Reflection – Mind Mapping Tool

Challenge

I am active in the areas of business management and organization. One of our tasks is to further  develop processes. If possible, these processes should also become more efficient and user-friendly  through automation. The current project concerns the optimization of the onboarding process of new  customers. The current process is very manual and concerns different areas. Data is processed  manually several times, which is time-consuming and error prone. The aim of the project was to  automate the collection of data and its further processing. In doing so, the captured data was to be  checked for plausibility as soon as it was entered and then transferred to the required forms. This data  was then to be automatically transferred to an additional system for further processing. Now it had to  be determined which business transactions were involved in the onboarding process, what they looked  like in detail, which data were affected and how they were processed. In order to approach this project  in a targeted manner, I decided on the Design Thinking approach.

Selection

In previous projects I have repeatedly collected the requirements and approaches to solutions in  surveys. I then consolidated this information in an Excel spreadsheet. The information thus obtained  was usually only high level, contradictory, incomplete and possible correlations were difficult to  identify. With Mind Mapping, information and ideas can be taken up, developed, and presented in a  creative and structured way. Information about the current situation (what is?) can be recorded,  structured, and visualized. This method can also be used for the collection of ideas (what if?) for  further development. This enables a new approach to problems and projects.

To illustrate the complexity, here is a highly simplified description of the process:  The client advisor wants to open a new client relationship and needs the appropriate and correct forms  to do so. At the same time, the client data should be entered only once if possible. Using the right  forms is also the interest of the Legal & Compliance department. Operations department wants to  receive the correct and complete forms for further processing and not have to retype the data  manually. There are various business cases with complex interrelationships and dependencies. Each  area has its own interests and needs in the process.

For the new project I had decided to use Mind Mapping to capture the current situation with as many  business cases as possible. In a second step and based on this, the further requirements and ideas  were also collected with Mind Mapping. Since Mind Mapping is a very visual method, it can be used  well in brainstorming sessions. At the same time, the connections between the individual topic blocks,  work steps and user needs become clear. I used a whiteboard to create a mind map. The core  problem or the core theme was in the middle. This was then used as the basis for the various  branches/nodes with the different business cases (for example "Opening a company account",  "Opening an account for married couples"). Each business case (for example "Opening of a company  account") had its own branch/node. From this individual business case, further branches/nodes  containing details such as "Power of Attorney" were then deducted. From this "Power of Attorney"  branch/node further branches/nodes are derived from these branches/nodes. Thus, for each business  case on a separate branch/node, the required data could be included in detail. The working group sat  in front of the Mind Map. The content was worked out together.

Application

For the development of the Mind Map for the initial assessment of the current situation, I had  assembled an interdisciplinary group of 12 people, consisting of the departments “Customer Relations”  (3 participants), “Legal & Compliance” (3 participants), “Operations” (3 participants) and “IT” (3  participants). It was important that all affected departments were represented and that the participants  brought along the appropriate mindset. For the Mind Mapping session and the brainstorming, I had  established basic rules for cooperation to enable all participants to communicate openly and thus to  exchange ideas in a constructive and appreciative manner. I also emphasized this during the

moderation of the first session. This should also enable as much input as possible, each area to  describe its current activities and each area to place its needs and problems. During this first  brainstorming session, all possible case constellations for a new customer relationship were recorded.  Subsequently, the data required or processed in each case was compiled and the currently required  work steps were added. The visual presentation made it possible to go into ever greater detail. In the  process, new branches were added to the Mind Map. In the end, colors and symbols/icons were used  to group and structure the data.

This first Mind Map was then the basis for a second session. In this second session, ideas for the  further development and optimization of the process were collected and refined (what wows?). The  main focus was on user satisfaction. Here, too, the ideas were then grouped and structured using  colors and symbols. This tool has proven to be verry effective for me and my colleagues.

Insight

On the basis of the Mind Map the participants realized how strong the dependencies are. This  strengthened the mutual understanding. It also became clear how similar but also how different the  requirements and needs of the areas are to some extent. I was impressed how much the team spirit  and the sense of community was strengthened. The recording of the current situation was a good  start. The second session to gather ideas for further development of the process showed an exciting  dynamic within the group. Some colleagues participated very actively. Other colleagues became  calmer and expressed their ideas only when asked. The colleagues from IT were also very quick to  raise objections such as "doesn't work" and so on, especially in the second session. This repeatedly  brought the session and the development of ideas to a standstill. So, I divided the groups into three  smaller groups and brainstormed separately. We then added the results together in the mind map. At  this point I realized how important the moderation of the sessions is. Here I have identified a field of  development for me and will deal with it more closely.

In the second session we went through various cases and tried out together whether the ideas and  assumptions were also useful in practice. We always drew the processes on a sheet of paper and then  tested whether it would work as expected. That way we could test the ideas and made adjustments.  New ideas also came up in the process. At the end of the sessions it was clear that we would build a  tool that would compile the necessary forms based on certain data and rules, which would then be  completed with data via an input mask. These forms will then be printed out and presented to the  customer. The data stored in the tool can technically be transferred to another system and processed  there. I expect a high level of user satisfaction and thus acceptance of the new tool and the new  process through the joint compilation of the current situation and the joint development of the future  solution. In a next step, the possible implementation was then checked for technical feasibility. After all  ideas had been collected, we were then able to discuss the technical feasibility mainly with IT. So it  became clear what is feasible (what works?). We had agreed that they would take small steps in  programming, which we would present and discuss with the working group again and again. In this  way, IT was able to develop closely in line with user requirements and received continuous feedback.

In addition, the second session already gave us ideas on how to add more functions to the tool. So, in  addition to the original topic of processing new customers, we have identified other topics that can also  be optimized. There were already valuable starting points for this as well, but these need to be further  refined. This will be done in separate new projects. The implementation of changes or the creation and  maintenance of a new tool is associated with costs. This aspect of profitability must not be completely  ignored.

Approach

I will continue to use Mind Mapping, as the tool has proven itself to me and my colleagues in both the  what-is phase and the what-if phase. Some colleagues have used it in the meantime for their own  topic work. It gives a good overview and allows for easy creation, which can be further refined. The  information and suggestions received beyond the actual topic of "Onboarding New Customer" were  also verry valuable and will help us as a company. Here I find certain parallels to the Good Kitchen  Story. There, too, there were much more far-reaching findings that were implemented. For example,  the new menus, the feedback forms.

