Example Reflection – Visualization

Challenge + Selection

We sat in the back of a quaint coffee shop courtyard, sipping latte flavors we had never tried before,  talking about a problem that would spawn into a brand new project neither of us expected.  A good  friend of mine had started a nonprofit recently.  The goal was to bring humanitarian efforts to the global  platform.  The problem was connecting people to the vision, financially and physically – the nonprofit  needed assets and helping hands.  This was the first of several sessions where we used the Visualization  tool to approach the problem, pinpoint a solution, and help others truly identify with the cause.

We would, over the course of a year, meet with several key stakeholders (nonprofit board members,  developers, vendors, online shoppers, off-line shoppers, missionaries, youtubers, and the marketing  team) to visually define the workflows, goals, and relationships between the ever-growing elements of  our project.

Application

In that coffeeshop, we drew up a visualization that involved two entities, one for facilitating  humanitarian efforts and the second for fundraising.  We defined the people and tasks for each using  rudimentary sketches and then highlighted the relationships between the entities, people, and tasks.  It  was easy to see once we finished that we had some commonalities where internet-based resources  would need to be linked across servers.  The entities also had individual responsibilities that impacted  similar people, highlighting the importance of marketing as one, rather that two separate entities.

Equipped with the brainstorming visualization, we later set out defining in greater detail the structure  behind the solution.  We needed to put together a proposal for the nonprofit board and then solicit for  their feedback.  Naturally, we put together a slightly different visualization after this meeting.  The board  had some concerns and additional aspects that needed to be considered in the process. On a  whiteboard, we added, erased, and changed the original visualization until the board members  collectively concluded that it was fit for approval.  We could move forward in the design process.

Bringing the idea to developers and end users proved once again that visualization was key to the  discussion.  A broad high-level understanding of the solution was valuable as a starting point in  discussion with the teams.  Allowing them to independently draw up their own interpretations of the  solution along with their input on requirements really expanded upon and solidified a well-built  resource that could appeal to a broader audience.  We allowed each individual in these sessions (usually  about 5-6 people) to draw in edits on a handout as we lead the discussion through a series of probing  questions.  We then let them discuss in small groups their observations, using storytelling, and  encouraged them to further tweak their individual handouts if desired.  We posted the visualizations up  at the end of the sessions and found concrete commonalities that needed to be considered in the  “master plan”.  These visualizations really aided in discussion and in clearly seeing workflows and  relationships through the feedback from all participants.

Insight  + Approach

What I have learned through the many sessions is that each stakeholder might see the “big picture” in a  new way.  It is always fascinating to see each new perspective and to go through the process of piecing

together an even “bigger picture” for a more robust understanding of the problems and solutions facing  such an endeavor. Not everyone sees the problem the same way, or even the same problems, and I  think by creating individual visualizations and then bringing together these perspectives into one  visualization, we begin to see a more viable solution that can be traced back to the benefits of each  influential group.

We are now at the point where a first draft of the solution is built and we are embarking on a series of  learning launches with the different people groups to gain further insight.

We know without a doubt that as opportunities arise, new ways of spanning influence on the global  platform throughout many varying cultures and locations, we can always come back to the visualizations  to easily and quickly identify how things might need to be changed or redrawn completely to continue  to serve in the most compassionate way.

