pg. 1  Design Thinking: Visualization

Example Reflection – Visualization

Challenge & Selection

The first tool from the Design Thinking Tools that I have begun utilizing in

my practice at Airtel is Visualization. As a Business Process Manager in  the Non-Performing Loan General Division, I am responsible for designing and  building processes that offer viable and sustainable restructuring solutions tailored to  customer needs. I create these processes through a lean operating model that enhances  customer negotiation eliminating non-value steps across the value chain.

At times, aligning and mobilizing stakeholders from Product Development

Branches, Call Centers, Credit Underwriting, Loan Administrations, Credit Policy and  Legal Departments, can be a challenge. Given the number of years that Greece has  been under economic recession, making solutions, offering and processes are more  complex.

Explain / describing  our restructuring solutions and processes in text is more

open to interpretation from diverse mental model, which is influenced by its academic  training and work experiences.  Visualization eliminates ambiguity while creating a  collaborative environment. It consciously adds imagery into our processes and  solutions, and focuses on bringing an idea to life, therefore simplifying team  collaboration.

Creating stories that go to the heart help designers cultivate empathy in every

phase of their work. By implementing these empathic stories, more excitement is  generated for new ideas (Liedka & Ogilvie, 2011).  Visualization as a mother of all  design tools and can be applied to all stages of Design Thinking. In this exercise, I  will describe it through the lenses of “What is” and “What if”

Application

First, I begin my processes by creating a straw main graphic to understand the

environmental factors: internal processes, customers, macroeconomics. I then define  the problem domain with regards to the restructuring loan solutions and processes. I  arranged meetings with all stakeholders, including external customers, to document  the remedial customer journey.  I then divide the stakeholders in two separate teams;  one team focusing on restructuring solutions characteristics and one for the processes  focusing on frontline negotiation.

Using sticky notes to facilitate group discussion, Group #1 will discuss the

answers to possible questions such as: “What are the missing parts of our solutions?  Are they suitable for our customer given the long-lasting recession?”, and “How can  we improve our redefault rates?”. Through visualization, we document the “What is”  and then try to visualize the “What if” through video and photographs of customer  interviews at the branch level. The group will try to visualize in what context our  customer is in, given the lasting Greek economic recession. To address this idea, they  may discuss the question, “How about providing a viable solution to a customer given  the economic affordability?”  Using colorful pens, they take notes and share ideas of  new restructuring solutions through visualization.

The second group will use the white board to address the “what is” process.

They try to make interconnections between nodes to grasp the new concept of  customer negotiations, the “what if”.  Lanes are drawn on the board to represent both

pg. 2  Design Thinking: Visualization

customer and various departments, lines can be added to show interactions between  the different activities (swimline diagram).  The problem can be broken into  components that could alter the sequence.  By moving the solution component to the  branch level, the customer negotiation concept can be met. But as the white board  depicts, this solution component requires a large amount of input data from various  bank systems, which makes the process slow and difficult to negotiate. Then, the  group can visualize the automatic retrieval of bank data through interfaces to which  every stakeholder agreed upon and committed to implement. The final image is the  visualization of all the actions needed and acts as a reference tool for work.

Insight & Approach

Be applying the “mother” of the design tools in my own practice, I have

realized that complex problems can be communicated effectively to diverge  stakeholders and thereby avoiding ambiguity to the best of our abilities. Different  departments are able to see the “big picture” of our core processes and understand the  restructuring solutions, while acknowledging the interaction between others main  objectives and responsibilities. They also help the audience of stakeholders to define  areas of improvement cutting through department functional silos.

Practicing this tool in my work has allowed me to improve, day by day, my

ability to identify areas of opportunity.  Simple sticky notes convey the message well  enough, while stimulating the right side of the brain. Dividing the difficult problem to  small components helped our company “attack” smaller problems, make quick wins,  all while maintaining our enthusiasm. I would like to recall, the use of the white board  in our second group. The branch manager most times will draw a “turtle” for the user  inputs from various systems.  The turtle is metaphor that helps us to immediately  grasp the idea of interface automation.

Working with agile teams in projects helped us visualize the use of teams in

delivering the project in small sprints. The challenge for me is to use Design Tools,   Agile and Lean Methodology to both innovate, and provide quick deliverables and   lean processes.

