Reflection – Visualization

Challenge  The products that my Information Technology ( IT ) Group develops are used by both internal and  external customers i.e. Operations ( Ops ) teams within the company and end-users from Companies to  which the products have been sold. The focus of the exercise was to improve the collaboration,  communication and convergence between the internal group, IT and Ops teams, so that the product  development lifecycle can be made more agile and more aligned with user requirements.  Traditionally  there have been cases of multiple siloed initiatives spawned by multiple groups across the 2 teams with  efforts overlaps, ownership un-clarity and resultant delayed commitments.    Selection  Since there were multiple groups involved, multiple Points of Views, multiple interaction channels -  too  many “multiple”’s , we preferred to use Visualization as the tool to capture  various and varying  opinions and processes followed by the various stakeholders.  Amongst all the tools described in the  course, Visualization was the most apt and suitable to be leveraged for the planned sessions so that the  focus areas, process interconnects, outcomes and ideas for improvement could be arrived at.    Application  Cross Functional teams across IT and Ops were invited to participate in a workshop model with Semi  guided sessions with the stakeholders to capture their business drivers, priorities, current information  workflow, expected outcomes and perceived bottlenecks.   3 Groups of 10 associates each were formed with 5 from IT and 5 from Ops based on Developer-User  clustering of their departments.  Printed forms which allowed the group to capture their discussions  themed around:   Inputs ( how do the groups get their inputs ;  what are the difference sources ;  what are the key drivers  for each sub-teams within a group ; how can we converge the communication threads that span off  separately with each group’s requirements )   Workflow ( how does the current information flow across departments, groups, people for related work  streams; where do decisions need to be made ; where are the typical bumps that happen ;  where does  prioritization need to happen ;  who/which would be the right leader/team to decide on priorities )  Outcome ( clear lines - cross group communication on new optys  ; streamlined workflow – key  stakeholders aware/informed/decisioned ; agile interaction model between IT and Ops )    Insight   Initially it seemed lot of information to process ;  lot of views ;  lot of problems ; less similarity.  Using Visualization tool helped us understand the similarity in issues across the teams ; clearly figure  out the Input/Workflow/Outputs -  blockers and how to make information flow smoother and faster.  Talking in isolation with the groups or even with all the stakeholders in one room without an easy visual  to refer to – of their own process as well as other’s processes would have made the interaction and  convergence virtually impossible.    Approach  Though the visualization strategy and tool worked ~95 % of the scenarios at hand ;  there were certain  outliers in which few groups/ideas wanted even faster go-to-market strategy and for these would like to  experiment with Learning Launch with select few groups.


Reflection – Visualization Challenge The products that my Information Technology ( IT ) Group develops are used by both internal and external customers i.e. Operations ( Ops ) teams within the company and end - users from Companies to which the products have been sold . The focus of the exercise was to improve the collaboration , communication and convergence between the internal group , IT and Ops teams , so that the product development lifecycle can be made more agile and more aligned with user requirements . Traditionally there have been cases of multiple siloed initiatives spawned by multiple groups across the 2 teams with efforts overlaps , ownership un - clarity and resultant delayed commitments . Selection Since there were multiple groups involved , multiple Points of Views , multiple interaction channels - too many “ multiple ” ’s , we preferred to use Visualization as the tool to capture various and varying opinions and processes followed by the various stakeholders . Amongst all the tools described in the course , Visualization was the most apt and suitable to be leveraged for the planned sessions so that the focus areas , process interconnects , outcomes and ideas for improvement could be arrived at . Application Cross Functional teams across IT and Ops were invited to participate in a workshop model with Semi guided sessions with the stakeholders to capture their business drivers , priorities , current information workflow , expected outcomes and perceived bottlenecks . 3 Groups of 10 associates each were formed with 5 from IT and 5 from Ops based on Developer - User clustering of their departments . Printed forms which allowed the group to capture their discussions themed around : Inputs ( how do the groups get their inputs ; what are the difference sources ; what are the key drivers for each sub - teams within a group ; how can we converge the communication threads that span off separately with each group ’s requirements ) Workflow ( how does the current information flow across departments , groups , people for related work streams ; where do decisions need to be made ; where are the typical bumps that happen ; where does prioritization need to happen ; who / which would be the right leader / team to decide on priorities ) Outcome ( clear lines - cross group communication on new optys ; streamlined workflow – key stakeholders aware / informed / decisioned ; agile interaction model between IT and Ops ) Insight Initially it seemed lot of information to process ; lot of views ; lot of problems ; less similarity . Using Visualization tool helped us understand the similarity in issues across the teams ; clearly figure out the Input / Workflow / Outputs - blockers and how to make information flow smoother and faster . Talking in isolation with the groups or even with all the stakeholders in one room without an easy visual to refer to – of their own process as well as other ’s processes would have made the interaction and convergence virtually impossible . Approach Though the visualization strategy and tool worked ~95 % of the scenarios at hand ; there were certain outliers in which few groups / ideas wanted even faster go - to - market strategy and for these would like to experiment with Learning Launch with select few groups .