Mind mapping on unmet healthcare needs.

Challenge:

I am leading the research and development team of my organization. The organization is looking  forward for an innovative solutions that caters unmet needs of patients. The product development  cycle is a very long process and involves substantial investment. Hence, it is of prime importance  that we understand the real pain points of the patients and then develop a product or service to  cater those unmet needs. The scope of the project included 10 members from sales, who work  closely with patients and understand and provide the most important feedback,  10 team members  for R&D that work on prototype development and 5 member from strategy team to evaluate the  commercial aspects of the product. Ideation process has to be completed with 30 calendar days.

Selection:

Based on the previous experience, we were sure about the enormous amount of idea and data will  be generated during the process. Hence, we selected the mind mapping technique to rearrange he  data and look for patterns and insights in huge amount of data which was collected during the mind  mapping stage. Later, we applied the design criteria i.e., putting conditions around our possible  design solutions to fulfill the unmet needs of the patients. In exploration of what is the current  reality. The goal is to establish criteria for the what-if idea generation phase. Which comes next. This  phase is pivotal in the design thinking process. Finally we completed the design thinking process by  selecting the possible solutions to our design challenge.

Application:

We conducted the mind mapping exercise, in following round with a clear objective for each round.

1) Round 1: During initiation of round 1 all 25 team members were asked to list down about

the various pain point that a patient experience while undergoing a therapy. It was also  recommended that the pain points, specific to a particular type of disease or therapy should  be specified.

2) Round 2: All data points were classified based on the type of disease and therapy. When we

looked at the data there were few data points which were very specific to a specific type of  therapy, many were common to more than 1 therapy and there were few which were  common to all listed therapy. This rearrangement of data provides lots of insight to the  collected data points. Top 5 therapies were selected for the next round.

3) Round 3:  In round 3, 5 teams were made and one therapy from top 5 selected, were

assigned to each team. Each team was asked to list down the top 5 pain point for respective  therapy and provide the probable solution that can cater the unmet needs. The solutions  were again rearranged to look into how these solutions are able to address the wide variety  pain points.

4) Design Thinking / Design Criteria. Data from all 5 teams were collected to understand the

top solutions that can cater the most painful points and number of pain points.

Insights:

The most exciting part of this journey was to see the insights coming from the observation made by  the team members. During design thinking process, the data from all 5 teams were to understand  the top solutions that can cater the most painful points and number of pain points. This provided a  great insight to the data points. The top solutions were very much different from what we were  anticipating in the beginning. The outliers were also discussed.

Approach:

The great insight drawn from the data was most exciting part of this journey. We could actually  picked up cost effective, simple solutions covering majority of the unmet needs covering variety of  therapy. This strategic outcome of single solution for multiple therapy also made a good business  case for approval from management. We will be running this learning launch and are planning to  implement this technique for various other programs.


Mind mapping on unmet healthcare needs . Challenge : I am leading the research and development team of my organization . The organization is looking forward for an innovative solutions that caters unmet needs of patients . The product development cycle is a very long process and involves substantial investment . Hence , it is of prime importance that we understand the real pain points of the patients and then develop a product or service to cater those unmet needs . The scope of the project included 10 members from sales , who work closely with patients and understand and provide the most important feedback , 10 team members for R&D that work on prototype development and 5 member from strategy team to evaluate the commercial aspects of the product . Ideation process has to be completed with 30 calendar days . Selection : Based on the previous experience , we were sure about the enormous amount of idea and data will be generated during the process . Hence , we selected the mind mapping technique to rearrange he data and look for patterns and insights in huge amount of data which was collected during the mind mapping stage . Later , we applied the design criteria i.e. , putting conditions around our possible design solutions to fulfill the unmet needs of the patients . In exploration of what is the current reality . The goal is to establish criteria for the what - if idea generation phase . Which comes next . This phase is pivotal in the design thinking process . Finally we completed the design thinking process by selecting the possible solutions to our design challenge . Application : We conducted the mind mapping exercise , in following round with a clear objective for each round . 1 ) Round 1 : During initiation of round 1 all 25 team members were asked to list down about the various pain point that a patient experience while undergoing a therapy . It was also recommended that the pain points , specific to a particular type of disease or therapy should be specified . 2 ) Round 2 : All data points were classified based on the type of disease and therapy . When we looked at the data there were few data points which were very specific to a specific type of therapy , many were common to more than 1 therapy and there were few which were common to all listed therapy . This rearrangement of data provides lots of insight to the collected data points . Top 5 therapies were selected for the next round . 3 ) Round 3 : In round 3 , 5 teams were made and one therapy from top 5 selected , were assigned to each team . Each team was asked to list down the top 5 pain point for respective therapy and provide the probable solution that can cater the unmet needs . The solutions were again rearranged to look into how these solutions are able to address the wide variety pain points . 4 ) Design Thinking / Design Criteria . Data from all 5 teams were collected to understand the top solutions that can cater the most painful points and number of pain points . Insights : The most exciting part of this journey was to see the insights coming from the observation made by the team members . During design thinking process , the data from all 5 teams were to understand the top solutions that can cater the most painful points and number of pain points . This provided a great insight to the data points . The top solutions were very much different from what we were anticipating in the beginning . The outliers were also discussed . Approach : The great insight drawn from the data was most exciting part of this journey . We could actually picked up cost effective , simple solutions covering majority of the unmet needs covering variety of therapy . This strategic outcome of single solution for multiple therapy also made a good business case for approval from management . We will be running this learning launch and are planning to implement this technique for various other programs .