Example  Reflection  –  Mind  Mapping

Challenge      I  am  a  Master's  student  studying  Marketing.  During  a  “Marketing  of  Innovations”  course  I   (within  a  group  of  7  people)  had  to  develop  a  concept  of  the  product  and  a  detailed  well-­ thought   marketing   strategy   (including   market   analysis,   competitor   analysis,   target   audience,  branding,  promotion,  distribution,  pricing  strategies,  etc.).  The  challenge  was   to   make   a   comprehensive   project,   based   on   relevant   analysis   and   at   the   same   time   creative  during  one  month.  During  the  project  we  gathered  and  analyzed  lots  of  data,  and   at  one  moment  we  faced  a  difficulty  in  "connecting  the  dots"  of  our  analysis  –  teammates   understood  the  information  we  gathered  differently  and  sometimes  offered  solutions  that   did  not  fit  well  to  the  project.        Selection      To  solve  this  problem,  I  decided  to  lead  the  group  to  the  mutual  understanding  by  creating   a  mind  map  every  time  we  discussed  a  certain  part  of  the  marketing  strategy.     Mind  map  is  a  graphical  way  to  represent  concepts,  ideas,  structures.  It  looks  like  a   diagram  that  that  connects  information  around  a  central  subject  (example  of  a  mind  map   is  shown  in  the  Figure  1).  This  visual  thinking  tool  helps  to  structure  information,   analyze  it,  and  generate  creative  ideas.     As  it  was  noticed  in  the  lecture  “Mind  Mapping  Tool”  of  Francesca Hussain’s  “Design   Thinking”  course  on  Coursera  (week  3),  mind  mapping  is  a  tool  used  primarily  at  the  end   of  the  first  –  "what  is?"  –  stage  to  prepare  a  ground  for  the  "what  if?"  stage.  It  is  more   creative  and  flexible  than  simple  lists.        Application      Mind  mapping  allowed  us  to  gather  all  the  information  we  had  at  the  moment  in  one  place   and  then,  based  on  this  information,  to  come  up  with  some  creative  solutions  that  ideally   fit  to  the  project.  For  example,  when  we  discussed  promotion  instruments  suitable  for  the   project,  we  mapped  our  target  audiences,  how  they  prefer  to  get  information,  and  then   connected  it  with  the  promotion  tools  we  decided  to  use.  During  group  discussions  in  a   class,  I  draw  the  mind  map  on  the  board.  After  we  agreed  on  the  structure  and  options   of  the  mind  map  dedicated  to  a  certain  part  of  the  marketing  strategy,  I  created  a  mind   map  in  a  special  application  (called  MagicalPad).  Further,  I  merged  it  with  the  mind   maps  on  the  other  topics  related  to  the  project  and  shared  it  with  a  team  (on  Google   Drive),   so   that   we   could   have   a   big   picture   view   on   our   project   and   find   any   logical   inconsistencies  in  our  project  quickly.       Mind  mapping  technique  was  very  effective  in  our  case.  It  enabled  us  to  create  a  very   large  project  for  one  month  only.

Insight      Mind  mapping  is  a  very  creative,  and  at  the  same  time  logical  technique.  Mind  mapping   is  extremely  helpful  for  structuring  the  thought  and  aligning  the  team's  thinking.  It   shows   disadvantages   of   the   ideas   quickly,   because   one   can   see   how   a   certain   idea   (possibility/option)  is  connected  to  the  other  parts  of  the  project  (issues).     Also,  it  helps  to  unleash  creativity,  if  a  team  is  sufficiently  involved  in  the  discussion  of   possibilities/options.  It  is  very  important  to  understand,  that  mind  mapping  brings  much   more  value  when  made  with  communication  and  thorough  discussion  of  every  option   offered.  Done  by  a  single  person,  it  may  give  a  good  understanding  of  a  structure,  but  it   hardly  will  give  some  truly  original,  creative  ideas.        Approach      In  my  opinion,  mind  mapping  is  a  very  helpful  instrument  for  aligning  understanding  of  a   certain  issue/project  by  all  members  of  a  team  or  organization.  For  this  reason,  I  would   prefer   to   use   mind   mapping   rather   than   another   design   thinking   instrument   for   this   challenge.     Next  time  I  would  like  to  make  mind  maps  themselves  more  creative  and  follow  some   mind  mapping  rules  offered  in  the  Internet  in  a  wide  variety.  I  have  found  a  number  of   useful  materials  about  mind  mapping:

1)     How   to   Use   Mind   Maps   To   Unleash   your   Brains   creativity   (Melanie   Pinola,

LifeHacker.com)

2)   How  to  Mind  Map  (iMindMap.com)   3)   Mind  Maps  –  A  powerful  approach  to  note  taking  (MindTools.com)

Figure 1: Recommendations for creating mind maps (source: http://lifehacker.com/how-to-use-mind-maps-to-unleash-your- brains-creativity-1348869811)

