Example Reflection – Visualization

Challenge & Selection

I used the Visualization tool to achieve a shared understanding of a problem space among a diverse group of stakeholders before attempting to identify and define workable solutions to the problem.  I use this approach often with a Focus Group (Focus Leonardo) in my organization. The main purpose of this group is to identify the problem statements from various areas & businesses and try to solve them using SAP’s Leonardo solution portfolio like Machine learning, IoT, AI etc. I used this design thinking tool specifically to analyze & solve a very serious problem in North India i.e. Female feticide.

Problem Statement: Female feticide i.e. Abortion of a female fetus outside of legal methods is a severe problem observed in several states of India. There is a good percentage of unregistered ultrasound clinics in the country. Presently, there is no direct correlation available with administrative/auditing authorities between No. of registered births for a specific period & No. of ultrasound clinics registered in the area.

I have used the technique of using a straw man visualization of a problem domain with a set of questions or prompts for discussion to allow a diverse group of stakeholders (in my case NGOs & government officials) to learn the process of defining the scope, boundaries, key elements, and relationships between elements and parameters.

Application

Firstly, I revisited the 7-min video on visualization tool available in Week 1 course content and got the complete understanding of the concept of visual thinking and creating a straw man graphic of the problem statement.

To start with, I used a simple white board and tried to build a visualization diagram to understand the problem statement better and identify key elements. Once my initial draft of the visualization diagram was ready, I called up the Focus group for a 1-hour session to discuss the problem.

During our discussions, we referred to various information available in public domain like Census data on sex ratio, news articles & whitepapers. The sole objective was to refine our visualization diagram in terms of covering all key parameters & elements which would help us to identify a possible solution within SAP’s Leonardo portfolio.

The outcome of our discussion was as below:

1. Visualization diagram covering problem statement + Fitment of solution in Machine Learning models of SAP Leonardo portfolio. 2. A 10 questions questionnaire for the NGOs & key state government authorities which would support our visualization diagram in terms of data gathering and validation.

I was completely amazed seeing the output of this exercise and hence would like to share the diagram.

We have circulated the questionnaire to the key stakeholders & now are working on the prototype in machine learning.

Insights

What I have learned from conducting this exercise with my focus group is that while the graphic – especially the revised visualization diagram that incorporates their feedback – is important for reinforcing their understanding of the problem they are working to solve; the more valuable aspect of the activity is the shared insights and shared learning & brainstorming that occurs while they are working to define their problem space.  The visual representation gives the focus group of stakeholders a focal point for discussion that allows them to share their perspectives and develop insights into potential root causes of their problems.

While we could create the visualization from a blank slate in a collaborative manner, starting with a straw man jump starts the conversation for them. The group can quickly identify where they are in the diagram or if they are missing any element and can more quickly gain new insights about relationships between key entities instead of taking time to identify them.

They can also identify variables in the problem space by relating information related to census data & news articles which helped them to identify what they don’t know, in what areas they need to obtain information or data to provide the values for the variables. That’s how the idea of having a questionnaire was generated.

I am so happy & satisfied with this visualization tool and henceforth would use the visualization activity as a starting point for a series of design thinking activities & problem solving brainstorming assignments.

