Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge

I am currently managing an infrastructure IT program for a large Pharmaceutical company based out of  Chicago where I am responsible for driving automation throughout the engagement (End user  computing, Backup & Storage and Network management). We started our automation journey last year  however after a few months we started seeing many concerns and issues being raised from different  stakeholders. To understand these issues better and find out the underlying problems we planned a day  long automation workshop inviting 20 key stakeholders/SMEs from customer organization and our  senior management and solution team. The objective of the workshop was to uncover the real issues  which is hindering overall automation progress so that a right action plan can be formulated and to be  executed to bring the program on track.

Selection

We decided to leverage Mind Mapping in the workshop to engage all the stakeholders and uncover the  real issues. Mind Mapping is an important Design thinking tool which is used to represent how ideas or  other items are linked to a central idea and to each other. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize,  structure and classify ideas to look for patterns and insights that provide key design criteria. We do this  by displaying the data and asking people to cluster them in ways that allow themes and patterns to  emerge. As we felt, to succeed, mind mapping has to be a team sport and engaging.

Application

We started the workshop with introduction and setting the agenda/objectives. After that, what we did  was we displayed the automation journey we had so far in a white board highlighting all key milestones  and current status, automation architecture, technology stack, all the key modules/features that are in  development and the key benefits to be realized. After the details were displayed, we asked each of the  stakeholders to go through the details and highlight the key issues/show stoppers that they think need  to be addressed to make the automation journey successful. Each person was allowed to come up with  as many issues as he/she thinks need to be highlighted. We have handed each person with a set of sticky  notes and pen and asked them to stick their notes into the white board once done. We gave roughly 30  mins for this exercise. Once all the sticky notes were there in the board, we as a team went through all  of them one by one and clustered them into 4 main themes (Technology Issues, Security Issues,  Execution Issues and Stakeholder/Communication Issues). Once we have all the sticky notes clustered in  4 general themes, we divided customer and solution teams both into four groups and asked them to  discuss on those issues to come up with as much as insights possible as that will feed into the action  plan which will be formulated post the workshop.

Insights and Approach

What I have learned from conducting this exercise with diverse stakeholders is that while the mind  mapping with sticky notes/clustering that captures an exhaustive feedback, the more valuable aspect of  the activity was the shared insights and shared learning that occurs within the teams. The graphic of  automation journey at first place gave the diverse group of stakeholders a focal point for discussion that  allows them to share their perspectives and develop insights into potential root causes of their  problems. Also, this exercise helped us to uncover and gain insights that some of the automation issues  were not at all related to the product/solution which we are offering – those were issues due to  communications gaps and lack of adequate documentation provided. Moving forward, our team will  review these insights and will come up with action plans to ensure automation becomes a big success  story for the client.

Approach given that our team has already gone through several design thinking activities/tools and are  at this stage in the timeline, the Mind Mapping was the appropriate tool. As previously mentioned, our  team needs to review the insight gained from the automation workshop and incorporate this insight  into an action plan to continue with a successful journey and on time rollout.


Reflection – Mind Mapping Challenge I am currently managing an infrastructure IT program for a large Pharmaceutical company based out of Chicago where I am responsible for driving automation throughout the engagement ( End user computing , Backup & Storage and Network management ) . We started our automation journey last year however after a few months we started seeing many concerns and issues being raised from different stakeholders . To understand these issues better and find out the underlying problems we planned a day long automation workshop inviting 20 key stakeholders / SMEs from customer organization and our senior management and solution team . The objective of the workshop was to uncover the real issues which is hindering overall automation progress so that a right action plan can be formulated and to be executed to bring the program on track . Selection We decided to leverage Mind Mapping in the workshop to engage all the stakeholders and uncover the real issues . Mind Mapping is an important Design thinking tool which is used to represent how ideas or other items are linked to a central idea and to each other . Mind maps are used to generate , visualize , structure and classify ideas to look for patterns and insights that provide key design criteria . We do this by displaying the data and asking people to cluster them in ways that allow themes and patterns to emerge . As we felt , to succeed , mind mapping has to be a team sport and engaging . Application We started the workshop with introduction and setting the agenda / objectives . After that , what we did was we displayed the automation journey we had so far in a white board highlighting all key milestones and current status , automation architecture , technology stack , all the key modules / features that are in development and the key benefits to be realized . After the details were displayed , we asked each of the stakeholders to go through the details and highlight the key issues / show stoppers that they think need to be addressed to make the automation journey successful . Each person was allowed to come up with as many issues as he / she thinks need to be highlighted . We have handed each person with a set of sticky notes and pen and asked them to stick their notes into the white board once done . We gave roughly 30 mins for this exercise . Once all the sticky notes were there in the board , we as a team went through all of them one by one and clustered them into 4 main themes ( Technology Issues , Security Issues , Execution Issues and Stakeholder / Communication Issues ) . Once we have all the sticky notes clustered in 4 general themes , we divided customer and solution teams both into four groups and asked them to discuss on those issues to come up with as much as insights possible as that will feed into the action plan which will be formulated post the workshop . Insights and Approach What I have learned from conducting this exercise with diverse stakeholders is that while the mind mapping with sticky notes / clustering that captures an exhaustive feedback , the more valuable aspect of the activity was the shared insights and shared learning that occurs within the teams . The graphic of automation journey at first place gave the diverse group of stakeholders a focal point for discussion that allows them to share their perspectives and develop insights into potential root causes of their problems . Also , this exercise helped us to uncover and gain insights that some of the automation issues were not at all related to the product / solution which we are offering – those were issues due to communications gaps and lack of adequate documentation provided . Moving forward , our team will review these insights and will come up with action plans to ensure automation becomes a big success story for the client . Approach given that our team has already gone through several design thinking activities / tools and are at this stage in the timeline , the Mind Mapping was the appropriate tool . As previously mentioned , our team needs to review the insight gained from the automation workshop and incorporate this insight into an action plan to continue with a successful journey and on time rollout .