Example Reflection – Visualization

Challenge

I am an animation student and I am working on different projects and illustrations. My challenge for now  is to improve my workflow and concentration spawn in order to increase the quality of my projects and  decrease time spent on work. I will focus on trying to uncover what I consider to be effective or  problematic with regard to my workflow. I have used the technique of using a visualization of my schedule  and projects descriptions, domain with a set of questions to allow a diverse group of my friends to help  defining the scope, boundaries, key elements, and relationships between elements to consider when  identifying pain points and opportunities for improvements or solutions.

Selection

The tool I used was the tool of Visualization, or Visual Thinking, to achieve clear understanding of my  problem space among a diverse group of people and me before attempting to identify and define possible  solutions to the problem. I use this approach often with myself, working on my animations and  commissions. I has already gone through several design thinking activities/tools, so I think I am ready to  try the Visualization tool for this task.

Application

I start the process by creating an approximate image of the problem domain. To develop this, I will draw  graphic from any existing material available to understand my environment. The existing material may be  my grades during different approaches and environment, training materials and my observations on my  mental and physical health.

The template I often start with also has a column on the left to identify Time and Value and a column on  the right to identify Quality, such university grades, my expectations, feelings, my friends’ opinion, and  other entities that may add constraints to how I work. The straw man graphic is simple, using simple  shapes and icons available in Visio or on the Internet. If the front-stage/back-stage view doesn’t work,  then I will create a different type of visual, either based on a high-level process flow with swim lanes for  different stakeholders, or another format.

For the activity, I will make a group of 5-6 participants each representing a different area of interest. Each  participant receives 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 problem space? 3) What key insights do you have about the relationships between the entities in  your problem space? I give them approximately 10 minutes to discuss the questions together with me  and mark up the graphic. Then I have each their report out on their answers to those three questions  while pointing to the mark-ups on their poster. As they report out, I record commonalities in the insights,  and then additional insights that come from me. After the session, I digitize combined poster as an artifact,  create a view that combines the shared and new insights from the group discussion, and then create a  renewed graphic that incorporates their feedback and proposed changes that they agreed to as a group.

Insight & Approach

What I have learned from carrying this exercise with several participants is that while the graphic –  especially the renewed graphic that incorporates their feedback – is important for reinforcing my  understanding of the problem I am working to solve, the more valuable aspect of the activity is the shared  insights and shared learning that occurs while I am working to define my problem space. The graphic gives  the diverse group of participants a valid point for discussion that allows them to share their perspectives  and develop insights into potential root causes of my problems. While I could create the graphic from a

blank slate in a collaborative manner, starting with a image jump starts the conversation for them. They  can quickly identify where they are in the graphic and can more quickly gain new insights about  relationships between key entities instead of taking time to identify them. I can also identify variables in  the problem space, it helps me to identify what I don’t know, in what areas I need to obtain information  or skill to provide the values for the variables.

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.

