MIND MAPPING

Mind Mapping application for smartphone app project

Challenge and Selection

As part of an ongoing innovation project, I decided to apply the Mind Mapping tool in the sequence

‘what is?’ of the design thinking process. The project concerns office space equipment; the company

in which I work specializes in Internet of Things (IOT) control applications for the residential market

where we have some significant success. With this experience we want to develop applications in the

business or tertiary sector, however it turns out that the needs are different from the residential

sector and that we do not have a client but several who are involved in the value chain.

So, we analyzed the stakeholder’s experiences to ascertain the opportunities. The marketing

department initiated the traditional approach of researching needs with our customers and I decided

to extract the ethnological part discussed in the interviews, in order to reframe it in the approach

‘what is?’. The reason for this activity was to provide the opportunity to apply a design thinking tool,

Mind Mapping, and thus highlighting the needs of customers, create clusters, find links, and define

design criteria. The interviews and graphics from the marketing study allowed me to define typical

user profiles and to create a virtual panel of 5 persona. This type of document does not fit with the

notions of visualization necessary for our exercise, according to the precepts of Design Thinking.

Therefore, I called upon a professional illustrator to visualize the life scenarios of the users (the 5

persona), he drew on a large board for each persona, the different actions, habits, and routines…

which usually takes place in a typical day.

The circumstances of the COVID19 health crisis greatly disrupted the organization of the exercise. I

had to adapt because I managed the exchange remotely as the people were all working from home.

So, I put together a team of different profiles (sellers, designer, marketing manager) and a few loyal

partners (facility manager and office manager). I invited them to a 4-hour session to establish the

Mind Mapping. This constitutes the preparatory work for the Mind Mapping session which, as

Professor Ludovic has shown us, will allow us to establish a representation of our clients’ minds and to

identify the relevant criteria in a more visually engaging way. This will facilitate everyone's creativity

in the idea generation phase.

Application

First, I chose the central theme of Mind Mapping while targeting our research on improving working

life. The interviews were quite broad, we took up the needs of 5 key persona: the Space Planner who

must create environments adapted to workers; the Furniture Manufacturer who must face new

electrification needs integrated into the furniture; the Facility Manager who manages the building

functioning and its maintenance; the Office Manager who manages the allocation of office spaces

and, of course, the end user. Based on the central subject of Mind Mapping and the deployment of

the 5 persona needs, we started to create links between them. With the help of the illustrated

boards, sent beforehand, the participants quickly grasped the Mind Mapping tool and the

progressive and synthetic construction of our reflections gradually unfolded before our eyes. The

Xmind tool that I used for the exercise was quite practical because it allows you to add annotations

as you comment. Certain needs on the secondary crown triggered debates between the participants,

I simply chose to develop the ideas on a third level to keep track of the exchange so that I could

return to it later. For example, End Users wanted to have feedback from the company restaurant to

organize their departure for lunch based on attendance, being able to cancel their meal based on the

menu, having access to the daily menu, and so forth.  As a result, I created a "restaurant needs"

family. Once all work life improvement needs were listed, I suggested that the participants attempt

to link the needs of each persona. Continuing the example of restaurant needs, we were able to link

those of End User, Facility Manager and Office manager, who wanted him to know more precisely

the volume and frequency of attendance in the company restaurant: Same cluster for different

reasons! We created a third crown to detail these the reason of needs.

Mapping Visualization:

The map is voluntarily simplified to maintain the project’s confidentiality, a part of the needs

examples remains to illustrate the links between clusters.

We were thus able to link a dozen needs between the persona, which could be identical,

complementary, or interconnected. At this stage, the team was actively engaged at the same level

and ideas began to surface, such as creating a smartphone application which could connect persona

and meet their different needs in a complementary way. I proposed to define the design criteria for

each need, knowing that for the same need the design criteria will be different from one persona to

another. This would facilitate the evaluation of ideas in the next ‘what if’ phase as described by

Professor J. Liedtka. Having completed the Mind Mapping phase, I was then able to start the next

phase of the design think process which is the brainstorming session (Not detailed here).

Insight and approach

First and foremost, I really enjoyed managing this Mind Mapping process and I think the participants

also appreciated this working session. I was very apprehensive about the videoconference

organization (apart from the course recommendations). In the end, people were very relaxed and

willing. Everyone contributed and the exchanges have been quite numerous. I limited the exercise to

4 hours and the participants to 7. I think it would have been difficult to have more participants in the

videoconference. There is another gap with the course recommendations: the participants were not

the interviewed users due to the fact the marketing study had already been carried out. In this case

the mind mapping was more a reading and an in-depth analysis of the expressions of the interviewed

people.

The construction of the Mind Mapping developed is quite easy, it is undoubtedly the simplified

visualization of the Mind Mapping and the summary descriptions of the clusters (sometimes

comprising just a single word to illustrate the need) which allows everyone to move forward at the

same time , without getting lost in overly detailed lists. As a result, the relationships between the

different clusters literally jumped out at us during the exercise. This would have required more

memory if we had listed needs (as they were initially in the marketing study). The hardest part was to

define the design criteria. I think I found the limit of the form I had chosen because they would have

been easier to determine with real customers. Besides, one of the participants was a Facility

manager, and I could observe that the definition of the criteria concerning this persona was

developed faster.

I think I will reuse this tool in my future work. However, I note that the design thinking approach

does not correspond to an addition of creativity tools and that to be effective it is necessary to

scrupulously follow the different stages. At this stage of my reflection, I see that I have a better grasp

of my subject and that certain ideas are already taking shape in my mind; I hope in the following

phases they will prove to be a source of innovation.

Philippe Quesnel

Innovation & R&D manager


MIND MAPPING Mind Mapping application for smartphone app project Challenge and Selection As part of an ongoing innovation project , I decided to apply the Mind Mapping tool in the sequence ‘ what is ? ’ of the design thinking process . The project concerns office space equipment ; the company in which I work specializes in Internet of Things ( IOT ) control applications for the residential market where we have some significant success . With this experience we want to develop applications in the business or tertiary sector , however it turns out that the needs are different from the residential sector and that we do not have a client but several who are involved in the value chain . So , we analyzed the stakeholder ’s experiences to ascertain the opportunities . The marketing department initiated the traditional approach of researching needs with our customers and I decided to extract the ethnological part discussed in the interviews , in order to reframe it in the approach ‘ what is ? ’ . The reason for this activity was to provide the opportunity to apply a design thinking tool , Mind Mapping , and thus highlighting the needs of customers , create clusters , find links , and define design criteria . The interviews and graphics from the marketing study allowed me to define typical user profiles and to create a virtual panel of 5 persona . This type of document does not fit with the notions of visualization necessary for our exercise , according to the precepts of Design Thinking . Therefore , I called upon a professional illustrator to visualize the life scenarios of the users ( the 5 persona ) , he drew on a large board for each persona , the different actions , habits , and routines … which usually takes place in a typical day . The circumstances of the COVID19 health crisis greatly disrupted the organization of the exercise . I had to adapt because I managed the exchange remotely as the people were all working from home . So , I put together a team of different profiles ( sellers , designer , marketing manager ) and a few loyal partners ( facility manager and office manager ) . I invited them to a 4 - hour session to establish the Mind Mapping . This constitutes the preparatory work for the Mind Mapping session which , as Professor Ludovic has shown us , will allow us to establish a representation of our clients ’ minds and to identify the relevant criteria in a more visually engaging way . This will facilitate everyone 's creativity in the idea generation phase . Application First , I chose the central theme of Mind Mapping while targeting our research on improving working life . The interviews were quite broad , we took up the needs of 5 key persona : the Space Planner who must create environments adapted to workers ; the Furniture Manufacturer who must face new electrification needs integrated into the furniture ; the Facility Manager who manages the building functioning and its maintenance ; the Office Manager who manages the allocation of office spaces and , of course , the end user . Based on the central subject of Mind Mapping and the deployment of the 5 persona needs , we started to create links between them . With the help of the illustrated boards , sent beforehand , the participants quickly grasped the Mind Mapping tool and the progressive and synthetic construction of our reflections gradually unfolded before our eyes . The Xmind tool that I used for the exercise was quite practical because it allows you to add annotations as you comment . Certain needs on the secondary crown triggered debates between the participants , I simply chose to develop the ideas on a third level to keep track of the exchange so that I could return to it later . For example , End Users wanted to have feedback from the company restaurant to organize their departure for lunch based on attendance , being able to cancel their meal based on the menu , having access to the daily menu , and so forth . As a result , I created a " restaurant needs " family . Once all work life improvement needs were listed , I suggested that the participants attempt to link the needs of each persona . Continuing the example of restaurant needs , we were able to link those of End User , Facility Manager and Office manager , who wanted him to know more precisely the volume and frequency of attendance in the company restaurant : Same cluster for different reasons ! We created a third crown to detail these the reason of needs . Mapping Visualization : The map is voluntarily simplified to maintain the project ’s confidentiality , a part of the needs examples remains to illustrate the links between clusters . We were thus able to link a dozen needs between the persona , which could be identical , complementary , or interconnected . At this stage , the team was actively engaged at the same level and ideas began to surface , such as creating a smartphone application which could connect persona and meet their different needs in a complementary way . I proposed to define the design criteria for each need , knowing that for the same need the design criteria will be different from one persona to another . This would facilitate the evaluation of ideas in the next ‘ what if ’ phase as described by Professor J. Liedtka . Having completed the Mind Mapping phase , I was then able to start the next phase of the design think process which is the brainstorming session ( Not detailed here ) . Insight and approach First and foremost , I really enjoyed managing this Mind Mapping process and I think the participants also appreciated this working session . I was very apprehensive about the videoconference organization ( apart from the course recommendations ) . In the end , people were very relaxed and willing . Everyone contributed and the exchanges have been quite numerous . I limited the exercise to 4 hours and the participants to 7 . I think it would have been difficult to have more participants in the videoconference . There is another gap with the course recommendations : the participants were not the interviewed users due to the fact the marketing study had already been carried out . In this case the mind mapping was more a reading and an in - depth analysis of the expressions of the interviewed people . The construction of the Mind Mapping developed is quite easy , it is undoubtedly the simplified visualization of the Mind Mapping and the summary descriptions of the clusters ( sometimes comprising just a single word to illustrate the need ) which allows everyone to move forward at the same time , without getting lost in overly detailed lists . As a result , the relationships between the different clusters literally jumped out at us during the exercise . This would have required more memory if we had listed needs ( as they were initially in the marketing study ) . The hardest part was to define the design criteria . I think I found the limit of the form I had chosen because they would have been easier to determine with real customers . Besides , one of the participants was a Facility manager , and I could observe that the definition of the criteria concerning this persona was developed faster . I think I will reuse this tool in my future work . However , I note that the design thinking approach does not correspond to an addition of creativity tools and that to be effective it is necessary to scrupulously follow the different stages . At this stage of my reflection , I see that I have a better grasp of my subject and that certain ideas are already taking shape in my mind ; I hope in the following phases they will prove to be a source of innovation . Philippe Quesnel Innovation & R&D manager