Visualisation

Challenge and Selection

The tool that I chose to apply is the tool of visualization to showcase to my members the possible  implications of their decisions regarding the outcome of the project. I often use this method to show the  possible project outcomes a few terms later so that my members, especially those in the executive  committee will be able to make more informed decisions, since their decisions can greatly influence the  way the project will move in. Most of the time, I use the technique of a timeline with different humans  in it, and attach a set of conditions and trade-offs with each decision that can be made along the way.  This has helped us identify and understand the entire project from a big picture and consider the  opportunity cost of certain decisions that may only be clear later in the project.

Application

The way that I carry out the visualization tool is as such:

I often gather the executive committee into a room, and get them to project their desired project  outcome. Once they have an image of how they would like to project to turn out, they will be required  to classify them into the following time frames: 1 year, 3 years, 5 years or towards the end of the  project, depending on which one comes earlier first. This helps us break the daunting project into  smaller and more manageable steps for us to plan solutions for it.

From then, we will zoom into the particular details of the project, and that is when we will use the  technique of timeline with different images of human interactions in them. For instance, when we  decide to adopt project A with an external vendor, we would like to consider the flow 1 year from now,  especially the best case and worst case scenarios. From there, we will examine the ripple effects of how  certain detriments may eventually become bigger problems if unsolved, and how things like positive  branding accrued from some of our earlier actions can reap exponential benefits in the later parts of the  project. This tool has been extremely effective in helping us identify blind spots and from there plan our  actions long term without compromise on feasibility in the short term.

Insights and Approach

One of the more interesting things that I have realized, especially when it comes to delivering creative  solutions for projects without much regulations and procedures, commitment members tend to stay to  tried and tested methods rather than thinking out of the box. One possible explanation for this is  because while it is good for us to gain some insights from the projected and forecasted data that we  have, many questions will present themselves when we plan, say 5 years ahead, and many of them have  ambiguous answers, if we can even answer them at all. Therefore, for the sake of being “right”, many of  my team members will prefer using methods that have already presented themselves in the industry,  hampering the effectiveness of “creative thinking” in this case.

To circumvent that, I think that one of the most effective methods that I discovered is through the use  of encouraging an open and inquisitive environment for my team to make bold predictions, so long as it  is supported by reasonable grounds. Through this, I realized that team members were more inclined in  voicing their opinions and working their creative juices, while also giving us an opportunity to visual the  possible implications of our actions in the future.

