Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge     I’m part of the PMO of my organization’s and currently our challenge is to define the value  proposition of the reconciliation module. This module is in production since long time ago,  however during the last year we have found that the customer doesn’t understand very well  how to use it and the value of use it. We need to find the way to redefine and/or redesign the  module and show the customer that they need this module to control the whole flow of their  sales.     Selection     After our research and self-verification, the outcome was to select the mind mapping tool. In a  nutshell we consider that it can help us to define the value proposition and redesign the module  at all taking in consideration all the information gather from the customers.     Application     We started with a brainstorming meeting to organize all the information collected by each team  member in a visually brain-friendly method as mind mapping suggested. Afterwards we draw in  the blackboard a single idea that was represented with text “Reconciliation”, then more  subsidiary ideas were added around the main idea and related to it by lines. It is important to  mention that we ensure the use of a unified hierarchy to represent all the ideas, and in parallel  we use different visual elements to organize ideas such as customer logos, icons, etc.

Insight     The outcome of the process of apply the mind mapping was a diagram that represent  the idea of the reconciliation module needed from the customers point of view, it was  slightly different from what we were thinking in the past. The next step is that our team will  review this insight and incorporate it into the roadmap, so new releases with the new design are  coming.     Approach

Thanks to the mind mapping tool, we were able to unblock a redesign required from long time,  based on that, we have decided to implement this technique as priority for reviewing any  discrepancy between our product and the customer thoughts. From this experience, we  consider that mind mapping is one of the efficient method to organize ideas and analyze  complex situations through breaking things down into smaller parts. Additionally, it can be used  alone or with in collaboration with other design thinking methods which help us in future.

