Example Reflection – Visualization

Challenge    In the organization I work in, groups are creating software for internal and external clients but  struggle when coming up with a name for their products. They recognize that even though the  software is great, the name is crucial to the success of the product. Too difficult of a name and  people will not remember it. Too simple of a name and people forget it because it’s too generic  or doesn’t explain what the product actually does.      Selection    The tool I selected is Visualization. I myself am a very visual learner and I feel it helps a group to  be able to physically see combinations and relations between words, images, etc.     Application    Visualization does not have to be a picture, drawing or video. Just writing something down so  everyone in the group can see it is extremely helpful. To help the group create a name for their  product, I first had them do a walkthrough of the product itself. While doing the walkthrough, I  wrote on the wall, key aspects that were focal points for the product. Once the product  walkthrough was finished, I had the team create a persona of who will be using this product.  This way the whole group can get a sense of empathy for the people who will be utilizing this  tool on a daily basis. I wrote all of the characteristics on the board, so people can the traits of  the user base.    My next step in the process is to show the group different naming trends in today’s market. I  write all the different examples on the wall, so everyone can see the company’s names. This  helps the teams to think of different ideas such as combining words, adding -ify to a word or  misspelling a word on purpose. It’s easy to tell the group all the different naming options but  it’s takes their idea creation to the next level when they can see what companies are doing.     Finally, I hand each person in the group a pad of sticky notes and pens. On the wall I create 2  columns, 1 for words and the other for names. I tell the team, based on all the information they  heard about the product, user base and naming conventions, write down whatever words or  names come to them. I tell them to stick the notes on the wall in their appropriate section once  they feel they have a good amount. Once this section of the process is completed, I go to the  wall and start moving the notes into clouds of similar words and names. When the word clouds  are created, I ask the group what words and names they like best and we start to move the  notes around to create different name options. I also write synonyms of some words and stick  them on the wall.

By creating the word clouds and putting the names they come up with on the board for  everyone to see, it allows the group to visualize different word combinations or variations of  words. It’s one thing to yell out names to one another but it’s a whole other level to let people  look at the words and digest them.     Insight & Approach    This application to the challenge actually came from a challenge that was done to name a  different product but didn't have all the visualization and structure. The group wrote words and  names down, but the cloud was full of everything all together. It was a little confusing and  people didn’t know where to look. Design Thinking always amazes me when put into practice. I  say that because to me it just makes sense, but to others they think it’s unnecessary or a game  until they say or do something creative that they may not have thought of before. Maybe the  name the group came up with would have been thought of eventually by a team member, but  how long would that have taken? Could be a day, week, month, who knows. But, by using the  Design Thinking process and letting the group visualize the data, in this case words, the group is  more likely to think of a name faster and easier than they may have previously thought was  possible.     In the future when doing a challenge like this, I may not have the group write full names down. I  may have them focus solely on writing words and then move to names after if they have  additional thoughts. Visualization is an incredible tool because it allows for combined learning.  Each member of the team is learning and going through the process together. For this  challenge, as each person puts their notes on the wall, their divulging their information or idea  to the group, putting everyone on the same page. I feel this is a powerful gesture in trust, team  building and idea creation. Not only will this help teams create a name for this challenge, but it  will also make them connect better for future challenges.

