Design Thinking for Innovation  Final Assignment v1

Eija Kinnunen

kellyharrison@gmail.com  October 03, 2013

Challenge

I work in a software consultancy company, we have a solid know-how in

retail markets, and our primary focus is to help our customers to transform  and  improve  their  business  processes.    We  usually  combine  the

implementation of diverse work methodologies and new processes with a  variety of technology solutions including software, mobile and hardware.

I am a Senior Manager and I usually lead and support simultaneously

two or more projects, I work closely with the solutions architects, projects  leaders and their teams, and I have an active participation in the analysis and  planning of the solutions to be implemented, and on the follow up meetings  too.

I have wanted to incorporate DT tools to our work methodology for a

year or more, and now I have finally been granted to test them on a new  project for a small retail technology seller.    Selection

I decided to use the design thinking Visualization tool to our first

approach of DT techniques. The visualization tool consists in using a visual  language (like draws, symbols, colors, etc.) to represent data and ideas, and it  is a simple way to shared an idea or a situation to all the team members, and  been sure all of them will get the same message.

I believe that including all the stakeholders in the analysis of the

problem and in the design of the solution, probably will allow us to get a  rapidly comprehension of the problems and achieve a faster identification of  the possible solutions, and at the same time, we will get higher levels of  interest and compromise to the project.    Application

To start the project I convened a work meeting to all the participants:

the team members, the solution architect and the solution seller, all of them  had already had contact with the client during the sale process.

After about an hour presenting the important points of design thinking

and the visualization tool, I invited them to start working on the project  analyzing the data we had of the client and their stores, and we focusing in  representing them graphically on the board.

At first, we found ourselves simply copying data on the board, but after

some reflections and discussions, we could process the data to represent the  real problem in the stores and identify the different actors that affected them,  like employees, store managers, IT structure, customer’s preferences and  others.    Insight

The application of the Visualization tool allowed us to get a different

perspective of the customer situation, we could view clearly what was the key  of the problem without been overwhelmed for all the data that we had. And  then when we had this shared vision of the problem represented graphically on

Design Thinking for Innovation  Final Assignment v1

Eija Kinnunen

kellyharrison@gmail.com  October 03, 2013

the board, the building of the possible solutions was more fluency, variety and  faster. Finally everybody felt part of the discovered of the real problem, and  showed interest to participate in the consensus of the best solution to  implement.    Approach

For the next application of this tool, I would need to look for ways to

further promote the participation of the team members, who at the beginning  of the meeting were more shy and silent, letting the team leader and the  solution architect take the initiative. However, then they began to feel more  comfortable and their participation greatly enriched the work experience. Also,  I think as everyone becomes more familiar with this work methodology, it will  be easier for them to participate, and the results of the use of these techniques  will be increasingly relevant.

