Challenge  I was working on a new product idea on Cyber risk protection for female segment which was primarily  identified as a potential area to be addressed based on various research reports and news for the growing  concern in this new digitally advanced world. To tailor a product / solution to meet this growing concern,  I had already done a survey across 500 people of diverse gender (to gain insights into difference in  perception), age bands (to see how and what type of risk are of concern), educational level, and social  media behavior.

However, my challenge was that there was no stark or significant difference coming out of those online  surveys. Also, although majority of people accepted this to be a big problem, most of them answered the  question on how likely they are going to attacked as “negative” with a comment on the theme of, “I am a  normal person, not a celebrity, why would anyone be interested in attacking me online.”

I was confused if there is more to it or there is clearly real need for personal cyber protection yet although  there is a lot of noise about this. And on top of it, why the otherwise vulnerable section of these personal  cyberattacks, women were not perceiving the risk any different than men.

Selection  To uncover this challenge, I used “Storytelling” as a form of exercise to gain more insights. Whistle it was  clear they knew the risk existed, they were not willing to accept that this can be as real for a common  person like you and me and thus, needed to hear about real life ordinary stories where unfortunate  incidents happened and the protagonist wasn’t prepared to handle the same timely or just managed to  get help in last minute.

Application  I conducted focus groups and divided the 16 people in group of 4 each as below:

•  Women below 25-year-old

•  Women between 26-40 years old

•  Women over 40 years old

•  Men between 25-50 years old

The reason storytelling was used among this personification exercise was that a while this is a hot topic,  the could mean different things to different segments of the people and the topic in itself is more personal  impacting both financial and reputational risks and thereby needed the audience to relate to the  characters of each of these real life stories.

For each group, there was a story that was identified based on a recent local or global news and the  intention was to run them through that story in detail and see what the group thought:

•  Why it happened?

•  What was done to protect this in this case?

•  What was done, was it right? Was it enough? Would you do something different in retrospect?

•  What if same thing happened to you, your mental state and reaction?

•  What if same thing happened to your family member, yours and their mental state and reaction?

•  Do you know what are your rights in this case?

•  Do you know where and whom to approach?

•  Would you be open to discuss such a case in public – yes, why; no, why?

•  If there is “ONLY ONE” thing that will make you more send of comfort for such incidences, what  would that be?

Insight  The submission provides a detailed description of the insight gained including all relevant information  (e.g., how an insight affected the author’s thinking about his/her challenge and about design thinking  more broadly)

The storytelling exercise gave an immense insight into primarily two things:

•  What part of the story was the real emotional connect – self reputation, friends/family’s  expectation, impact on professional reputation, financial loss

•  How strong or weak was each of the group/segment in dealing with something similar

•  What are the current forms of self-help/awareness people already tapping into for such crisis  management and thus showing where the source of help and info is from.

The whole storytelling revealed what the underlying issues and concerns or lack of acceptance of real  issues and their unpreparedness to the actual incident. This gave us insights on the importance on  content, training, and awareness campaign that we need to run and from a perspective of not just as an  individual but them as “mothers”, “professionally successful career women, and  “as kids of elderly  parents”.

Approach - alternative approach (mind mapping)  There are two alternative approaches I think I should have done given if I was to do this all over again.  Once is the timing of the “Story-telling” which would have been better before the online survey and  perhaps could have structured the survey more appropriately.

Secondly, I feel we could have also potentially used “mind mapping” when we collected online survey,  research reports, news articles, to internalize all those pieces of information together among different  stakeholders to gather insights and join the dots. Nevertheless, I do feel, we will use this with the insights  from story-telling exercise when we ultimately create the solution to address this and how we package  this for the real objective here.


Challenge I was working on a new product idea on Cyber risk protection for female segment which was primarily identified as a potential area to be addressed based on various research reports and news for the growing concern in this new digitally advanced world . To tailor a product / solution to meet this growing concern , I had already done a survey across 500 people of diverse gender ( to gain insights into difference in perception ) , age bands ( to see how and what type of risk are of concern ) , educational level , and social media behavior . However , my challenge was that there was no stark or significant difference coming out of those online surveys . Also , although majority of people accepted this to be a big problem , most of them answered the question on how likely they are going to attacked as “ negative ” with a comment on the theme of , “ I am a normal person , not a celebrity , why would anyone be interested in attacking me online . ” I was confused if there is more to it or there is clearly real need for personal cyber protection yet although there is a lot of noise about this . And on top of it , why the otherwise vulnerable section of these personal cyberattacks , women were not perceiving the risk any different than men . Selection To uncover this challenge , I used “ Storytelling ” as a form of exercise to gain more insights . Whistle it was clear they knew the risk existed , they were not willing to accept that this can be as real for a common person like you and me and thus , needed to hear about real life ordinary stories where unfortunate incidents happened and the protagonist was n’t prepared to handle the same timely or just managed to get help in last minute . Application I conducted focus groups and divided the 16 people in group of 4 each as below : • Women below 25 - year - old • Women between 26 - 40 years old • Women over 40 years old • Men between 25 - 50 years old The reason storytelling was used among this personification exercise was that a while this is a hot topic , the could mean different things to different segments of the people and the topic in itself is more personal impacting both financial and reputational risks and thereby needed the audience to relate to the characters of each of these real life stories . For each group , there was a story that was identified based on a recent local or global news and the intention was to run them through that story in detail and see what the group thought : • Why it happened ? • What was done to protect this in this case ? • What was done , was it right ? Was it enough ? Would you do something different in retrospect ? • What if same thing happened to you , your mental state and reaction ? • What if same thing happened to your family member , yours and their mental state and reaction ? • Do you know what are your rights in this case ? • Do you know where and whom to approach ? • Would you be open to discuss such a case in public – yes , why ; no , why ? • If there is “ ONLY ONE ” thing that will make you more send of comfort for such incidences , what would that be ? Insight The submission provides a detailed description of the insight gained including all relevant information ( e.g. , how an insight affected the author ’s thinking about his / her challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) The storytelling exercise gave an immense insight into primarily two things : • What part of the story was the real emotional connect – self reputation , friends / family ’s expectation , impact on professional reputation , financial loss • How strong or weak was each of the group / segment in dealing with something similar • What are the current forms of self - help / awareness people already tapping into for such crisis management and thus showing where the source of help and info is from . The whole storytelling revealed what the underlying issues and concerns or lack of acceptance of real issues and their unpreparedness to the actual incident . This gave us insights on the importance on content , training , and awareness campaign that we need to run and from a perspective of not just as an individual but them as “ mothers ” , “ professionally successful career women , and “ as kids of elderly parents ” . Approach - alternative approach ( mind mapping ) There are two alternative approaches I think I should have done given if I was to do this all over again . Once is the timing of the “ Story - telling ” which would have been better before the online survey and perhaps could have structured the survey more appropriately . Secondly , I feel we could have also potentially used “ mind mapping ” when we collected online survey , research reports , news articles , to internalize all those pieces of information together among different stakeholders to gather insights and join the dots . Nevertheless , I do feel , we will use this with the insights from story - telling exercise when we ultimately create the solution to address this and how we package this for the real objective here .