Schedule the Change You Want to See in the World

Story Telling Reflection, 5-10 paragraphs, pdf

Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.    The challenge is how to schedule meetings across multiple time zones and make each meeting  unique and productive. The meetings take place in 2020-2021 with Zoom and similar  technologies due to the pandemic. The majority of the meetings are attended by the same  group of people each of whom takes on different roles in our startup company with 20  employees.     Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g., what it is and why  you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references).    Of the four design thinking tools presented in the course, I chose to reflect on storytelling. I’ll  share a story below to illustrate why I selected it.     The first time I handed in a paper during my first year in college, my English professor handed  back my paper and said, “it’s not good enough to grade.” With a sense of nervousness, I walked  back to my dorm room and sat down for 30 minutes in order to begin rewriting the paper. I  changed a few words, and I added a couple of sentences and I was certain this would suffice.  Again, my English professor said, “it’s not good enough to grade.” My nervousness turned to  panic. This time I worked on the paper for a few days. I read it from top to bottom and I started  to see errors typical for freshman writers: run-on sentences, spelling, and vague comma  references. After working “so hard,” I tentatively turned in my paper. My professor let me know  that she would grade it. A few days later, she returned the paper with a big red ink C largely  written on top of the paper. The lesson I learned is that writing is re-writing and re-writing is  writing.     The reason I chose storytelling is because it is a tool that allows us to accumulate massive  amounts of information and put it into a distilled and memorable narrative for ourselves and  others. Life lessons often come from whole units such as storytelling rather than discrete units  from formulas. Our brains require that we tell stories that include characters and the plot, and  importantly that we know our audience. We tell our colleagues one story and our boss another  even when the facts of the story are the same. We emphasize and de-emphasize for effect and  to enhance and protect our reputations.     Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g., what you  did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively).    How can the mundane task of scheduling meetings possibly be rendered into storytelling? Our  biotech company aims to change the future of healthcare diagnostics. Current diagnostics are  either accurate and slow or fast and inaccurate (what is?). What if we could do both and make  diagnostics both fast and accurate? We validate our technology to determine the intersection

of our capabilities with the needs of the end users (what wows?) before we use that  information to produce devices (what works?). The underlying theme of our company is  changing the world, so we developed the idea to connect daily meetings with this change. We  schedule the change we want to bring about in the world. By finding a theme (scheduling  change) and connecting it to characters (employees), the plot or the main events of making,  and selling our products, meetings are given a purpose because they connect our desire to  change the world of medical diagnostics.     Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge  (e.g., how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking  more broadly).    The definition of insight is to gain a “deep intuitive understanding” of a phenomenon. For us, a  clearer definition is breaking down the word into its syllables: in-sight. We see in places in  which previously there was dark. The dark in this story is how the fog of multiple Zoom  meetings bog people down by the repetitiveness of logging on to hourly calls or the petty habits  of colleagues. As our focus shifted to the distractions of the calls, we began to sense we were  losing our way, so we had to reset ourselves and ask, “why do we have calls in the first place?”  The obvious answers need to be re-thought sometimes. After various one-on-one offline  conversations, a consensus emerged that we needed to look again of our mission of change.  We were excited when we developed our mission and that led us to realize why we have  meetings. We are in the business of scheduling the change we want to see in the world.     Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you  selected or a different one -- and the reason(s) why.    Storytelling is a tool that worked for this problem, but I think in the future we can use other  tools. For example, we could ask “what is,” what if,” what wows,” and “what works” and use  visualization, mind mapping, or learning launch. The type of problem might help us choose.  Visualization is used often with paper and pen and CAD design tools to visualize the next best  designs. Mind mapping can be applied to gathering information from our customers and end- users (two distinct groups). Learning Launch can help us experiment quickly when we want to  choose the best interaction interface for our products.


Schedule the Change You Want to See in the World Story Telling Reflection , 5 - 10 paragraphs , pdf Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . The challenge is how to schedule meetings across multiple time zones and make each meeting unique and productive . The meetings take place in 2020 - 2021 with Zoom and similar technologies due to the pandemic . The majority of the meetings are attended by the same group of people each of whom takes on different roles in our startup company with 20 employees . Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . Of the four design thinking tools presented in the course , I chose to reflect on storytelling . I ’ll share a story below to illustrate why I selected it . The first time I handed in a paper during my first year in college , my English professor handed back my paper and said , “ it ’s not good enough to grade . ” With a sense of nervousness , I walked back to my dorm room and sat down for 30 minutes in order to begin rewriting the paper . I changed a few words , and I added a couple of sentences and I was certain this would suffice . Again , my English professor said , “ it ’s not good enough to grade . ” My nervousness turned to panic . This time I worked on the paper for a few days . I read it from top to bottom and I started to see errors typical for freshman writers : run - on sentences , spelling , and vague comma references . After working “ so hard , ” I tentatively turned in my paper . My professor let me know that she would grade it . A few days later , she returned the paper with a big red ink C largely written on top of the paper . The lesson I learned is that writing is re - writing and re - writing is writing . The reason I chose storytelling is because it is a tool that allows us to accumulate massive amounts of information and put it into a distilled and memorable narrative for ourselves and others . Life lessons often come from whole units such as storytelling rather than discrete units from formulas . Our brains require that we tell stories that include characters and the plot , and importantly that we know our audience . We tell our colleagues one story and our boss another even when the facts of the story are the same . We emphasize and de - emphasize for effect and to enhance and protect our reputations . Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . How can the mundane task of scheduling meetings possibly be rendered into storytelling ? Our biotech company aims to change the future of healthcare diagnostics . Current diagnostics are either accurate and slow or fast and inaccurate ( what is ? ) . What if we could do both and make diagnostics both fast and accurate ? We validate our technology to determine the intersection of our capabilities with the needs of the end users ( what wows ? ) before we use that information to produce devices ( what works ? ) . The underlying theme of our company is changing the world , so we developed the idea to connect daily meetings with this change . We schedule the change we want to bring about in the world . By finding a theme ( scheduling change ) and connecting it to characters ( employees ) , the plot or the main events of making , and selling our products , meetings are given a purpose because they connect our desire to change the world of medical diagnostics . Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . The definition of insight is to gain a “ deep intuitive understanding ” of a phenomenon . For us , a clearer definition is breaking down the word into its syllables : in - sight . We see in places in which previously there was dark . The dark in this story is how the fog of multiple Zoom meetings bog people down by the repetitiveness of logging on to hourly calls or the petty habits of colleagues . As our focus shifted to the distractions of the calls , we began to sense we were losing our way , so we had to reset ourselves and ask , “ why do we have calls in the first place ? ” The obvious answers need to be re - thought sometimes . After various one - on - one offline conversations , a consensus emerged that we needed to look again of our mission of change . We were excited when we developed our mission and that led us to realize why we have meetings . We are in the business of scheduling the change we want to see in the world . Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . Storytelling is a tool that worked for this problem , but I think in the future we can use other tools . For example , we could ask “ what is , ” what if , ” what wows , ” and “ what works ” and use visualization , mind mapping , or learning launch . The type of problem might help us choose . Visualization is used often with paper and pen and CAD design tools to visualize the next best designs . Mind mapping can be applied to gathering information from our customers and end- users ( two distinct groups ) . Learning Launch can help us experiment quickly when we want to choose the best interaction interface for our products .