Challenge:

The Hardware and Software Engineering world are very different but interdependent. However, the  people working on them have expertise in their own streams. Being an Electrical Design Group, our  biggest challenge was to communicate our requirements to the software team wherein all of us know  only the hardware side of it. We needed our middleman who is not human.

Selection:

In one of our projects meeting where it was becoming very hard to communicate to the software team,  we ended up reaching the whiteboard. We created all possible drawings and pictures which in the end  gave some light to both the groups. We had used the visualization tool. It is very effective to use with  two groups who speak different technical language.

Application:

We started with the hardware team who knew their requirements very clearly and started putting those  hardware devices on board, how they are linked and how they function. Then we started putting the  analogy of the plumbing system of a house which everyone will be familiar with. We drew the pictures  of the plumbing devices next to each hardware device which relates to it. This helped us to give the  software team a lot of clarity on how our hardware functions and what are the software controls  required.

Insight:

This technique gave us some light on how better both the groups can communicate. That’s the time we  started exploring the concept of design thinking. We dint need it for our actual designs but we needed it  for the success of the project. After exploring a little bit more on the design thinking, we started using  the visualization tool more effectively. We have made it as part of our project to have the complete  system to be represented in the form of creative drawings. It is fun for the technical people to be  creative sometimes and helped our non-technical stakeholders to have a clear understanding of our  projects.

Approach:

In a company which cares and emphasizes a lot about its culture, it is very important to build and keep  the work culture for generations. We are planning to use the creative storytelling and role plays to  educate the people about the company culture and values.

