Reflection - Visualization

Challenge and selection

The tool used by me was Visualization or Visual Thinking to tackle the gap analysis of an  existing system. As a marketing lead, I was supposed to analyse the ROI of the $ invested in  a large campaign and find the gaps as why we weren’t achieving the desired results.

I used this tool as there were many stakeholders from different teams of the ecosystem  involved. It was important to understand the process flow and identify/nail the gap through  visual representation of ‘As-Is’ to achieve ‘To-Be’.

Objective was to visually represent the entire process of the marketing campaign and find  the missing pieces to achieve the bigger goal. Campaign involved various team like –  content, digital, campaign, Martech, inside sales and portfolio marketing. The scope of work  had to be outlined in order to meet the desired results.

Application

When we're dealing with very complex problems, we're actually enacting a different kind of  problem solving that has to bring in more than just logic. We're thinking about possibilities  that we haven't yet seen. So that kind of imaginative work really has to be brought out by  using pictorial/visual representation of ideas. When you get to the concept development,  visualization becomes incredibly key. Because concepts are literally coming out of your  mind's eye. And your brain is creating pictures of something that doesn't yet exist. It's  creating pictures of something that will soon be. The way that we might use visualization in  that, in that kind of situation is through diagrams/sketching.

Since there were disparate entities/teams in the system, approach was to question all with a  defined set of questions and represent in the pictorial format. I used  https://app.diagrams.net/ to sketch the entire flow – target audience, all different levels of  touch points, view of customer interactions/engagements, customer scores etc.

It was all achieved through formal interviews with stakeholders and using the information  for the process diagram.

Insight and approach

The entire process of interviewing and representing the entire process through diagram,  gave me a clear picture of the gaps/missing pieces. It was evident from the flow and what  we wanted from the bigger picture. Concepts were created and strategy to fill the gaps. An  innovative approach was planned as per the existing weapons in the arsenal.

Since I discovered that the most valued 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 diagram that incorporates their combined feedback can serve as  a reference tool throughout the remainder of their work.

