Catalyst – Mind Map

Challenge

I have a software services company and we are venturing out in the products development  arena. Our prior experience has been focused on delivering services and products for the  enterprise customers’ segment. We are currently in the early stages of designing a software  product targeting the small and medium customer segment. The software is expected to  provide customer engagement capabilities and insights, which we expect that it should be  better fitted and customized for a specific vertical / domain.

As a part of the product design and early assessment and definition we are faced with multiple  challenges including but not limited to defining the product scope and features, prioritizing the  features, exploring and better understanding the service domain; health care sector, figuring  out small businesses buying patterns and preferences, exploring different possible sales and  marketing channels and alliances and last but not least bringing all the team members on board  and ensuring that they are involved with the product design process and related decisions.

Selection

Initially, part of the team was engaged in market research and competition analysis; mainly the  marketing and the product manager. We needed to select a tool that helps bring on board all  the team members; technical, marketing and sales, and explore different possible features and  ideas. I found the mind map a good tool to help drive the brain storming and capture all the  inputs and ideas freely without being restricted to a specific structure or template or  boundaries that hinder the brain storming flow.

Application

I have put together all the inputs and insights gathered so far and published it on a shared site  for all the team members and asked them to go through it individually and prepare for a brain  storming session in a week’s time to discuss possible product features and ideas.

After a week, we gathered all the team members from different roles and experience levels and  started discussing what we expect the product should do given we have all the resources and  time. We started mapping out the possible personas that will interact with the product and  defining the possible features, needs or priorities they might have.

We took rounds asking each member to add at least one leaf or branch to the map to ensure all  the team members involvement and not being limited to the obvious or outspoken.

Insight

After doing an initial round of the mind mapping exercise, I noticed that all the team members  are better involved and engaged in the product design stage. The ease of the mind mapping  tool helps engaging new members easily as it doesn’t require prior preparation or training.

From the product perspective, we got better insight on the previous research coverage areas  and uncovered areas that need further research and interviews. The mind map helped the  technical team looking at the product from the personas and the expected users perspective  instead of focusing on the features and technical aspects only. Also the mind map helped  pointing out new personas and possible stakeholders that we weren’t specifically considering  initially.

Approach

We decided to do another round of mind mapping to dig deeper in the personas needs and  preferences and accordingly prioritize the candidate features list.

To capture new field insights and data, we will arrange for a set of interviews and journey maps  to address the gaps discovered in the mind map.

