Introduction

I have always relied upon visualization when defining the problem statement or challenge.

it has helped me to get everyone aligned on the problem that needs to be solved.

Challenge

For example, recently I was asked to lead a project where we had to solve the challenges around  content life cycle, starting from creating content and assembling it into various formats for eventual  distribution to the end consumers for consumption.

Part of the challenge was to understand what problem we were trying to solve.

While everyone knew that the content creation and consumption was an issue, it was not clear  exactly what needs to be addressed to make this content process easier to implement. Stakeholders  did not know when the process of content creation starts, who or how many marketers create the  content, where is the content stored, and so on. In general, the content lifecycle starting from  creation, assembly of content, and delivering it to different end-users who are spread across  multiple geographies, using different mobile devices was a complex problem to solve. We needed a  tool that can help with all the challenges mentioned above.

Selection

So I decided to adopt visualization technique such as a process flow chart.  I chose the process flow  chart visualization technique because it can help to capture the start of the process and the end of  the process, along with the various tasks involved in between. The process flowchart can also  capture the different task owners who carried out the steps. Once we capture the process flow, it  could become easier for us to understand the bottlenecks in the content creation process flow and  identify the problems to be solved.

The visualization technique can help us to simplify the complex process by breaking it into smaller  phases, and could help us align on the process flow, individual steps, issues in each step, process  owners and gaps/issues.

Application

To apply the process flow technique, I first started by drawing the straw man based on what I have  learned based on my interviews with some of the key stakeholders. I then brought about 10 to 15  other stakeholders who were involved with the content process to add their points of view. As they  share their feedback, I updated the process flow in real time on the whiteboard. As changes were  made, everyone got enlightened as they learned something more about the process that they didnt  know of earlier. This was an iterative process and needed a couple of iterations till we were able  draw a final flow diagram where everyone agreed.

A couple of important points to note when drawing the process flow.

•  Try to create swim lanes so that you can assign process owners or systems to the lanes.

•  It is important to capture when the process starts and ends.

•  Capture the inputs and outputs for each of the process steps.

•  It helps to get as much details as possible so as to make it more accurate.

Insight

Having the visualization graphic drawn out helps everyone to have a common understanding of the  process flow. It is a team building exercise and helps everyone to understand each other's  perspectives. It builds trust and also gets everyone aligned on the nature of the problem that we are  trying to solve.

It helps to draw out the boundaries of what we are trying to solve.

While there may be many issues involved, it helps the team to agree upon what issue is the most  important.

It helps everyone to understand the various phases in the process flow, as well as the roles and  underlying systems that are needed to complete the process.

There is greater clarity in terms of the inputs, outputs, and issues involved at various stages of the  process flow.

It helps to identify areas of opportunity in the process flow by identifying non-value add steps,  redundant steps. Eventually it helps the team to identify what steps can be automated, removed,  added, modified to improve the end-user experience.

Approach

In conclusion, I plan to use the visualization technique, in particular the process flow technique for  my design thinking projects, and also master other toolkits in the design thinking domain to help  solve problems and find ways to improve the end user experience using empathy, ethnographic  techniques, and user experience skills. I plan to keep learning more about the visualization  techniques because I believe this is a very useful technique that can help us solve many issues in our  job and maybe even our own personal lives.

