Example Reflection- Visualization

Challenge and Selection

The first tool I used was the tool of Visualization, or Visual Thinking, to achieve a shared understanding  of the problem. We had to shift our home and to ease our home-designing , we planned to hire a house  remodeling expert. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, he quit his job even before starting. We  only had a month before we had to shift. I took the responsibility and the initiative to give a detailed  outlay of our new flat. Visualization is the most important tool for any design thinker and for any  problem statement. The representation of an object, situation, or set of information as a chart or other  image- it’s as simple as that.

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 housing space. The existing  material may be operational or procedural documents, training materials or many more. If materials are  not available, then I conduct informal interviews with my family members who serve as my main points  of contact on the initiative. Since everyone has his/hew own idea about comfort, taking the aspect into  account. The template I start with has a column on the left to identify people and a column towards  right to identify their interests and opinions. The straw man graphic is simple, using simple shapes and  icons available in Visio or on the Internet.

For solving the problem, I give each of my family members 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 emotions and thoughts? I have each person  report out on their answers to those three questions while pointing to the mark-ups on their poster. As  every member reports out, I record commonalities in the insights of the members, and then additional  insights that come from the group discussion on an additional copy of the graphic. After the session, I  digitize the member’s ideas 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 and I agreed to as a group to solve the current challenge.

Insight & Approach

What I have learned from conducting this exercise my family 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 a  focal point for discussion that allows us to share our perspectives and develop insights into potential  root causes of the problems. While we could create the graphic from a blank slate in a collaborative  manner, starting with a straw man jump starts the conversation for us .We can quickly identify where  we are in the graphic – or if  missing. 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 combined feedback can serve as a  reference tool throughout the remainder of the work.

