Example Reflection – Visualization

Application      I start the process by creating a straw man graphic of the problem domain.  To develop the straw man  graphic, I will draw from any existing material available to understand the environment.  The existing  material may be operational or procedural documents, training materials, marketing materials, GAO or  other auditing reports.  If materials are not available, then I conduct informal interviews with one-three of  the stakeholders who serve as my main points of contact on the initiative.      If appropriate to the situation, I will borrow the concept to “front-stage/back-stage” from previous research,  and discussed in David Gray’s book, “The Connected Company”.  The front-stage/back-stage approach  helps to reinforce the notion that every service – even an internal service – has customers with whom the  service provider interacts and internal processes that enable the organization to provide the service.  The  template I often start with also has a column on the left to identify Partners and Value Chain Providers and  a column on the right to identify Oversight Organizations, such as Congress, GAO, labor unions, advocacy  groups, and other entities that may add constraints to how the organization operates.  The straw man graphic  is simple, using simple shapes and icons available in Visio or on the Internet.  If the front-stage/back-stage  view doesn’t work, then I will create a different type of visual, either based on a high-level process flow  with swim lanes for different stakeholders, or another format.       For the activity, I will divide the stakeholders into groups of 5-6 participants each representing a different  organization or area of interest.  Each group receives a poster-size copy of the straw man graphic that they  can write on directly, or use sticky notes to make comments.  I give them two-three questions to answer,  such as: 1) What key elements are missing from the graphic?  2) What would you change about the graphic  to make it more accurately reflect your problem space?  3) What key insights do you have about the  relationships between the entities in your problem space?   I give them approximately 20 minutes to discuss  the questions and mark up the graphic.  Then I have each group report out on their answers to those three  questions while pointing to the mark-ups on their poster.  As each group reports out, I record commonalities  in the insights of each group, and then additional insights that come from the group discussion on an  additional copy of the graphic.  After the session, I digitize each group’s poster as an artifact, create a view  that combines the shared and new insights from the group discussion, and then create a revised graphic that  incorporates their feedback and proposed changes that they agreed to as a group.     Challenge & Selection       The first tool I used was the tool of Visualization, or Visual Thinking, to achieve a shared understanding of  a problem space among a diverse group of stakeholders before attempting to identify and define possible  solutions to the problem.  I use this approach often with our customers, who are government agencies  working to apply technology innovations to modernize their mission or the delivery of their services to their  customer, which may be U.S. citizens, businesses, and non-citizens.  I have used the technique of using a

straw man visualization of a problem domain with a set of questions or prompts for discussion to allow a  diverse group of stakeholders to learn from each other in the process of defining the scope, boundaries, key  elements, and relationships between elements to consider when identifying pain points and opportunities  for improvements or solutions.           Insight & Approach      What I have learned from conducting this exercise with several groups is that while the graphic – especially  the revised graphic that incorporates their feedback – is important for reinforcing their understanding of the  problem they are working to solve, the more valuable aspect of the activity is the shared insights and shared  learning that occurs while they are working to define their problem space.  The graphic gives the diverse  group of stakeholders a focal point for discussion that allows them to share their perspectives and develop  insights into potential root causes of their problems.  While they could create the graphic from a blank slate  in a collaborative manner, starting with a straw man jump starts the conversation for them. They can quickly  identify where they are in the graphic – or if they are missing – and can more quickly gain new insights  about relationships between key entities instead of taking time to identify them.  They can also identify  variables in the problem space – that is, it helps them to identify what they don’t know, in what areas they  need to obtain information or data to provide the values for the variables.      Since I discovered that the most valuable aspect is the shared insights and learning, next time I would use  the visualization activity as a starting point for a series of design thinking activities. Then the revised  graphic that incorporates their combined feedback can serve as a reference tool throughout the remainder  of their work.

