1. Challenge:

Business Satisfaction of IT workplace solutions is rated low due to a narrow perspective of IT  on technology & software delivery. Other aspects like e.g. people needs, workforce  development, facilities, trends in working environment, different user types etc. are not (or  not sufficient) reflected. Furthermore, many of those aspects are handled separately /  independent by other functions like HR, FM (facility management) with related side effects.    The challenge is how to raise awareness within the IT function to break out of the  “technology only” focus and to team up with other functions to better serve workforce needs.

2. Selection:

The most important 1st step is to create awareness and to motivate the team to break out of  silo thinking. Therefore the Visualization Tool should help to address 3 main points to IT  people in the workplace area:    1) IT is not the only function providing workplace solutions to the employees  2) Today the user is responsible to bring the “bits & pieces” together or to “live” with the  trade-offs (=lower satisfaction)  3) A better collaboration will generate higher satisfaction due to a holistic view    The visualization should be the starting point of a discussion and a motivational factor to  continue with next steps.

3. Application:

I started the process by creating a straw man graphic of the problem domain. To do this I did  a research within the internet about areas beyond IT to get a better picture about important  elements of a holistic workplace. In a second step I went through the company organization  to identify main functions with an influence on those topics. In a last step I started to reduce  the straw man graphic more and more to come to the core message for better  understanding.    After the straw man graphic was finished I used the tool in a regular IT workplace team  meeting where we discussed about “user satisfaction” and why we are not improving over  the last years (which also led to frustration in the IT team because everybody did the best for  the users). Within the moderation I’ve started to use the whiteboard to develop the “as-is”  picture by asking open questions. After the “aha effect” we commonly started to develop the  “to-be” picture. This was very effective because every team member left the meeting with a  common & easy picture in their heads and a high motivation to think about how we can  approach & motivate the other functions to join (tbd. with clear actions points at the following  meeting).

4. Insight:

First of all it helped me to structure myself and to reduce the challenge to the basic  elements. I’ve started with a complex picture (not easy to understand and to remember) and  took out more and more elements to end with the basics. It was a nice experience for me  because the visualization helped me to better focus. At the end I had this picture in my head  which allows me to better initiate, moderate and guide the discussion of the team.

5. Approach:

I would use the same approach but would collect/add some real examples which makes the  challenge more tangible and practical.

