Mind mapping

Luis Leon

1. Challenge.

I was working with a big transportation enterprise, and they wanted to  redesign a core process related to the vehicles’ maintenance. They had a lot  of problems with the data, the flow of the vehicles in the process, and the  close of the process.

2. Selection.

I suggested using the design thinking frame because I was in the first weeks  of the course. We used the classic five steps: empathize, define, ideate,  prototype, and test. I used before in other exercises, the triz grid in the second  step but in this exercise, I didn’t consider it appropriate due to the audience  and the redundant ideas of improvement leaving the problem and its effects  aside. So, I preferred to use mind mapping.

3. Application.

I knew that they have a lot of information and histories around the process  development and performance. I needed a strong insight to continue with a  focus on the ideation step.

We started in an individual 10-minute session, in which the people organize all  the information about the complaints, misfunctions, pains, problems, and  knowledge lessons in his role in the process we were working about.

Then, I drew in a whiteboard my mind map, initially with three branches or  arms: pains, complaints, and misfunction. The people began to tell stories and  I painted the situation with a representative icon or sketch, when the map had  some graphics ideas, the magic occurred, we had in only shot of sight, years  of history.

4. Insight

The group realized as a whole shared comprehension not the cause of the  problem (we didn’t look for it), but the main insight related to the process and  his design. We found that people knew very good his functions at the routine,  that they communicate outputs to the next process in an appropriate way but  they didn’t work as a team, they didn’t know the goals and procedures of the  rest of the group, and the company as a whole. They want to help, participate,  or collaborate in the whole process flux.

I learned the great value of the graphics, the connections, and the one-page  representation of a situation, I learned how to put a lot of data in the same  place without too much work or boring analysis.

5. Approach.

First, I will use the frame I learned in this fantastic course. Second, I will  explain all the steps to construct the mind map and the result we are  expecting, there were people confused during the exercise and with some  kind of opposition.

