Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge & Selection

The first tool that I used is Mind Mapping. I work at IBM and nowadays it is pretty common to  see my colleagues using this tool to solve problems on projects or to better understand the client’s  problems, needs and the best approach to address the solution, bringing customer satisfaction. As  part of the sales team, I’ve started doing it on sales roundtables. Basically, the concept of mind  mapping is to represent ideas and concepts graphically. It is a visual thinking tool that helps structuring  information, helping you to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize, recall and generate new ideas.

Application

We start in a white board with the main point of concern. Most of the time we use Post-It’s to  make better connections and better visualize the lines with vibrant colors. Most of the time we prefer  to have more people on the room, usually from different Business Units, to have a global view of the  challenges and differing opinions to find a better line of business to meet the satisfaction, expectation  and our client’s needs.

When the discussion starts, we make a brainstorming session, where anyone in the room can  stick a Post It or draw something around the main concern or objective, linking the dots and suggesting  ways to overcome possible challenges that may arise during the project. These roundtable sessions,  give us new possibilities, organizing new ideas and new approaches to mutable scenarios. After this  first step, we list the main points, rearranging the primary links and connecting them to the possible  scenarios, solutions and ideas. Always with striking colors we highlight the connection lines to get an  overview of the context in which we operate.

After that, we analyze the best way to meet the demands mentioned in the brainstorming  process. Normally, we leave the room with good solutions and motivated to make everything that was  said come true. We write down everything that is relevant to continuous learning and new sessions  that may occur throughout the project.

Insight & Approach

What I take as a conclusion of the mind mapping process is that viewing a global context,  where concerns of all business units are part of the result of design thinking, brings the benefit of a  better team work, where everyone feels important part of building the best solution for the customer.  In addition to providing better results, predicting problems and suggesting solution, the final product  has better quality. This type of visualization, provides a better understanding of the root cause and  the process as a whole. It brings better deliveries, better relationships and better learning from past  mistakes.

The technique of mind mapping can be used in various fields of knowledge, as well as the  design thinking methodology. This reinvention of the creative process and humanization of the  challenges, brings countless benefits to companies and industries that use them. A simple tool can  indeed make all the difference for any company, as it did for the Big Blue.

