Dear Corrector,

Thank you for taking the time to look through my text. I hope you can find some value in it.

Regards,

Al

My First Mind-Mapping Session

Challenge

A small group of students and I are in the early stages of founding a new student association from the ground up. We noticed that our campus lacks an association that encourages students to take part in cultural activities and that connects art lovers. However, in order to jump start our organization we need events that are actually relevant to our target customers. So we decided to use a design thinking tool to develop design criteria and learn from our stakeholders.

Selection

We selected mind-mapping, a tool that enables the identification of data insights in a collected data set in order to establish criteria for the idea generation phase. (University of Virginia, 2015). This was perfect for us as it allowed us to source our stakeholders needs and understand their expectations better. This tool also allowed us to counteract the confirmation bias and identify really relevant criteria.

Application

In order to achieve this we invited a group of student association founders, artists and

students to take part in a mind mapping session. There we presented our limited customer insights, ideas and best practices from similar organizations on other campuses. After showing our stakeholder group the relevant information we invited them to a casual talk to understand what insights they could offer. After the talk we opened up the discussion to the group and presented the group with sticky notes and a white board. We encouraged the generation of notes and then collectively reviewed and grouped the ideas. Lastly, we talked about the clusters that formed and wrote insight statements. It worked very well and was applied effectively.

Insight

Through the session we realized that multiple criteria are very important for our events in order to ensure growth. First of all, we concluded that students would most likely attend if the events were free. Second of all, it became clear that the events have to be flexible in time and fit with the student schedule. This means the events should take place in the afternoon and early evening. Lastly, the events should have a very heavy social component, as with

COVID it would bring a lot of value to students if we facilitated networking. The next steps will be organizing test events and then getting feedback on them. The goal is to get multiple hit events that we can repeat monthly. This session really made me realize how powerful design thinking can be. It allowed us to avoid mistakes before we made them.

Approach

Next time I would use the same tool in a similar case, but I would invite more potential customers from the target group as I learned that they had the most valuable insights. However, in general the tool worked very well and I would not change much.

Overall, this tool was incredible for getting new insights. However, for a small operation such as ours it is a lot of work to organize a session. Nevertheless, the ideas and design criteria we generated in the event will be of much use in the future. Furthermore, my team and I are trying to implement the design thinking culture in the association, so that when we leave university the design thinking spirit can live on in the organization. I am very excited to try out the learning launch with our events next.

References

University of Virginia. (2015, 1. Januar). Mind Mapping Tool [Video]. Coursera.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-design-thinking-innovation/lecture/lsFRa/

mind-mapping-tool


Dear Corrector , Thank you for taking the time to look through my text . I hope you can find some value in it . Regards , Al My First Mind - Mapping Session Challenge A small group of students and I are in the early stages of founding a new student association from the ground up . We noticed that our campus lacks an association that encourages students to take part in cultural activities and that connects art lovers . However , in order to jump start our organization we need events that are actually relevant to our target customers . So we decided to use a design thinking tool to develop design criteria and learn from our stakeholders . Selection We selected mind - mapping , a tool that enables the identification of data insights in a collected data set in order to establish criteria for the idea generation phase . ( University of Virginia , 2015 ) . This was perfect for us as it allowed us to source our stakeholders needs and understand their expectations better . This tool also allowed us to counteract the confirmation bias and identify really relevant criteria . Application In order to achieve this we invited a group of student association founders , artists and students to take part in a mind mapping session . There we presented our limited customer insights , ideas and best practices from similar organizations on other campuses . After showing our stakeholder group the relevant information we invited them to a casual talk to understand what insights they could offer . After the talk we opened up the discussion to the group and presented the group with sticky notes and a white board . We encouraged the generation of notes and then collectively reviewed and grouped the ideas . Lastly , we talked about the clusters that formed and wrote insight statements . It worked very well and was applied effectively . Insight Through the session we realized that multiple criteria are very important for our events in order to ensure growth . First of all , we concluded that students would most likely attend if the events were free . Second of all , it became clear that the events have to be flexible in time and fit with the student schedule . This means the events should take place in the afternoon and early evening . Lastly , the events should have a very heavy social component , as with COVID it would bring a lot of value to students if we facilitated networking . The next steps will be organizing test events and then getting feedback on them . The goal is to get multiple hit events that we can repeat monthly . This session really made me realize how powerful design thinking can be . It allowed us to avoid mistakes before we made them . Approach Next time I would use the same tool in a similar case , but I would invite more potential customers from the target group as I learned that they had the most valuable insights . However , in general the tool worked very well and I would not change much . Overall , this tool was incredible for getting new insights . However , for a small operation such as ours it is a lot of work to organize a session . Nevertheless , the ideas and design criteria we generated in the event will be of much use in the future . Furthermore , my team and I are trying to implement the design thinking culture in the association , so that when we leave university the design thinking spirit can live on in the organization . I am very excited to try out the learning launch with our events next . References University of Virginia . ( 2015 , 1 . Januar ) . Mind Mapping Tool [ Video ] . Coursera . https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-design-thinking-innovation/lecture/lsFRa/ mind - mapping - tool