Example Reﬂection — Mind Mapping

Challenge

I am a project manager of a nonproﬁt organization related to technology and my challenge is to  lead two interns who are college students to develop a “R package” (R is a programming  language and free software environment for statistical computing and graphics) about air pollution  using the data sensed by our developed sensor module in order to make more people access  data easily as well as engage in the project focusing on air pollution and then be willing to do  further analysis. In addition, two interns can only work remotely so we won’t be able to discuss  face to face. It would result in taking more time to communicate and understand each other.  According to the goal, we need to develop a variety of functions that meet users’ need and can  inspire them to do further. Therefore, we will focus on trying to uncover what kind of information  people are more interested in and can attract more attention.

Selection

Since we need to ﬁnd out what kind of functions meets users’ expectation, we are going to survey  and collect a lot of results of interview. Then, analyze them and divide them into diﬀerent groups  based on the similarity. This is just what mind mapping does well. It's used to look for patterns  and insights as well as lead to more creative solutions to my design challenge.

Application

After having the related information collected from social media and the issues which users are  more concerned about through the interview, I sent all the data to the interns and scheduled a  video conference so as to explore the patterns and insights together from the information that we  collected.

At ﬁrst, I wrote each information on a sticky note independently and showed them through the  camera. Next, we spent a lot of time grouping some sticky notes into clusters based on relevance.  After many rounds of discussion, we then made sure the certain groups. Finally, we gave each  cluster a label that is a theme users are interested in.

Insight

After applying the mind mapping tool, we can organize lots of collected issues and come up with  new idea. Therefore, our team got some themes that users want to know but we don't anticipate  before. Then, based on the themes we can design suitable functions of R package that satisfy  users’ need and inspire them to develop further. This tool makes me think in a creative way and  broadly. Furthermore, the more valuable aspect of this tool is bring stakeholders together to share  insights and learning that occur while they are working to deﬁne the problem.

Approach

Since I ﬁnd out that the most value of mind mapping is make everyone who engage in the activity  have a deep understanding of what are the problems. Hence, participants can share insights and  focus on the proposed problems. Then, we can incorporate these insights into following  development. Next time, I would also use the mind mapping tool as a starting point for a series of  design thinking activities.


Example Reﬂection — Mind Mapping Challenge I am a project manager of a nonproﬁt organization related to technology and my challenge is to lead two interns who are college students to develop a “ R package ” ( R is a programming language and free software environment for statistical computing and graphics ) about air pollution using the data sensed by our developed sensor module in order to make more people access data easily as well as engage in the project focusing on air pollution and then be willing to do further analysis . In addition , two interns can only work remotely so we wo n’t be able to discuss face to face . It would result in taking more time to communicate and understand each other . According to the goal , we need to develop a variety of functions that meet users ’ need and can inspire them to do further . Therefore , we will focus on trying to uncover what kind of information people are more interested in and can attract more attention . Selection Since we need to ﬁnd out what kind of functions meets users ’ expectation , we are going to survey and collect a lot of results of interview . Then , analyze them and divide them into diﬀerent groups based on the similarity . This is just what mind mapping does well . It 's used to look for patterns and insights as well as lead to more creative solutions to my design challenge . Application After having the related information collected from social media and the issues which users are more concerned about through the interview , I sent all the data to the interns and scheduled a video conference so as to explore the patterns and insights together from the information that we collected . At ﬁrst , I wrote each information on a sticky note independently and showed them through the camera . Next , we spent a lot of time grouping some sticky notes into clusters based on relevance . After many rounds of discussion , we then made sure the certain groups . Finally , we gave each cluster a label that is a theme users are interested in . Insight After applying the mind mapping tool , we can organize lots of collected issues and come up with new idea . Therefore , our team got some themes that users want to know but we do n't anticipate before . Then , based on the themes we can design suitable functions of R package that satisfy users ’ need and inspire them to develop further . This tool makes me think in a creative way and broadly . Furthermore , the more valuable aspect of this tool is bring stakeholders together to share insights and learning that occur while they are working to deﬁne the problem . Approach Since I ﬁnd out that the most value of mind mapping is make everyone who engage in the activity have a deep understanding of what are the problems . Hence , participants can share insights and focus on the proposed problems . Then , we can incorporate these insights into following development . Next time , I would also use the mind mapping tool as a starting point for a series of design thinking activities .