Using Mind Maps to understand the situation of an Oil and Gas company

Challenge

I work in digital consulting, specifically with my teams we identify IT problems inside a  company and propose feasible solutions to solve them. Great part of our work is gathering  data and information from inside the company trough different methods (interviews,  documents, spread sheets, etc.) and then using it to identify problems and inefficiencies.  This process can be considered as the “what is?” of design thinking, and it is crucial to  achieve good solutions.

Selection

With my team, I use mind mapping as a tool to put all the information we gather so that we  can have a better understanding of the situation we are working on. That way, I can grasp  both the bigger picture and the important details that we cannot miss when designing the  solution to the problem we want to solve. The process of constructing the mind map is a  team effort and it allows team members to share all the information they have that their other  teammates do not. This way, mind mapping allows us to put together all the dots of the “what  is?” together so that we can start working on the “what if?”.

Application

In one case we had to gather information from complex processes for an Oil and Gas  company that was looking to digitalize their operations. We conducted interviews with the  managers of all the different departments and gathered big picture data. Then we  interviewed the engineers that work in the field and gathered specific information regarding  crucial processes. Finally, we collected financial, technological, and business  documentation the company had and analyzed it. By the end, we had a large quantity of  vital information that we put together as a mind map on a wall at our offices.

Insights

We were able to understand the company work and business operations both from a big  picture and detailed way. This allowed us to find problems regarding IT that if solved would  have a big impact on the companies’ revenues. Also, mind mapping allowed us to show the  problem to our client in a visual way and to explain the project to a consultant that joined us  mid project. Finally, we could build the solutions considering the “what if” and the implications  they could have on the client’s business.

Approach

The main thing I would change next time I make a mind map, would be to start the mind  mapping process from the beginning of the information collection. This makes the whole  process easier and allows you to see the missing information you need. Also, it saves time  because you don´t need to go all over the information again to see where it fits on the mind  map.

