REFLECTION - VISUALIZATION

Title: Visualisation in Client Servicing & Product Development

Challenge    I work as a designer and engineer at a technology startup that develops IoT and software

parking solutions. Until a few months ago, we developed SaaS-based parking solutions for

real estate properties. The recent pandemic has shut down the workspaces and has forced

us to pivot into a service-based business. I work as a designer and developer at this

company which recently downsized into just engineers and designers due to the pandemic

layoffs. This pivot from product-based to service-based business has left us figuring out on

how to change our internal workflow, understand client servicing and hence found this

transformation quite challenging. I have embarked on the task of tackling these challenges

for me and my team using design thinking to achieve a smoother transition of our company.    Selection    Our team is now downsized to engineers and the shift to services-based business required a

tool which helped us understand and visualize the customers’ needs. The recent work from

home culture made our internal workflow challenging. Hence, visualization is an apt tool for

these challenges and help our team communication and understand each other.    Application    During our first iteration of product design and development, a lot of miscommunication and

unclear communication was encountered since this was our first time dealing with a client

and we were unable to comprehend the client’s requirements. Unlike our previous approach

of product-based business where we were the only ones accountable and the ones to take

action, we now had to consider the clients’ expectation in a visual manner that was

previously overlooked.    I created a system requirement flow which was followed by the team members listing down

the clients’ needs and requirements and the purpose of the product. These documents were

then used internally to visualise the flow of the product. We devised personas and scenarios

of a customer’s flow of using our product so we could understand the problems and

drawbacks from different perspectives.     After documenting the requirements, personas and scenarios we had daily internal meetings

where we shared the documents in the pictorial representation, flowcharts, and use case

diagrams to visualize the complete process of product development and flow of a user.      Insights    By applying visualization, we realised that we went through fewer iterations of finalising the

design specifications and requirements. We achieved faster results in each step of product

development. We took fewer meetings to grasp the clients’ expectations clearly and

presenting our results to the clients visually was found quite appealing to the client.     Internally, as a team, we had a better understanding of the process since we documented

our research and results in a visual manner. We avoided a lot of misunderstanding and

miscommunication within our team. Visualisation helped our entire team get a clearer picture

of the process of product development.     Approach    Having gone through the implementation of visualisation in our service-based requirement,

we would use this approach and tool in other aspects of our business since it reduces and

optimized the effort gone into designing and developing a product. We would use this

technique in the development of our inhouse products in the future. Visualisation has

successfully created a better working flow within our company internally as well as with our

clients that we would like to improve over time.

