Implementing Lean LaunchPad methodology into an engineering professional development course

This paper chronicles the latest collaborative project between the engineering and business colleges at the University of Oklahoma (OU). The focus for this research is to study the effect of introducing and utilizing the Value Proposition concept from Lean Launch Pad (LLP) in an engineering professional development course. LLP is a new way of thinking about innovative ideas and startups that requires a significant amount of evidence from customers to validate ideas before they are pursued. At OU, business/entrepreneurship students have been taught the LLP methodology in numerous courses since 2012. In the spring 2016 semester this methodology was conveyed to a group of engineering students in a course titled ENGR 2002 - Professional Development. ENGR 2002 is a project-based course where students work almost exclusively in multidisciplinary teams. It emphasizes important topics that are outside the technical scope of the engineering degree, such as leadership, project management, engineering ethics, entrepreneurship, and communication. In this study, four ENGR 2002 sections acted as the control groups, where they were taught the traditional entrepreneurship content in the course and completed the same assignments as were done in previous semesters. However, two ENGR 2002 sections were taught about the LLP process and it was infused into their assignments so they could put the theory into practice. The purpose of the research was to see the impact the LLP methodology has on the quality of the assignment submissions. In order to evaluate the quality of the engineering students' work, business students trained in the LLP methodology reviewed assignments from both of the engineering student groups (the LLP and non-LLP cohorts). When performing a comparative analysis of the engineering students' submissions, there was an expectation of significantly higher quality for those that received LLP instruction and utilized the LLP methodology in their assignments. The results showed modest improvements, but more dramatic increases are expected with some pedagogical modifications. There were many lessons that were learned as a result of this study that are described in the paper. These lessons will serve as a valuable data points in future integrations of LLP in engineering courses at OU or other universities. By continuing to foster the collaboration between the engineering and business colleges at OU an increasing number of students are gaining valuable cross-disciplinary knowledge and experience that will be beneficial to them in their careers.