Learning Lab FAQ

A Wildcard Team is a group of 2 or more employees who want one day to work on a small project. The idea is that the project is small enough where one day away from your desk would help you make significant progress. Each month we will have one spot reserved at the Learning Lab for a Wildcard Team.

To be considered for one of these spots, talk to your department director.

The Learning Lab is a component of the Together San Rafael initiative that focuses on staff capacity-building. Cross-departmental teams are brought together to learn how to apply the human-centered design process to shared City challenges. As a participant, you will be on a team assigned to work on a specific challenge. At the end of the process, all employees will be invited to an event called “Demo Day” where each team will make a presentation about their process, learnings, and ideas.

Cohort 3.0 will be structured a little different than previous years. Rather than based on a curriculum, instead we are creating more time and space for teams to develop, refine, and implement their ideas.

Teams meet monthly based on a set schedule, and . If this schedule is challenging based on your normal work hours and responsibilities, talk to your supervisor about how to make it work. Missing a Lab is permissible as long as you are communicating with your teammates and the facilitators of the Labs. This can be determined on a case by case basis, as needed.

Participating in the Learning Lab is a great professional development opportunity. You will learn new skills that could help you advance in your career and be more successful in your job. This is always a great way to meet other employees who work in different departments.

Participants will learn about:

• Technology Tools for Collaboration
• Working in teams
• Human-centered design
• Project management
• Product management
• How to build prototypes
• Presentation and storytelling
• Incorporating feedback
• Moving from challenge to solution

Teams and individuals will experience and work through the human-centered design process to develop a product, such as a new process, service, or way of communicating information to an audience. 

While the first two cohorts were heavily focused on ideation and testing of prototypes (experiments), the cohort for 3.0 will take existing projects and focus on implementation and iteration. The goal is to put ideas into action, get feedback, and make improvements.