Example Reflection- Mind Mapping Tool

Challenge & Selection

After having an extensive meeting to discuss the wants and needs from our client/stakeholder,

we developed a plan prioritizing the goals, tasks, and pertinent deadlines to meet the fulfilment  of our client’s product through the use the Mind Mapping tool. We use the Mind Mapping  approach to focus on the specifics of the “what is” stage of the product’s design and

development processes. Our client is an organization seeking implementation of a software that  can manage their companies day-to-day business activities. As result, we begin to execute this

by mapping out the project into groups of ‘sprints’. ‘Sprints’ gives us a broader view of what  went well, what went wrong, and what needs improvement. In addition, we use the mind  mapping board to visually identify patterns, trends, and comparative analysis to build our

backlogs. This allows us to track the progression of the project while tackling the goals in each  ‘sprint’, making it more manageable to produce a final product for deployment.

Application

The first phase-Planning/Strategizing. We identified the central idea or goal of the project.  As previously stated, our client wants us to build a software that allows them to better manage  the day-to-day activities of their business. With that in mind, we first identify the central point –

which is, build a software that can manage the day-to-day activities of the organization. We then  take this central idea and build the visuals for our mind mapping tool. On the mind mapping tool

board, there are main branches to centralize the key details of this project. This consists  of (Planning/Strategizing, Planning, Discovery &Test). Once this is put in place, we have  dedicated a few months solely for gathering information and related data to move this project

forward.

Second phase-Planning. The next phase is one of the most important phases of visually  mapping out this project. This allows us to dive deeper and look for patterns or trends. We use

these patterns and trends to analyze and determine how to move forward into the next phase of  development. The details in the process planning allows us to identify how to assign the tasks

to each team member. With the information we’ve already gathered about the organization and  their needs to have this software built, we disseminate the responsibilities into parts visually on  the mind mapping tool to show the branches extension from the core central idea. The key

information we will focus on is analysis and discovery, laying down the statement of work,  carving out the project timeline, identifying the project sponsors, stakeholders, and relying on  the subject matter experts.

Third phase-Discovery & Test. During this phase, we have enough gathered facts to decide on  the proper requirements, user stories, and what’s needed for the development process of

building this software. Now we move on to demonstration for the user requirements. This phase  gives us a snapshot of how the project is progressing. Using the information from the

demonstration, we can make adjustments or move on to the next ‘sprint’.

Insight & Approach

Takeaways. In mapping out the key details of producing a product for our client, we came  across some technicalities that needed attention and revamping. After launching a test pilot for  our stakeholder, we look to see if the software is ready for use. During the performance test, we

tracked the progress, reviewed, and reported our findings. With this information we can visually  outline and define the needed changes and determined how much time were allotted to finish  out this project. The team will note any and every detail from minor to major glitches, checking

for delays, bugs, functionality concerns, and overall flow of the software. After evaluating the  data and reviewing the results of the test, one thing we’ve decided as a team is to execute more

tests periodically throughout the phases of the ‘sprints’. In doing so, this allows us to track,  address, and make adjustment with issues that may arise much more quicker. This also  reduces the amount of times we need to test towards the latter end to prevent any

unforeseeable issues arising at the final stages of this project prior to deployment.

