Mind mapping – A powerful tool for teams

Challenge:  I am a student of Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, and I am also a musician since so many years. My institution  was lacking of a strong musical and artistic identity, and a space to express creativity was needed for  the students to improve the quality of their social lives. The number of students present in the  institution is nearly 45000 and different courses are about musical and acoustic engineering. My goal  was to create an association which allows them to share and learn music in all their forms and  gather musicians from different backgrounds to create something interesting and unique. I started  with some friends to understand all the documentation required for the realization of an association  and we started to share our few knowledges on management and business, in order to promote a  valid structure. After 6 months of activities, we reached now 150 members and the board of the  association is composed of 17 active members, each one with a well defined role. Being the  president of the association let me face several problems that I had to solve with my team using  different design thinking tools, first of all the ability of question myself and be open and flexible to  change my point of view for the benefit to reach the benefit of all the members. As the projects  were becoming more and more complex and articulated, I needed a design thinking tool to  coordinate all the possible aspects of every idea and discuss it with the board, so we started using  the Mind Mapping  tool to find which was the best way to push a project to involve the biggest  number of students and be sure to be able to manage all the aspects of every project.

Selection:

Having no experience in developing team projects which involve more than 100 students, made me  and my team do many mistakes in organizing events. After couple of times I decided to use a proper  design thinking tool to establish a rigid procedure to consider all the different aspects which are  involved in the realization of a project, and the tool that I choose is the Mind Mapping. I decided to  choose this tool for my organization because, as the doctor Monroe said in week 3, “Mind Mapping  is a great way to align the organization around a common understanding of the current reality”.

Application

I called my board team for a meeting on an online platform (here in Italy we are quarantined at the  moment so a real meeting would have been impossible) and we started talking all together about  the new project that we wanted to realize: a mosaic music video. I started sharing the virtual  whiteboard with my team and we started to write together a series of personal lists with all the  different issues that we should have considered. After coupled of minutes we started moving all the  different ideas in categories, such as music arrangement, social media strategy, legal issues, etc. We  tried also to collect the problems that we had with the previous projects and add them at the  bottom of each category as a reminder for what we should be more aware of.     After collecting all the ideas and the lists, we draw a colourful mind map to highlight the duty of each  sub-team and the critical steps that must be considered. We decided then to use the mind map we  realize as a “mold” for all the other projects we were about to realize, keeping in mind to be always  open to enrich and modify the map to increase the productivity and the collaboration of team  members.

Insight

The mind map approach resulted in a huge increase in productivity in my team, and helped us to  better distribute the hierarchy of the roles and the duties of each sub-group. Visualization of the  overall project helped the team to have a better view of the whole design process and every  member of the team was more aware of the direction that the project was going to.   I feel like I learned a powerful tool which will help me to overcome problems in different fields of my  life, and as an engineer, to have a tool to better face the approaching of a complex situation I feel  that I just discovered a useful technique to help me organize my ideas.

Approach

I think that the utility of the mind mapping tool can be empowered very easily with another  important tool, Visualization. For our next project I would like to try to couple them together, trying  to involve more people and to work on even more articulated activities, to create a stronger team  and to have a better bond with the members of my association.


Mind mapping – A powerful tool for teams Challenge : I am a student of Toc H Institute of Science and Technology , and I am also a musician since so many years . My institution was lacking of a strong musical and artistic identity , and a space to express creativity was needed for the students to improve the quality of their social lives . The number of students present in the institution is nearly 45000 and different courses are about musical and acoustic engineering . My goal was to create an association which allows them to share and learn music in all their forms and gather musicians from different backgrounds to create something interesting and unique . I started with some friends to understand all the documentation required for the realization of an association and we started to share our few knowledges on management and business , in order to promote a valid structure . After 6 months of activities , we reached now 150 members and the board of the association is composed of 17 active members , each one with a well defined role . Being the president of the association let me face several problems that I had to solve with my team using different design thinking tools , first of all the ability of question myself and be open and flexible to change my point of view for the benefit to reach the benefit of all the members . As the projects were becoming more and more complex and articulated , I needed a design thinking tool to coordinate all the possible aspects of every idea and discuss it with the board , so we started using the Mind Mapping tool to find which was the best way to push a project to involve the biggest number of students and be sure to be able to manage all the aspects of every project . Selection : Having no experience in developing team projects which involve more than 100 students , made me and my team do many mistakes in organizing events . After couple of times I decided to use a proper design thinking tool to establish a rigid procedure to consider all the different aspects which are involved in the realization of a project , and the tool that I choose is the Mind Mapping . I decided to choose this tool for my organization because , as the doctor Monroe said in week 3 , “ Mind Mapping is a great way to align the organization around a common understanding of the current reality ” . Application I called my board team for a meeting on an online platform ( here in Italy we are quarantined at the moment so a real meeting would have been impossible ) and we started talking all together about the new project that we wanted to realize : a mosaic music video . I started sharing the virtual whiteboard with my team and we started to write together a series of personal lists with all the different issues that we should have considered . After coupled of minutes we started moving all the different ideas in categories , such as music arrangement , social media strategy , legal issues , etc . We tried also to collect the problems that we had with the previous projects and add them at the bottom of each category as a reminder for what we should be more aware of . After collecting all the ideas and the lists , we draw a colourful mind map to highlight the duty of each sub - team and the critical steps that must be considered . We decided then to use the mind map we realize as a “ mold ” for all the other projects we were about to realize , keeping in mind to be always open to enrich and modify the map to increase the productivity and the collaboration of team members . Insight The mind map approach resulted in a huge increase in productivity in my team , and helped us to better distribute the hierarchy of the roles and the duties of each sub - group . Visualization of the overall project helped the team to have a better view of the whole design process and every member of the team was more aware of the direction that the project was going to . I feel like I learned a powerful tool which will help me to overcome problems in different fields of my life , and as an engineer , to have a tool to better face the approaching of a complex situation I feel that I just discovered a useful technique to help me organize my ideas . Approach I think that the utility of the mind mapping tool can be empowered very easily with another important tool , Visualization . For our next project I would like to try to couple them together , trying to involve more people and to work on even more articulated activities , to create a stronger team and to have a better bond with the members of my association .