Visualization

Challenge & Selection

I’m a member of a financial company’s software development team. Usually I’m in charge of new  software creation projects in which various areas of the company are involved. Due to the number  of people involved, each one specialized in something different, it’s difficult to align ideas, so  several changes arise that lengthen the project more than expected. The challenge I set for myself is  to apply the visualization tool during the initial stage of the project in such a way as to create  consensus among the parties involved and achieve a prototyping of the product that satisfies  everyone, therefore avoiding changes along the way and improving quality of the product.

Application

Meetings are held at the beginning of the project to define the needs of each area. This is the right  time to apply visualization. Creating a flow diagram so that all participants can understand the same concept of how the product will work.

Flow diagram example:

Once the participants have the same vision of how the product will work, they give their approval to continue and proceed to prototyping.

Prototyping is a very important part since it is here where the user can visualize and understand  what will be the way to interact with the software that will be created. Tests are carried out with the  user, any errors that may exist in the workflow are corrected early.

Prototyping example:

Once the research is completed and the prototype is completed, the software programming stage can be carried out.

Insight & Approach

By using visualization tools it was achieved that there were no significant changes that would  lengthen the project after starting the software development stage, since the ideas are already clear  from the beginning and the users had in mind the image of the product before it existed. An aspect that could be improved would be the application of other types of tools such as an affinity diagram in the process of research and empathy with the user.

