Reflection: Mind Mapping

1. Challenge: As a product manager I have found that a number of the challenges faced

with product development projects, tend to start from the requirement gathering phase,  while trying to understand the problem scenario, and proposing alternative solutions.  With this in mind, I chose to tackle the requirement gathering phase of the product  development project my team is currently working on, differently. The product  development team, is tasked with creating a mobile application for logistics  management. The application is to be used by both logistics delivery companies, and  customers looking to track delivery shipments.

2. Selection: The team has been introduced to a number of design thinking tools, and we

were all keen to try out mind mapping for understanding the problem scenario, and  proposing alternative solutions.

3. Application: The team consists of a Product Manager, 3 mobile software developers,

and 2 QA engineers. The team setup meetings with project's key stakeholders, and  through the course of 3 days, the team was able to put together a mind map problem  scenario, and proposing alternative solutions. Through the course of the meetings, the  following questions were answered, and incorporated into the mind map:

● What is the potential set of customers who will be happy with this app and

why? This question captured information that pertained to the app's  stakeholders, their values, their current problems, context and their expectations.

● Who will use the app? This question captured the appropriate audience for the

app that will be developed.

● When do they use the app? This captured the app's story.  ● What other systems have a necessity to communicate with the app being

developed? This question captured other systems outside the app that have a  necessity to work with the app being developed.

● What information do you want to manage in the app? This question captured

usability and security requirements.

● Backlog: This acted as a placeholder for items the team could not find answers

to during the session, and the schedule for development of the next user stories.

4. Insight: At the end of 3 days, the team and key stakeholders, were able to agree on

overview and process relationships the mind map revealed. It especially helped with  revealing system dependencies thee team hadn’t thought about. This in turn, helped  prioritize the backlog, and development task schedules. The most revealing outcome  from the mind mapping sessions, was the shared insight the team developed, and  applied in forming the final mind map.

5. Approach: With everything the team learnt from the meetings with stakeholders, and

putting together the mind map, next time the team uses a mind map on a product  development project, the team will have product stakeholders also put together mind

maps, based on their interpretation of the problem scenario, and propose alternative  solutions. This will help in reducing the time spent interpreting meeting notes, and  providing stakeholders and product development team with the same shared insight.

