Reflection – Visualization

Challenge & Selection

The first tool I used was the tool of Visualization, or Visual Thinking, to achieve a shared  understanding of a problem space among a diverse group of stakeholders before attempting  to identify and define possible solutions to the problem. I use this approach often with our  customers, who are government agencies working to apply technology innovations to  modernize their mission or the delivery of their services to their customer, which may be  Indian 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 stakeholders 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

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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.

Insight & Approach

What I have learned from conducting this exercise with several groups is that while the  graphic – especially the revised graphic that incorporates their feedback – is important for  reinforcing their understanding of the problem they are working to solve, the more valuable  aspect of the activity is the shared insights and shared learning that occurs while they are  working to define their problem space. The graphic gives the diverse group of stakeholders a  focal point for discussion that allows them to share their perspectives and develop insights  into potential root causes of their problems. While they could create the graphic from a  blank slate in a collaborative manner, starting with a straw man jump starts the  conversation for them. They can quickly identify where they are in the graphic – or if they  are missing – and can more quickly gain new insights about relationships between key  entities instead of taking time to identify them. They can also identify variables in the  problem space – that is, it helps them to identify what they don’t know, in what areas they  need to obtain information or data to provide the values for the variables. Since I discovered  that the most valuable aspect is the shared insights and learning, next time I would use the  visualization activity as a starting point for a series of design thinking activities. Then the  revised graphic that incorporates their combined feedback can serve as a reference tool for  reminder.

