Challenge & Selection:

The Visualization tool is strongly effective tool in design thinking process to solve the problem. I used  this tool of Visualization, or Visual Thinking, to achieve a shared understanding of a problem of  innovative graphic design to identify and define possible solutions to the problem. I use this approach  often with our customers, who are different small and big companies or individuals working to apply  technology innovations to modernize their mission or the delivery of their services to their customer,  which may be citizens, businesses, and non-citizens. I have used the technique of using a straw man  visualization of a problem domain with a set of questions or prompts for discussion to allow a diverse  group of customers to learn from each other in the process of defining the scope, boundaries, key  elements, and relationships between elements to consider when identifying pain points and  opportunities for improvements or solutions.

Application:

I start the process by creating a straw man graphic of the problem domain. To develop the straw man  graphic, I will draw from any existing material available to understand the environment. The existing  material may be operational or procedural documents, training materials, marketing materials, GAO  or other auditing reports. If materials are not available, then I conduct informal interviews with one- three of the stakeholders who serve as my main points of contact on the initiative. If appropriate to the  situation, I will borrow the concept to “front-stage/back-stage” from previous research, and discussed  in David Gray’s book, “The Connected Company”. The front-stage/back-stage approach helps to  reinforce the notion that every service – even an internal service – has customers with whom the  service provider interacts and internal processes that enable the organization to provide the service.  The template I often start with also has a column on the left to identify Partners and Value Chain  Providers and a column on the right to identify Oversight Organizations, such as Congress, GAO,  labor unions, advocacy groups, and other entities that may add constraints to how the organization  operates. The straw man graphic is simple, using simple shapes and icons available in Visio or on the  Internet. If the front-stage/back-stage view doesn’t work, then I will create a different type of visual,  either based on a high-level process flow with swim lanes for different stakeholders, or another  format. For the activity, I will divide the stakeholders into groups of 5-6 participants each representing  a different organization or area of interest. Each group receives a poster-size copy of the straw man  graphic that they can write on directly, or use sticky notes to make comments. I give them two-three  questions to answer, such as: 1) What key elements are missing from the graphic? 2) What would you  change about the graphic to make it more accurately reflect your problem space? 3) What key insights  do you have about the relationships between the entities in your problem space? I give them  approximately 20 minutes to discuss the questions and mark up the graphic. Then I have each group  report out on their answers to those three questions while pointing to the mark-ups on their poster. As  each group reports out, I record commonalities in the insights of each group, and then additional  insights that come from the group discussion on an additional copy of the graphic. After the session, I  digitize each group’s poster as an artifact, create a view that combines the shared and new insights  from the group discussion, and then create a revised graphic that incorporates their feedback and  proposed changes that they agreed to as a group.

