Design Thinking Tool

Visualization

Challenge

Customer onboarding process is at heart of our organization. In my challenge, the “What is and  what if” phase of the design thinking process had already been clearly mapped out through  journey maps, customer forums, and brainstorming sessions.

The team had already listed 5 potential software solutions to be built in readiness for prototype  and leaning launch.

The challenge at hand was how we could use design thinking tool to quickly build the  prototypes. It would previously take our organization an average of 3 months to build a similar  prototype.

Our challenge then was to reduce the time to 14 days.

Selection

For the challenge, we choose visualization tool to be specific a visual board. Our visual board  was made up of sticky notes. On the first column, we had all the to do tasks, in the middle we  had work in progress and third column had all the closed work items.

Each individual work item represented by the sticky note was part of the missing link that would  result to a working prototype at the end of the 14 days sprint period.

We selected Visualization because it provided a single picture of where we were as a team and  the goal we were reaching to. Secondly, the visual board provided a shared understanding of  the vision (a working prototype). It also provided motivation because we could clearly see and  track the completed work items at the end of each day.

According to Tim Brown, Change by Design, visualization can be used in each stage of the  design thinking process including build a prototype. Furthermore, from the lessons learnt in the  lecture, visualization offers a single picture of what is to be achieved.

Application

Our team was cross-functional in nature. We had all the skills set required to develop a working  prototype. We were co-located together. Before the 14 days sprint period began, we had to plan  on our deliverables. This means defining the minimum viable product or rather the minimum  features that the solution should have at the end of the 14 days period.

Once the minimum viable product (MVP) was clear to all, the second question was to establish  what was missing for the MVP to be called “done”. These gaps are what formed the action items  that we placed on the sticky notes. We were more like factory workers who were working  together to assemble the various parts of a vehicle so that the test drive could be done.

Every day, the co-located team would work together to move the various parts on the board  from to do, to work in progress and to completed work. Where a team faced a challenge on any  of the work item, the team would brainstorm and remove the blocker.

The daily score represented by the movement of the sticky notes was a sight to behold as it  proved that we were on track. Nothing motivates a team than seeing their progress everyday  thanks to the power of visualization.

We applied this tool effectively especially because it rallied all of us to a clear vision of delivering  a minimum viable product which was crystal clear and well defined.

We noted however that sometimes people would stay longer with challenges instead of  communicating them immediately. This would delay the time planned by 25%

Insight

During the application of the visualization in the build phase, some team members would hold  on to a blocker for more than a day thus delaying the build process. This insight enabled us to  incorporate a timeline for each task on the visual board to maximum of half day, so that  challenges could be communicated and resolved much faster.

The insight gained was that delay in communication during building of prototype ended up  affecting the delivery of the protype and the whole design thinking process including test and  learning launch. This delay would undo the whole gain of fail fast and small which is at the  heartbeat of design thinking.

Approach

I would use visualization again because of its benefits in helping us build a working prototype  within 14 days. This resulted in not just improved customer service, but the team that was  involved in co-creation was able to learn faster. I will also use this tool in other steps of the  design phase as clarity and focus is its anticipated benefits.

