Learning Through Practice
Tony Jin
We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.
-Guillaume-Chretien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes
This quote from an old French Statesman with a wonderfully long name has really resonated with me after taking this course this semester. This course has taught me how to learn and find the tools I need to make what I previously thought to be extremely difficult into manageable and attainable objectives. Prior to this course, I had always had interesting ideas and solutions to problems, but never knew how to leverage the tools to execute the concept. I was intimidated by new technologies and I was not very proactive in learning new skills. Other courses in MMgmt promised to expose us to the use of technology but we had very few opportunities to get engaged and hands-on with these tools. ENTI 674 challenged us to acclimatize ourselves to new and freely available tools and to network them together to create a comprehensive solution deliverable.
ENTI 674 offered several labs and assignments that required the use of multiple online tools. Lab 1 combined the use of the website builder Weebly, the form and survey creator Typeform, an automated action platform in Zapier, and Google sheets as a database. The end product was a company website landing page that showcased a product while allowing for interested parties to leave their contact information. Prior to this assignment, I did not think that I was capable of creating such a project. The learning process itself was the most engaging aspect as I could play around, experiment, and discover the capabilities for myself. It was extremely rewarding to build such a tool through the combination of several intuitive yet disparate systems to make something that was greater than the sum of its parts.
https://fanceecoffee.weebly.com
The final project required the creation of a tech prototype meant to act as the central solution based on an assigned case within a tight timeframe. The Tony from before this course would have been paralyzed and unsure of how to proceed with this project. However, I was able to adapt the programs we had previously learned in the labs and the process of design thinking to coordinate separate tools to create a webapp that helps companies monitor the mental health of their employees while also allowing employees to reach out for the support they need. Applying the tools and processes we learned to create a new solution for a problem was incredibly enjoyable and it has built my confidence in tackling future tasks that may require the application of different technologies.
This final project also inspired me to think more deeply about the process of design and prototyping. Earlier courses had exposed us to the SCRUM development framework, but this was the first time where we were forced to perform elements of it. Within our limited time frame, we needed to employ rapid prototyping to quickly produce several potential features of our product. Though it was a very democratized process where everyone had input, we needed to implement a central decision-maker to finalize a coherent deliverable. This decision-making process was inspired by an article by Jake Knapp where we compared multiple features in terms of “conflicts” (Knapp, 2918). In this framework, the key question is “What is the desired function, and which features achieve this in different ways? By comparing the different pathways to the desired functions, we were able to find an optimal permutation to create our prototype. Unlike SCRUM, we were unable to acquire consumer feedback, but our process definitely showed us its value as we were often caught wondering if the end-user would actually find some services useful.
Key takeaways from the course
I learned some valuable lessons within a few short weeks in this course. I am now much more comfortable and confident in researching and leveraging different technologies in novel ways to formulate solutions. Though I have been exposed to the concept of innovation throughout the MMgmt program, I have now experienced the process of leveraging technologies to facilitate innovation and disruption. Innovation is not simply a goal or the state of being creative, but a mindset and culture that requires a collaboration of leadership, organizational design, and adaptability.
Design thinking is a great framework for innovation that can be applied to fields outside of technology. It is a combination of context and form that flows from human-centred thinking that defines a problem to be solved through ideation, prototyping, and testing. (Sidebench, 2017) this can be applied to not just products, but to processes and practices as well. Rapid prototyping has demonstrated how the systematic creation and evaluation of incomplete features, information, and concepts helps nurture the creation process that can lead to innovative technologies and products.
Innovation had always been a mystical business buzzword that I had very little practical experience in. I feel that this course has allowed me to understand it better by forcing me to go through some of the processes myself. As I move on from MMgmt, I will always be a student, and I feel that I will be able to build upon my experiences here as it will always stay with me.
Here’s a relevant XKCD:
Image Source: (xkcd, n.d),
References:
Knapp, J. (2018, July 9). How To Decide What Ideas To Prototype. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/1672929/how-to-decide-what-ideas-to-prototype.
Sidebench, . (2017, October 16). Design Thinking Isn’t Just For Your Product Development Team. Product Coalition. https://productcoalition.com/design-thinking-isnt-just-for-your-product-development-team-e8e25f713643.
xkcd, . (n.d.). Students. xkcd. https://xkcd.com/557/.
