Challenge    I am currently doing my internship of the Industrial Engineer and systems program in  a pawnshop. This pawn shop has 50 stores located in the cities like Monterrey, Garcia,  San Pedro and Guadalupe in Mexico. The problem in the pawnshop is that clients must  wait up to 15 minutes to be attended. Also, there are many complaints from customers  about the service provided and the processes. The goal of my internship is to improve  customer service by reducing service complaints. Therefore, to find the root cause of  the problem it is necessary to understand the problematic situation.    Selection    The Design Thinking tool that we used was "Visualization tool", since we needed to  understand the root of the problem. Also, we choose this tool because it is important  to understand the problem together with the stakeholders, in this case the company,  the employees and the clients. In the book "Change by Design" by Tim Brown, he  highlights the importance of visual thinking, because it facilitates communication and  understanding of the problem. According to Brown T. (2009), most innovations come  from a rigorous examination process through which great ideas are identified and  developed. In his book he recommends the use of visual thinking to identify the need.      Application:     We applied "visualization tool" to translate the problem to the visual form by means of  a diagram where we connected the ideas using drawings or forms. This with the  objective to get better knowledge about the context of the problem with the  stakeholders. For this activity the stakeholders were divided in groups. Each group  was made up of 5-6 participants. The diagram took us 2 hours long to finish, the first  hour was used to connect the ideas and the last hour to analyze the final product of  these connections.    Insights:    From this diagram we could obtain that the bad service was due to a lack of  standardization in the processes. Furthermore, we identified that there were many  reworkings because the employees do not have the adequate training in other words  there is a misinformation of the processes. In the same way, we identified that with  this tool, the employees could use their creativity to make us see points of the  problem that we didn´t have identified. In addition, this tool was very easy for  everyone to understand and made the process of understanding the problem less  stressful and more fun.

Approach:

Another tool that can be used in this case is the "Mind-mapping" tool, the difference  with this tool is that at the end, the criteria for the "What if?" Stage of the "Design  Thinking" process is defined. Firstly, with this tool, data of the problematic situation  must be collected. Subsequently, by means of notes, the findings are organized. After  having used an affinity diagram, the identified findings are shared and commented.  Finally knowing these findings, you can define the criteria for the next phase of  "Design Thinking". I believe that this tool would also have been very useful, since it  also allows making connections between the data. The difference between these two  tools is that “Mind-mapping” allows you to define criteria for the solution.


Challenge I am currently doing my internship of the Industrial Engineer and systems program in a pawnshop . This pawn shop has 50 stores located in the cities like Monterrey , Garcia , San Pedro and Guadalupe in Mexico . The problem in the pawnshop is that clients must wait up to 15 minutes to be attended . Also , there are many complaints from customers about the service provided and the processes . The goal of my internship is to improve customer service by reducing service complaints . Therefore , to find the root cause of the problem it is necessary to understand the problematic situation . Selection The Design Thinking tool that we used was " Visualization tool " , since we needed to understand the root of the problem . Also , we choose this tool because it is important to understand the problem together with the stakeholders , in this case the company , the employees and the clients . In the book " Change by Design " by Tim Brown , he highlights the importance of visual thinking , because it facilitates communication and understanding of the problem . According to Brown T. ( 2009 ) , most innovations come from a rigorous examination process through which great ideas are identified and developed . In his book he recommends the use of visual thinking to identify the need . Application : We applied " visualization tool " to translate the problem to the visual form by means of a diagram where we connected the ideas using drawings or forms . This with the objective to get better knowledge about the context of the problem with the stakeholders . For this activity the stakeholders were divided in groups . Each group was made up of 5 - 6 participants . The diagram took us 2 hours long to finish , the first hour was used to connect the ideas and the last hour to analyze the final product of these connections . Insights : From this diagram we could obtain that the bad service was due to a lack of standardization in the processes . Furthermore , we identified that there were many reworkings because the employees do not have the adequate training in other words there is a misinformation of the processes . In the same way , we identified that with this tool , the employees could use their creativity to make us see points of the problem that we didn´t have identified . In addition , this tool was very easy for everyone to understand and made the process of understanding the problem less stressful and more fun . Approach : Another tool that can be used in this case is the " Mind - mapping " tool , the difference with this tool is that at the end , the criteria for the " What if ? " Stage of the " Design Thinking " process is defined . Firstly , with this tool , data of the problematic situation must be collected . Subsequently , by means of notes , the findings are organized . After having used an affinity diagram , the identified findings are shared and commented . Finally knowing these findings , you can define the criteria for the next phase of " Design Thinking " . I believe that this tool would also have been very useful , since it also allows making connections between the data . The difference between these two tools is that “ Mind - mapping ” allows you to define criteria for the solution .