonderful insights gained from customer   behavior in the cafe paved the way for a punch card - based payment system . We learned a lot about   mobile transaction security and accuracy .      Transparency with our sample users gained their confidence and they even expressed their desire   to be part of the future experiments as well . We not only reaped tangible benefits but we also   fueled important organizational parameters like innovation culture and growth mindset .     Approach   I have been part of many " Learning launches " and this course has reinforced my understanding of   the methodology . It has helped me to explain and convey the approach better . My future learning   launches are going to be crispier and better planned with the techniques I have learned in this   course . I love the feedback on a live product and will use it not just on technology solutions but in   Process enhancements as well .
### Output: 