Reflection 

 Challenge 

 I am in the middle of a significant business transformation at a major retailer in the way 

 they make the key decisions of what products are stocked in which locations ( assortment ) 

 and how many of those products should be stocked at each location ( inventory depth ) . 

 The current tools are antiquated and the current process is manual and silo - ed .   The 

 retailer struggles with both detecting changes in the market demand and also the time it 

 takes to react to a change through their systems and processes .   It takes too long to action 

 a decision .   There is uncertainty whether the decision is successfully reflected in all systems 

 and by the time all required steps are complete that someone else did not make a 

 different decision in the system overriding the decision being implemented . 

 We went through the process similar to What - is , What - if and What - Wows and now have a 

 vision for the future state process and the required tools .   This new approach will use latest 

 advances in technology and tools to build a custom tailored solution that addresses the 

 current problems , automates routine decisions and establishes a platform for the company 

 to evolve quickly to face new challenges . 

 There is a clear vision of the solution and what it will deliver .   Now , the details have to be 

 developed and validated . 

 Top management wants to move fast and deliver value as quickly as possible .    At the 

 same time , the business process change is significant , the technology is new to the retailer 

 and while it can make a tremendous impact , it has not been proven it can work in the 

 conditions at this specific retailer .   Management wants an early indication of value and 

 quantify the change impact to the organization before continuing to make capital 

 investments in the change . 

 Selection 

 While there is strong belief that the solution proposed is right for the company , there are a 

 number of questions what can only be answered through experimentation .   I believe 

 Learning Launch would be the ideal way to approach this problem . 

 To validate the approach as quickly as possible and get useful information for the future , I 

 need to do two things 

 1 .   Define reasonable depth of capabilities that need to be built that will be sufficient to 

 validate the proposed approach 

 2 .   Using the capabilities built , run the business with the new set of tools and processes for a 

 sufficiently long period of time to generate meaningful learnings 

 I want to test the tools and approach in the real world by running the business for two 

 product categories for two months . 

 The core idea is to launch a new way of doing things and learn from it , adapt and rapidly 

 expand - i.e. Learning Launch ! 

 Application 

 To achieve the two objectives , I believe there is a need to bring together the principles of 

 agile methodology and learning launch . 

 The transformation journey is going to be a long one and we want to use this opportunity 

 to seed a way of incrementally developing and deploying capabilities ( agile ) that can be 

 sustained over long periods and also weave the learning launch - test and learn approach 

 into the corporate DNA . 

 Five small cross functional teams were created , each focussed on a part of the overall 

 solution .   These teams will first define the Minimum Viable Product ( MVP )   for each 

 component that will help everyone validate the end to end vision and also provide useful 

 insights into changes required and the impact those changes will have on the 

 organization . 

 It will take too much time and will be risky to build out the full set of   capabilities to deliver 

 the vision .   The MVP approach will help identify core capabilities , if proven , will validate the 

 complete vision and generate significant benefits for the company .   The MVP will deliver 

 enough capability to get started on the journey ,   recognizing immediate benefits while 

 new capabilities are incrementally added .   This will meet the objective of the management 

 to see benefits early while also managing risk and uncertainty . 

 The agile team will continue to remain in place and will eventually build out the entire 

 solution - each time using Learning Launch to quickly test and learn while building the 

 muscles required to take on current ( known ) and future ( unknown ) business challenges . 

 The initial learning launch will also teach us about the process of using learning launches 

 to incrementally and rapidly add value with the ability to make quick course corrections 

 based on the learnings . 

 Insight and Approach 

 I was well into the What Wows stage when I started to take this course .   This course 

 clarified a number of things for me and the timing was just right as I was contemplating 

 the approach to take to bring the vision to fruition . 

 My initial thoughts were to use approaches like prototyping ,   business pilot or a proof of 

 concept . Based on my previous experiences , these approaches did not always produce 

 satisfactory results .   They were good to sell software or an idea but did not necessarily 

 deliver the promise when implemented . 

 For example , results from a previous proof of concept ( POC ) at this company did not 

 translate into realized benefits because during POC , the focus was narrow and the test was 

 conducted under controlled and mostly laboratory conditions .   When the initiative was 

 finally implemented , real business challenges made it impossible to move ahead . 

 Learning launch takes on the real challenge .   The full business impact ( people , process , 

 tools ) can not be evaluated using narrow point tests of a solution . You need a broad real 

 world test that touches everything end to end .   Learning Launch is the perfect approach . 

 The learning launch approach proposed will use real components ( people , process and 

 tools ) in the real running of the business and will help not only in validating the vision and 

 the tools , but in changing the mindset of the people who are wary and jaded from the 

 initiative overloads over the past many years .    The idea was well received and now is 

 ready to launch . 

 The greatest benefit to the company will be people trained to be design thinkers as they 

 grow this initiative and begin others . 

 This course brought together and crystalized in my mind a streamlined way of thinking .   In 

 my own way , I have walked through the four step journey many times but for the first time , 

 thanks to this course , I am not only able to articulate the approach but can execute it more 

 effectively . 


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: Reflection 

 Challenge 

 I am in the middle of a significant business transformation at a major retailer in the way 

 they make the key decisions of what products are stocked in which locations ( assortment ) 

 and how many of those products should be stocked at each location ( inventory depth ) . 

 The current tools are antiquated and the current process is manual and silo - ed .   The 

 retailer struggles with both detecting changes in the market demand and also the time it 

 takes to react to a change through their systems and processes .   It takes too long to action 

 a decision .   There is uncertainty whether the decision is successfully reflected in all systems 

 and by the time all required steps are complete that someone else did not make a 

 different decision in the system overriding the decision being implemented . 

 We went through the process similar to What - is , What - if and What - Wows and now have a 

 vision for the future state process and the required tools .   This new approach will use latest 

 advances in technology and tools to build a custom tailored solution that addresses the 

 current problems , automates routine decisions and establishes a platform for the company 

 to evolve quickly to face new challenges . 

 There is a clear vision of the solution and what it will deliver .   Now , the details have to be 

 developed and validated . 

 Top management wants to move fast and deliver value as quickly as possible .    At the 

 same time , the business process change is significant , the technology is new to the retailer 

 and while it can make a tremendous impact , it has not been proven it can work in the 

 conditions at this specific retailer .   Management wants an early indication of value and 

 quantify the change impact to the organization before continuing to make capital 

 investments in the change . 

 Selection 

 While there is strong belief that the solution proposed is right for the company , there are a 

 number of questions what can only be answered through experimentation .   I believe 

 Learning Launch would be the ideal way to approach this problem . 

 To validate the approach as quickly as possible and get useful information for the future , I 

 need to do two things 

 1 .   Define reasonable depth of capabilities that need to be built that will be sufficient to 

 validate the proposed approach 

 2 .   Using the capabilities built , run the business with the new set of tools and processes for a 

 sufficiently long period of time to generate meaningful learnings 

 I want to test the tools and approach in the real world by running the business for two 

 product categories for two months . 

 The core idea is to launch a new way of doing things and learn from it , adapt and rapidly 

 expand - i.e. Learning Launch ! 

 Application 

 To achieve the two objectives , I believe there is a need to bring together the principles of 

 agile methodology and learning launch . 

 The transformation journey is going to be a long one and we want to use this opportunity 

 to seed a way of incrementally developing and deploying capabilities ( agile ) that can be 

 sustained over long periods and also weave the learning launch - test and learn approach 

 into the corporate DNA . 

 Five small cross functional teams were created , each focussed on a part of the overall 

 solution .   These teams will first define the Minimum Viable Product ( MVP )   for each 

 component that will help everyone validate the end to end vision and also provide useful 

 insights into changes required and the impact those changes will have on the 

 organization . 

 It will take too much time and will be risky to build out the full set of   capabilities to deliver 

 the vision .   The MVP approach will help identify core capabilities , if proven , will validate the 

 complete vision and generate significant benefits for the company .   The MVP will deliver 

 enough capability to get started on the journey ,   recognizing immediate benefits while 

 new capabilities are incrementally added .   This will meet the objective of the management 

 to see benefits early while also managing risk and uncertainty . 

 The agile team will continue to remain in place and will eventually build out the entire 

 solution - each time using Learning Launch to quickly test and learn while building the 

 muscles required to take on current ( known ) and future ( unknown ) business challenges . 

 The initial learning launch will also teach us about the process of using learning launches 

 to incrementally and rapidly add value with the ability to make quick course corrections 

 based on the learnings . 

 Insight and Approach 

 I was well into the What Wows stage when I started to take this course .   This course 

 clarified a number of things for me and the timing was just right as I was contemplating 

 the approach to take to bring the vision to fruition . 

 My initial thoughts were to use approaches like prototyping ,   business pilot or a proof of 

 concept . Based on my previous experiences , these approaches did not always produce 

 satisfactory results .   They were good to sell software or an idea but did not necessarily 

 deliver the promise when implemented . 

 For example , results from a previous proof of concept ( POC ) at this company did not 

 translate into realized benefits because during POC , the focus was narrow and the test was 

 conducted under controlled and mostly laboratory conditions .   When the initiative was 

 finally implemented , real business challenges made it impossible to move ahead . 

 Learning launch takes on the real challenge .   The full business impact ( people , process , 

 tools ) can not be evaluated using narrow point tests of a solution . You need a broad real 

 world test that touches everything end to end .   Learning Launch is the perfect approach . 

 The learning launch approach proposed will use real components ( people , process and 

 tools ) in the real running of the business and will help not only in validating the vision and 

 the tools , but in changing the mindset of the people who are wary and jaded from the 

 initiative overloads over the past many years .    The idea was well received and now is 

 ready to launch . 

 The greatest benefit to the company will be people trained to be design thinkers as they 

 grow this initiative and begin others . 

 This course brought together and crystalized in my mind a streamlined way of thinking .   In 

 my own way , I have walked through the four step journey many times but for the first time , 

 thanks to this course , I am not only able to articulate the approach but can execute it more 

 effectively .
### Output: 