Reflection – Learning Launch   Leave Advisor 

 Ivan Tomac 

 Challenge 

 I am a senior UX designer for our organization and our challenge was to develop a decision   making application that helps employees pick the correct leave of absence ( LOA ) option which will   reduce the risk of taking an incorrect form of LOA and to help limit the time that a HR   representative would need walking an employee or manager through the decision making process .   This project would last two months and we would have an appropriate amount of budget to   support a 4 person design team with different backgrounds and skills . Our team will work to   develop the correct user experience and decision making guidance in the application so that the   overall experience would not last more than 5 minutes and the employee would be guaranteed in   taking the correct form of LOA . 

 Selection 

 We have already utilized journey mapping and empathy mapping so that we could best describe   our user personas . Based on our findings and understanding of the requirements and user needs ,   we felt that a learning launch would be the method for us to test our design rapidly and give us the   opportunity to quickly refine our design . 

 Application 

 For our learning launch we set up a user experience test lab and relied on an agile design sprint   process . We conducted 2 test labs over a 3 day period . Each test had 20 users from our 3 primary   user group ( Employees , Managers and HR Representatives ) . 

 As Thomas Koch stated in the training : “ The key here is , is to do experiments that are   fast and cheap . Because you want to do lots of experiments . If they took a long   time you would n't ever get to a good idea . You would not ever get to a new   product that goes to market . If it was real expensive because you did lots of long   experiments , you 'd run out of money before you found a new source of revenue . ” 

 We tested our assumptions with each group and scored their experience with direct observations .   Using the feedback from our observations we made modifications to our prototype using rapid   prototyping . We looked for make or break assumptions . For example if the experience lasted more   than 5 minutes we considered it a fail . If the user quit and did n’t complete we considered it a fail . If 

 the user completed the task but had questions , we considered it a success , and used the feedback   to improve our experience . 

 We sorted our data by our key user group and looked for patterns and opportunities . 

 The prototype rapidly changed over the 3 day period and after our learning launch we were able   to demonstrate a working prototype with validation based on direct user feedback . 

 Insight 

 The learning launch gave us a number of insights and benefits . We were able to quickly adapt the   prototype with our observations . Our key stake - holders were also present and gained confidence in   the application by witnessing it firsthand . The rapid prototyping gave the team the opportunity to   see their assumptions play out right in front of them in a low risk environment . 

 By setting the tight parameters we were able to move the project forward quickly . Saving time and   money . 

 Our results changed from what we originally anticipated , but we were happy to see that our   assumed target was what we expected and that the benefits of the application would give us the   results that we wanted . 

 With the method we were also able to confidently hand over the application specifications to our   vendor that would be building out the production application . We were able to not only show them   the prototype , but also give them the necessary information that would validate our design   direction . 

 Approach 

 Our team had used agile methods in the past to quickly manage and refine a design , but the   learning launch gave the team the insights to move the project forward in confident manner . 

 Our stake holders were so pleased with the success of the learning launch that they have decided   to use this quick to win or fail approach on future projects . This will give us the opportunity to take   greater risks and have the ability to test or assumptions in a way that will show our stakeholders the   unforeseen gems in our work . 

 The next time with do a learning launch I think we will bring our Journey map into the test to   validate the map and to use as a tool to test out the assumptions of the journey map . We would   also want to bring in our previous insights into the next learning launch to confirm data from our   previous sample set . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Ivan Tomac
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 – Learning Launch   Leave Advisor 

 Ivan Tomac 

 Challenge 

 I am a senior UX designer for our organization and our challenge was to develop a decision   making application that helps employees pick the correct leave of absence ( LOA ) option which will   reduce the risk of taking an incorrect form of LOA and to help limit the time that a HR   representative would need walking an employee or manager through the decision making process .   This project would last two months and we would have an appropriate amount of budget to   support a 4 person design team with different backgrounds and skills . Our team will work to   develop the correct user experience and decision making guidance in the application so that the   overall experience would not last more than 5 minutes and the employee would be guaranteed in   taking the correct form of LOA . 

 Selection 

 We have already utilized journey mapping and empathy mapping so that we could best describe   our user personas . Based on our findings and understanding of the requirements and user needs ,   we felt that a learning launch would be the method for us to test our design rapidly and give us the   opportunity to quickly refine our design . 

 Application 

 For our learning launch we set up a user experience test lab and relied on an agile design sprint   process . We conducted 2 test labs over a 3 day period . Each test had 20 users from our 3 primary   user group ( Employees , Managers and HR Representatives ) . 

 As Thomas Koch stated in the training : “ The key here is , is to do experiments that are   fast and cheap . Because you want to do lots of experiments . If they took a long   time you would n't ever get to a good idea . You would not ever get to a new   product that goes to market . If it was real expensive because you did lots of long   experiments , you 'd run out of money before you found a new source of revenue . ” 

 We tested our assumptions with each group and scored their experience with direct observations .   Using the feedback from our observations we made modifications to our prototype using rapid   prototyping . We looked for make or break assumptions . For example if the experience lasted more   than 5 minutes we considered it a fail . If the user quit and did n’t complete we considered it a fail . If 

 the user completed the task but had questions , we considered it a success , and used the feedback   to improve our experience . 

 We sorted our data by our key user group and looked for patterns and opportunities . 

 The prototype rapidly changed over the 3 day period and after our learning launch we were able   to demonstrate a working prototype with validation based on direct user feedback . 

 Insight 

 The learning launch gave us a number of insights and benefits . We were able to quickly adapt the   prototype with our observations . Our key stake - holders were also present and gained confidence in   the application by witnessing it firsthand . The rapid prototyping gave the team the opportunity to   see their assumptions play out right in front of them in a low risk environment . 

 By setting the tight parameters we were able to move the project forward quickly . Saving time and   money . 

 Our results changed from what we originally anticipated , but we were happy to see that our   assumed target was what we expected and that the benefits of the application would give us the   results that we wanted . 

 With the method we were also able to confidently hand over the application specifications to our   vendor that would be building out the production application . We were able to not only show them   the prototype , but also give them the necessary information that would validate our design   direction . 

 Approach 

 Our team had used agile methods in the past to quickly manage and refine a design , but the   learning launch gave the team the insights to move the project forward in confident manner . 

 Our stake holders were so pleased with the success of the learning launch that they have decided   to use this quick to win or fail approach on future projects . This will give us the opportunity to take   greater risks and have the ability to test or assumptions in a way that will show our stakeholders the   unforeseen gems in our work . 

 The next time with do a learning launch I think we will bring our Journey map into the test to   validate the map and to use as a tool to test out the assumptions of the journey map . We would   also want to bring in our previous insights into the next learning launch to confirm data from our   previous sample set .
### Output: 