Coursera : Design thinking

Assignement :   Mind Mapping     Challenge:     After finishing my freshman year in an international business school, I now have three

months of free time in front of me that I would like to put in use. My challenge is to find a  business idea, to model it, and present it to one of my family members in order to possibly  create a family business. Another dilemma I am facing is in which country I would like to start  a business as well as the Covid situation. I could possibly incorporate my business in Belgium  (where my family lives) or in Spain (where I study), I did a SWOT and PESTLE analysis in order  to get better insights of the markets. Finally, it represents a challenge at a personal level, I  want to know how self-disciplined I am and how I could put in use the knowledge I have  acquired this year.     Selection:

The tool I have chosen to use is a Mind Map, it forms a part of the “What is? “process

and helps communicates the insights, data and information gathered during this phase.  It  helps distinguish patterns and links between key elements and its goal is to establish criteria  for the “What is? “idea generation phase. It represents a pivotal point in the design thinking  process. I’ve chosen this tool because in order to help me organised all the data I have  collected from the Spanish and Belgian markets as well as customer behavior and entry  barriers. Furthermore, it a great way to presents my idea to my family member in order to  communicate my vision in the clearest way possible.     Application:

I have used the tool by sequencing key elements such as Belgium, Spain, Ideas,

Differentiation, Customers and Barriers. I linked all of them and distinguish which part were  missing bits of information’s and where I was well informed. It helped me to distinguish  certain links that I couldn’t establish before and putting my ideas down helped me get better  at explaining them in a logical and clear flow.      Insight:

After putting in place this new tool in my reasoning I came to the realization that I

tend to skip the part of writing down goals and ideas and it was costing me dispersion in my  effort. Therefore, I am happy to have broaden my level of skills and I will put it in use as  frequently as it suits the problem I am solving. I’ve also witnesses how positively people  respond to your ideas when you help them visualize it with an innovative technique.     Approach:

Since I am colorblind, what I would do differently would be to do two mind maps, one

with the colors that suits me for my better understanding and another one with colors that  would be more attractive to the people I present to. I am envisioning also to buy and use A3  rather than A4 in order to do even bigger and impressive mind map. Finally, I am really happy  with the outcome I’ve came to by using mind maps and it is always nice to confront your  methods with new ones in order to always improve and get smarter.

