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June 22, 2017

Jose Gil – Final Assignment.

Design Thinking for Innovation.

Reflection – Mind Mapping.

Challenge

I work as a Consulting Manager at an IT consulting firm in Mexico City. We specialize in the  implementation and support of ERP systems for clients of different industries. We started working  with a new client, a hospital. Another consulting firm had already implemented them an ERP  system for their financials and supply chain management. Although the new system is one of the  best in the market, the client had been facing many different problems with it: the nurses had to  wait a lot to place their medicine replenishment orders, clients had to wait a lot of time for invoices,  finance could not close their accounting periods on time, and so on.

As you can imagine, this situation had caused a big displeasure to the Board of Directors, and a  great dislike among end users (operations, IT, nurses, etc.), because the implementation of the  new system, instead of making their work easier, it was making it more difficult.

The managers of Operations and IT didn’t have a clear idea where the real problem was: if it was  the system configuration, the interfaces, deficient training about the system, etc. They had no  idea where to start, and they also didn’t know what to offer their end users to improve.

There were several challenges in this situation. In first place, to gather all the problems that the  client was facing in the different areas. Second, to make end users to get involved in the problem  and not only complaint all the time, so that they could provide their evaluation about the current  challenges and contribute with ideas on the improvements they believed could make each area  to provide more value to the company.

Tool Selected

We were clearly in the “what is” stage at this point. The tool we selected was mind mapping. As  the video lecture shows on week 3, this is a tool that can be used in the first phase of the design  thinking process, which allows us to look at the current reality. It could also help us to bring  together a large amount of data, because we would have to interview people from many areas  such as inventory, purchasing, accounts payable, IT, finance, etc. and finding possible patterns  would be more difficult in a traditional way. Finally, it could help to make all areas to empathize  about the problems that the whole hospital was facing and not just their own area.

Application

The IT Director acted as the sponsor for our design thinking activity. We asked him to help us  organize a one-day workshop, outside their facilities. So, they rented a hotel lounge, and  convened the key users of each area involved. At the workshop day, we asked them to conform

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workgroups according to business workflows, such as incomes, expenses, and supply chain. We  divided the agenda in 3 parts: describe a blueprint of their business processes, make challenges  evaluation, and creation of new ideas. We printed in large format the three different layouts for  each part of the agenda. We provided them with post-its, markers, and pencils, so that every  business process, challenge, problem and idea, they could write them in few words using the  post-its and place them in the column of the layout they considered it should be. Below is a picture  of one of the business process layouts:

Figure 1. Business process blueprint layout.

In the third layout, the generation of ideas, we asked them to evaluate the importance level vs.  the urgency rate of their new ideas, from low to high. This helped the client to identify from the  new ideas for example what is not important and not urgent, from what is important and urgent.  Below is a picture of the layout:

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Figure 2. Ideas Generation - Priorities Scale.

Insights

This exercise provided me in first place a very clear view of the mind mapping tool, and design  thinking as a whole. We obtained a lot of information from many different stakeholders in just a  single day. I saw how people can empathize easily among their problems and the problems of  others, using mind mapping, because it doesn’t judge or criticize them. It only helps them to tell  us how they feel about the current problems they were facing. Once they became aware of the  situation of all the company, they could come up with ideas that they believed could help to  remove all the impediments they had at that moment.

I am positive that this course helped me to understand much better the design thinking process,  and it allowed me at my job to apply the mind mapping tool in a real-world situation.

Approach

I believe that the mind mapping tool was the correct tool to use in this situation. Maybe in another  situation, the visualization tool would also have been very helpful. But in this case, we arrived with  the hospital in a stage where the problem was big, and the client wanted to get information quickly.


P a g e 1 | 3 June 22 , 2017 Jose Gil – Final Assignment . Design Thinking for Innovation . Reflection – Mind Mapping . Challenge I work as a Consulting Manager at an IT consulting firm in Mexico City . We specialize in the implementation and support of ERP systems for clients of different industries . We started working with a new client , a hospital . Another consulting firm had already implemented them an ERP system for their financials and supply chain management . Although the new system is one of the best in the market , the client had been facing many different problems with it : the nurses had to wait a lot to place their medicine replenishment orders , clients had to wait a lot of time for invoices , finance could not close their accounting periods on time , and so on . As you can imagine , this situation had caused a big displeasure to the Board of Directors , and a great dislike among end users ( operations , IT , nurses , etc . ) , because the implementation of the new system , instead of making their work easier , it was making it more difficult . The managers of Operations and IT did n’t have a clear idea where the real problem was : if it was the system configuration , the interfaces , deficient training about the system , etc . They had no idea where to start , and they also did n’t know what to offer their end users to improve . There were several challenges in this situation . In first place , to gather all the problems that the client was facing in the different areas . Second , to make end users to get involved in the problem and not only complaint all the time , so that they could provide their evaluation about the current challenges and contribute with ideas on the improvements they believed could make each area to provide more value to the company . Tool Selected We were clearly in the “ what is ” stage at this point . The tool we selected was mind mapping . As the video lecture shows on week 3 , this is a tool that can be used in the first phase of the design thinking process , which allows us to look at the current reality . It could also help us to bring together a large amount of data , because we would have to interview people from many areas such as inventory , purchasing , accounts payable , IT , finance , etc . and finding possible patterns would be more difficult in a traditional way . Finally , it could help to make all areas to empathize about the problems that the whole hospital was facing and not just their own area . Application The IT Director acted as the sponsor for our design thinking activity . We asked him to help us organize a one - day workshop , outside their facilities . So , they rented a hotel lounge , and convened the key users of each area involved . At the workshop day , we asked them to conform P a g e 2 | 3 workgroups according to business workflows , such as incomes , expenses , and supply chain . We divided the agenda in 3 parts : describe a blueprint of their business processes , make challenges evaluation , and creation of new ideas . We printed in large format the three different layouts for each part of the agenda . We provided them with post - its , markers , and pencils , so that every business process , challenge , problem and idea , they could write them in few words using the post - its and place them in the column of the layout they considered it should be . Below is a picture of one of the business process layouts : Figure 1 . Business process blueprint layout . In the third layout , the generation of ideas , we asked them to evaluate the importance level vs. the urgency rate of their new ideas , from low to high . This helped the client to identify from the new ideas for example what is not important and not urgent , from what is important and urgent . Below is a picture of the layout : P a g e 3 | 3 Figure 2 . Ideas Generation - Priorities Scale . Insights This exercise provided me in first place a very clear view of the mind mapping tool , and design thinking as a whole . We obtained a lot of information from many different stakeholders in just a single day . I saw how people can empathize easily among their problems and the problems of others , using mind mapping , because it does n’t judge or criticize them . It only helps them to tell us how they feel about the current problems they were facing . Once they became aware of the situation of all the company , they could come up with ideas that they believed could help to remove all the impediments they had at that moment . I am positive that this course helped me to understand much better the design thinking process , and it allowed me at my job to apply the mind mapping tool in a real - world situation . Approach I believe that the mind mapping tool was the correct tool to use in this situation . Maybe in another situation , the visualization tool would also have been very helpful . But in this case , we arrived with the hospital in a stage where the problem was big , and the client wanted to get information quickly .