Reflection – Visualization

Challenge

I am a member of Knowledge Management Team in my organization. We are owners in the process of  creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge base for the Service Desk (SD). Our challenge is  to improve the knowledge base in order to increase client’s satisfaction. SD uses knowledge article  from our knowledge base to solve end users problems with hardware and software. If SD agent is able  to solve the user’s issue during a first contact with SD, the end user satisfaction is higher. Our project  includes promotion our knowledge base among Service Desk agents and improvement communication  between the teams. We want to show them how to use knowledge base effectively. The project is  limited to internal resources and should not exceed 30 business days. The solution should be simple,  effective and does not consume much money and time.

Selection

Our team decide to use the Visualization tool. In our opinion is the best tool to identify pain points,  opportunities for improvements or solutions.

Application

We start the project to create a graphic of our future newsletter. We will draw from any existing  material available to understand the environment. The existing material may be operational or  procedural documents, training materials, knowledge management’s reports. We will create a  template of our weekly newsletter. It should include the following information:

•  When to send newsletter

•  To who newsletter should ne sent

•  List of new knowledge articles

•  List of updated knowledge articles

•  List of archived knowledge article

•  New processes

•  Client Specific information

•  Knowledge Tip with troubleshooting steps for most common issues

The graphic should be simple, using simple shapes and icons available in MS Power Point.

We will create 3 examples of the template and discuss among the team and choose together which  one is the best. The template with the highest number of votes will win.

Insight

What I have learned from conducting this exercise is that while the graphic is important for reinforcing  their understanding of the problem we are working to solve, the more valuable aspect of the activity  is the shared insights and shared learning that occurs while we are working to define the problem  space. The graphic gives a point for discussion that allows us to share our perspectives and develop

insights into potential root causes of the problems. We can also identify variables in the problem space  – that is, it helps us to identify what we don’t know, in what areas we need to obtain information or  data to provide the values for the variables.

Approach

We discovered that the most valuable aspect is the shared insights and learning, next time we would  use the visualization activity as a starting point for a series of design thinking activities. Then the revised  graphic that incorporates the combined feedback can serve as a reference tool throughout the  remainder of our work.

