Reflection Assignment – Mind Mapping

Challenge & Selection    The tool I used was the Mind mapping tool which helped me to go from what is stage to what if  stage of the product development process which I was involved recently as a part of the project  course for a Automotive company in Sweden.The main challenge in the project was to develop a  product for the future by gathering the problems existing in today’s process and also the getting to  know the insights from the stakeholders for the future. I have used the mind mapping tool which  helped me to look for patterns and themes in the data which I collected by doing the literature and  customer survey regarding the current and future requirements of the product.    Application    I started the process by looking at the data collected from the research on autonomous vehicles  which is the base to the product being developed and look out for possible places of use depending  on the scope of the project. The task was to develop an autonomous load carrier for the future of  transportation which would be able to load and unload goods to the trucks or stakeholders  autonomously without any human help in the whole process. I began by interviewing different kinds  of stakeholders like the warehouse companies, last mile delivery outlets, truck drivers etc to gather  insights and inputs for the future autonomous vehicle. I had to narrow down the scope of the  project pertaining to one area of use of the vehicle which was one of the major tasks before going  for the idea generation phase of the process.    For the narrowing phase of the project I used the mind mapping steps like explained in one of the  course lectures. I took information from the different stake holders pertaining to the various  possible output areas based on a questionnaire which comprised a set of questions related to the  good and bad services that they were facing in the current scenarios and suggestions regarding the  possible future scenarios of the autonomous vehicle. Further narrowing was done using the research  of already existing solutions and competition to few of the above related market areas.Like in the  delivery of goods in the last mile few companies have already started rolling out autonomous  vehicles to deliver goods which are prominently increasing. After gathering all the inputs from  various stakeholders I put them to discussion along with few of my colleagues to look for  connections or patterns in them and then to narrow them down based on several other criteria and  arrive at a final design criteria to proceed to the idea generation phase based on the finalised design  criteria which was done using the mind mapping technique as explained above.    Insight & Approach    What I have learned from doing this mind mapping before proceeding the idea generation phase is  the various possible solutions of each output areas from each stakeholder point of view which when  put on paper gives us a huge variety of ideas which should then be connected for a effective yielding  design criteria. The huge classification tree which comes as a result of mind mapping made me  visualise the importance of doing it without which if the project would’ve been continued would’ve  made the project and the whole process difficult and unsuccessful. The survey from various  stakeholders allows them to share their unique perspectives and develop insights into  potential  outputs.

It is one of the efficient method to organise ideas and analyse complex situations through breaking  things into smaller sections and one ting the common areas to give a unique successful solution.It  leads us to a clear path to proceed ahead to the next stage without any confusion.It can be finalised  as a process which enhances ones cognitive thinking process, deepen the knowledge of a specific  area and find the specific issues that are needed to be addressed.    Regarding the approach I would use in the future for a situation like this I would say that I would  include the visualisation process along with mind mapping which would be looking into a bigger  picture of developing a whole product. When it comes to “what is” stage of the process I would  definitely use the mind mapping technique for this particular project or product as I feel that any  other technique wouldn’t do the justice to the process of delivering a well defined product for the  stakeholders.


Reflection Assignment – Mind Mapping Challenge & Selection The tool I used was the Mind mapping tool which helped me to go from what is stage to what if stage of the product development process which I was involved recently as a part of the project course for a Automotive company in Sweden . The main challenge in the project was to develop a product for the future by gathering the problems existing in today ’s process and also the getting to know the insights from the stakeholders for the future . I have used the mind mapping tool which helped me to look for patterns and themes in the data which I collected by doing the literature and customer survey regarding the current and future requirements of the product . Application I started the process by looking at the data collected from the research on autonomous vehicles which is the base to the product being developed and look out for possible places of use depending on the scope of the project . The task was to develop an autonomous load carrier for the future of transportation which would be able to load and unload goods to the trucks or stakeholders autonomously without any human help in the whole process . I began by interviewing different kinds of stakeholders like the warehouse companies , last mile delivery outlets , truck drivers etc to gather insights and inputs for the future autonomous vehicle . I had to narrow down the scope of the project pertaining to one area of use of the vehicle which was one of the major tasks before going for the idea generation phase of the process . For the narrowing phase of the project I used the mind mapping steps like explained in one of the course lectures . I took information from the different stake holders pertaining to the various possible output areas based on a questionnaire which comprised a set of questions related to the good and bad services that they were facing in the current scenarios and suggestions regarding the possible future scenarios of the autonomous vehicle . Further narrowing was done using the research of already existing solutions and competition to few of the above related market areas . Like in the delivery of goods in the last mile few companies have already started rolling out autonomous vehicles to deliver goods which are prominently increasing . After gathering all the inputs from various stakeholders I put them to discussion along with few of my colleagues to look for connections or patterns in them and then to narrow them down based on several other criteria and arrive at a final design criteria to proceed to the idea generation phase based on the finalised design criteria which was done using the mind mapping technique as explained above . Insight & Approach What I have learned from doing this mind mapping before proceeding the idea generation phase is the various possible solutions of each output areas from each stakeholder point of view which when put on paper gives us a huge variety of ideas which should then be connected for a effective yielding design criteria . The huge classification tree which comes as a result of mind mapping made me visualise the importance of doing it without which if the project would ’ve been continued would ’ve made the project and the whole process difficult and unsuccessful . The survey from various stakeholders allows them to share their unique perspectives and develop insights into potential outputs . It is one of the efficient method to organise ideas and analyse complex situations through breaking things into smaller sections and one ting the common areas to give a unique successful solution . It leads us to a clear path to proceed ahead to the next stage without any confusion . It can be finalised as a process which enhances ones cognitive thinking process , deepen the knowledge of a specific area and find the specific issues that are needed to be addressed . Regarding the approach I would use in the future for a situation like this I would say that I would include the visualisation process along with mind mapping which would be looking into a bigger picture of developing a whole product . When it comes to “ what is ” stage of the process I would definitely use the mind mapping technique for this particular project or product as I feel that any other technique would n’t do the justice to the process of delivering a well defined product for the stakeholders .