Design thinking application assignment    Challenge:  I am relating this assignment to a real-life possibility with awareness of the domain I specialize  in as a student. So the challenge in my case is the implementation of a new Performance  Management System (PMS) in an organization. The organization (let’s name it Innovate Ltd.)  has so far followed the traditional approach of PMS wherein the entire process takes place in a  paper-pen format. The employee fills out his own appraisal forms, hands it over to the manager  for review, they may have a discussion over the employee’s performance during or post which  the manager fills in his comments in the employee’s appraisal form and submits it to the higher  authority for approval or further discussion if needed before finalizing the performance rating.  Innovate Ltd. has lately been getting a lot of grievances from employees expressing  dissatisfaction with their performance ratings and hence wants to

1. Figure out the root cause leading to dissatisfaction with the process  2. Increase the level of transparency in the process, since the management feels the

employee will be a lot more aware of his possible ratings if he can see his manager’s or  super-manager’s comments on his performance

3. Implement an easier and faster PMS which would replace the pen-paper process

Selection:  So for my challenge, I have decided to use two of the tools of design thinking at two different  stages of problem resolution.

1. Mind Mapping: this tool would be used as a precursor to the whole PMS

transformation. As we know mind mapping helps us to explore the though process of our  customers (in this case the employees) in a very close manner. So the idea behind using  this tool is to understand the actual though process of our employees at Innovate with  regards to the existing PMS, its pros and cons, the challenges they face as its ultimate  stakeholders, their areas of concern and their expectations from the PMS.

2. Learning Launch: Mind Mapping is going to give us a big homework here, and once

we have worked upon it and come out with something interesting during the homework  (the prototype of our new PMS), Learning Launch will be used to validate the outcome of  our homework for its perceived effectiveness. Like the IBM trade show, we would go  about doing small tests to interact with our employees and gather their feedback on our  homework’s output.

Application:

1. To gather data on employee perception about existing and expected PMS, we chose to

use mind mapping. The Innovate workplace layout is arranged in the form of what we  can call bays. Each bay consists of seating arrangement for 6 employees connected to a  vertical common passage which leads to the exit of the bay-room. A bay room is a  collection of 5 bays. To use mind mapping, we pasted blank charts with “PMS” written on  the center in each bay before the official work hours for the day began. Next to the chart  we kept a short instruction sheet which stated the employees in one bay could use the  chart in their bay to write or draw anything that came to their mind about PMS. They  were given a time of 2 working days to fill up the chart. On the second day, we added an

additional message on the instruction sheet that post collection of all bay-charts at the  end of the deadline, the employees would get a set of surprises eventually.    Our idea behind the chart was to entice the creative thinking of our employees, get them  to put in their thoughts as they liked and as openly as possible by making it a group  effort and anonymous. Secondly the deadline was to ensure we had some closure on the  time-frame so that we could start working on our homework and finally the surprise  aspect, we felt, would encourage the employees to actively fill in their bay-charts  anticipating some reward/appreciation for their effort.

2. After collection of all ideas and thought processes of our employees, we set forth on our

mission to develop a new PMS prototype incorporating all feasible expected aspects  stated by our employees in their charts and avoiding scope for repetition of any existing  challenge or con of the system in the new prototype. So we came up with the idea of an  online PMS portal which would enable all the stakeholders to view each other activity  subject to some restrictions by virtue of authority which we believed would increase the  transparency of the whole process. We decided to conduct learning launches of our  new prototype for which we developed a mini-PMS model and made a surprise launch  within a week of closure of the mind mapping activity.  The following week’s first working day, we launched the prototype to our employees as a  default launch on system login. The employees had to work around the online system as  per the instructions and then rate the system on various parameters (a smiley based  rating scale was used) along with an open ended feedback section to detail further  possible improvements.  The launch feedback was also gathered through the concept of “mystery shoppers”  wherein we assigned two “interns” to each bay-room who had the task of gathering any  relevant aspect on PMS from the casual conversations among the employees in the room  during the launch test period. This feedback along with the feedback captured in the  system would be used to further enhance our PMS prototype.

Insight:  Our initial perception about the challenge was that we just needed to make the system more  transparent to reduce all grievances and this could be just done through an online system. We  however decided to go ahead and explore the “blind-spots” using design thinking tools o that the  investment of time and money we would make to put in place a new system wasn’t a short term  win but a sustainable one.    So initially we realised during the mind mapping process that PMS is a very sensitive area and  extracting feedback about it would not be easy as one the first day of the chart activity hardly  any of the chart had any input from the employees. So we decided to play with the human mind  which is always in for surprises, by incentivizing the activity. (2 days after the closure of the  activity we awarded bay with most inputs and those with most creative inputs with goodies). We  need to always find ways to elicit participation from our customers.    Secondly we realised that any problem solving would be a lot easier when the ultimate customer  felt involved with the resolution process. By the launch the prototype within a week of the chart

activity closure, the employees felt they were a part of the whole activity and that they could add  value to building the PMS as their views were being sincerely worked upon. (Again the best  suggestions for improvement in the launch feedback were recognised to encourage more open  suggestions).     Approach: We arrived at the final design of the PMS when we had a fair share or positive  employee feedback through our series of learning launches. While selection of the tools and  their application worked well in this case, I feel the learning launches iteration in cases of a  prototype of a system as big and significant as a PMS might not be “fast and cheap” under all  circumstances especially when rolling it out to every single employee and getting their feedback  to be worked upon. In such cases may be we could use a story telling system where in through  say a role-play workshop (or similar kind) we could convey our prototype to the employees and  openly harness their feedback instantaneously to make changes and validate it as well.

