Reflection – Visualization

Challenge: I worked as an analyst for a retail company and as with any large retail company; we were loaded with  process efficiency and operation research related problems. One such problem that I closely worked with was that of  streamlining of inventory through product rationalization. The problem essentially needed to be solved by pruning out  that entire inventory that were not contributing to the revenue and find corresponding substitute to replace the pruned  products in order to recoup the demand. The solution was multi staged and is outside the scope of the question.  However, I would explain how we formulated and tabled the solution in front of the strategy team who were  responsible for the go-no-go confirmation.

Selection: We used a visualization tool in the form of flow chart diagram to explain the various stages of the solution.  The flow chart helped in making the case stronger as compared to compete verbalization of our solution in the form of  terse presentation. My personal observation was graphic ques greatly help in communicating with people across  diverse backgrounds and it helps in creating a mind map which can easily be reflected upon later.

Application: The process of application is many fold which is discussed as under:

1. Framing the problem by breaking it into sub problems and quoting all the relevant questions to each  2. Creating the best feasible solution by working across teams. ex. merchandising, finance, admin team etc.  3. The solution  is then stitched together from each of the sub problems in the form of a flow chart  4. The complete solution is evaluated considering all the possible constraints  5. The solution is then documented in the form of start to end process flow.   6. The visualization then helps in bringing out various unarticulated ideas after the first solution run.  7. The ideas are then scrutinised and its value addition to the solution is evaluated.  8. Finally, the solution is presented to the strategy team.

Insight: The flow chart diagram was a helpful visual aid; it helped in accurate articulation and better understanding of  the solution. The diagram was a great way of communicating business ideas as they were not mundane and did not  demand high order consciousness. The flow of ideas and the associated keys made intuitive sense to the reader and  hence were very efficient and effective. Audience’s understanding of a complex solution can largely be enhanced by  providing visual assistance.

Approach: The next time I apply visualization as a design-thinking tool I would ensure that I involve people from  different academic background to develop more comprehensive and robust solution. People with STEM background  mostly curated the project delivery in the aforementioned problem; I believe it is critical to involve people from arts  and literature to create even better elegant solutions.

