Tools: Visualization

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.        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.     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 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.

