REFLECTION - MIND MAPPING

Challenge and Selection   I work for an information technology company settled in Italy. We provide digital trust services such as  digital signatures, digital identities, e-delivery services. Upon these services, we build end-to-end solutions  that may help our customers in the digital transformation process.

Each year, we invest part of our revenues in research and development to innovate our solution portfolio.  In this scenario, we wanted to try a different way to come up with some good new ideas and we asked a  consultancy firm to help us setting up a one-day “Idea Generation Workshop”.

The scope of the workshop was to bring together colleagues from different areas of our own company  (including non-technical areas such as HR, Administration, Sales, etc.) and trying to exploit ideas from the  confrontation.

We needed a tool to help us sharing the different points of view and yet letting everybody bring their  personal contribution.

Mind Mapping is the design thinking tool that leads a group of stakeholders in the process of filtering the  amount of data collected during the “what is” phase in order to define the design criteria needed for the  “what if” phase of the idea generation process. A useful description can be find here :  https://youtu.be/Am8EE3SBnAo

Mind Mapping has been a key tool for helping the teams sharing their ideas and for the success of the  workshop.

Application   20 people were invited at the workshop, from different business areas, different ages, different offices.

After a first introduction on the aim of the workshop itself, we had four presentations on the state of the  art of digital trends from different point of views (technical, marketing, compliance, etc.)

All the participants were provided of post-it notes. During the presentations, we have been asked to quickly  write down on the post-it anything we could have thought of interest for the workshop. Even just a word.

After this, we started the actual mind mapping process.

We have been divided in five small teams. Each team started to review the post-it collection. Each person  explained the reasons why he or she had taken every single note. All the post-it have been placed on a big  board and then clustered together whether they were related to the same concept.

The clusters came up to be about common needs (e.g. security, fraud detection, compliance), new  technologies (e.g. iot, biometrics, cryptography), personas (e.g. kids, elder people, strangers).

We wanted to focus on the design criteria instead of start speaking about final products.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55  minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the  problem in less than five minutes.” (Albert Einstein)

With this in mind, each team started to draw links between the clusters whenever a connection could  apply. Trying to look for the criteria that a possible solution should match.

We wrote all the criteria beside the map.

All the teams illustrated their maps and the resulting criteria to the other teams and this helped for a final  review.

With the visual help of the maps at the walls of the classroom we then moved to the “what if” phase of the  workshop.

Insigths and approach   The workshop has been a success. At the end of the day:

•  20 ideas on new possible products have been outlined

•  12 concepts have been selected for further development

Afterwards:

•  3 solutions became new portfolio products

•  1 product is patent-pending

The mind mapping tool was effectively useful to help teams of quite different people to focus on identifying  the design criteria needed for a new valuable product. Clustering together the post-it notes on the board  really helped us to understand each other ideas and thinking processes.

We have enjoyed using this tool during the one-day workshop.

Next time I would really like to test it in a different context with a longer “what is” phase and try to handle a  bigger amount of input data.


REFLECTION - MIND MAPPING Challenge and Selection I work for an information technology company settled in Italy . We provide digital trust services such as digital signatures , digital identities , e - delivery services . Upon these services , we build end - to - end solutions that may help our customers in the digital transformation process . Each year , we invest part of our revenues in research and development to innovate our solution portfolio . In this scenario , we wanted to try a different way to come up with some good new ideas and we asked a consultancy firm to help us setting up a one - day “ Idea Generation Workshop ” . The scope of the workshop was to bring together colleagues from different areas of our own company ( including non - technical areas such as HR , Administration , Sales , etc . ) and trying to exploit ideas from the confrontation . We needed a tool to help us sharing the different points of view and yet letting everybody bring their personal contribution . Mind Mapping is the design thinking tool that leads a group of stakeholders in the process of filtering the amount of data collected during the “ what is ” phase in order to define the design criteria needed for the “ what if ” phase of the idea generation process . A useful description can be find here : https://youtu.be/Am8EE3SBnAo Mind Mapping has been a key tool for helping the teams sharing their ideas and for the success of the workshop . Application 20 people were invited at the workshop , from different business areas , different ages , different offices . After a first introduction on the aim of the workshop itself , we had four presentations on the state of the art of digital trends from different point of views ( technical , marketing , compliance , etc . ) All the participants were provided of post - it notes . During the presentations , we have been asked to quickly write down on the post - it anything we could have thought of interest for the workshop . Even just a word . After this , we started the actual mind mapping process . We have been divided in five small teams . Each team started to review the post - it collection . Each person explained the reasons why he or she had taken every single note . All the post - it have been placed on a big board and then clustered together whether they were related to the same concept . The clusters came up to be about common needs ( e.g. security , fraud detection , compliance ) , new technologies ( e.g. iot , biometrics , cryptography ) , personas ( e.g. kids , elder people , strangers ) . We wanted to focus on the design criteria instead of start speaking about final products . “ If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution , I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask … for once I know the proper question , I could solve the problem in less than five minutes . ” ( Albert Einstein ) With this in mind , each team started to draw links between the clusters whenever a connection could apply . Trying to look for the criteria that a possible solution should match . We wrote all the criteria beside the map . All the teams illustrated their maps and the resulting criteria to the other teams and this helped for a final review . With the visual help of the maps at the walls of the classroom we then moved to the “ what if ” phase of the workshop . Insigths and approach The workshop has been a success . At the end of the day : • 20 ideas on new possible products have been outlined • 12 concepts have been selected for further development Afterwards : • 3 solutions became new portfolio products • 1 product is patent - pending The mind mapping tool was effectively useful to help teams of quite different people to focus on identifying the design criteria needed for a new valuable product . Clustering together the post - it notes on the board really helped us to understand each other ideas and thinking processes . We have enjoyed using this tool during the one - day workshop . Next time I would really like to test it in a different context with a longer “ what is ” phase and try to handle a bigger amount of input data .