Amritpal’s Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge  Being a member of my company’s innovation department, I was called along with my team for an urgent  meeting. Based on our latest monthly report, a big number of our newly employed engineers have  complained about an unpleasant and boring working environment; an unfortunate fact for a company  that relies on young and fresh minds to keep aiming forward. My challenge is to create an environment  in which our employees can perform and endure their daily challenges agreeably and more pleasantly.   The project scope includes our team’s department and the new employees of other departments, with a  limited period of thirty business days. We will focus on trying to uncover and pin point the effective  solutions with regard to a pleasant environment.

Selection  “When I want to do something analytical, I make a list. When I’m trying to do something creative, I make  a mind-map.” David Kelley-Founder, IDEO.  With the problem already in hand, I selected the Mind-Mapping tool at this stage of my design. I believe  it illustrates the minds of our employees to finally create a common mind amongst them regarding the  reality of our challenge.      Application  Mind Mapping is great way to brainstorm. In order to turn their ideas into reality, we had to collect data  from our employees.  My colleagues and I have prepared a reunion for all the concerned members of  the company; at first, we have demanded answers from each employee on a survey that tackled their  vision of a pleasant environment. The survey contained many types of questions, some were closed,  other were open and loaded questions that required a deeper thinking; for example: 1)Would you like a  cup of coffee every few hours? (yes/no answer), 2) How are you getting on with the new system at  work? (more elaborated answer)… We had to cover many aspects, since it is pretty normal that visions  differ from one individual to another. Our next step triggered some of the right brain functions. Each  employee had to enter an empty room, and to schematically draw on a sheet of paper his idea of a  pleasant office that meets his needs; this may include adding a window, a plant, or perhaps sharing the  room with another employee. Out of those pieces of data gathered from these employees during this  ethnographic approach, we’ve created “personas”. They represented patterns, a common mind  amongst the members.     Insight  By applying the Mind Mapping tool, my team and I have gained an advanced feedback from our  employees. We communicated all that data and created personas to finally generate a design criteria  statement that our design solution must satisfy. The results came out as expected, except for few  members that decided not to cooperate and resigned.   The agreed upon personas helped us identify the many types of personalities working in our company,  such as the sociable employee, the nature lover, the quiet one, the dreamer and more. We will try our  best to meet the needs of everyone, even though they differ widely.

Approach   We can’t deny that the way we handled this problem was organized and creative, it came out with a lot  of useful data that allowed us to set our pivotal point in the design thinking process. Nevertheless, since  the results weren’t matching, noting that we will still adapt the Mind Mapping tool at this stage of our  design, we could have detailed the questions furthermore in order to limit the number of personas  created at the end. Consequently, the design solution will please almost everyone.


Amritpal ’s Reflection – Mind Mapping Challenge Being a member of my company ’s innovation department , I was called along with my team for an urgent meeting . Based on our latest monthly report , a big number of our newly employed engineers have complained about an unpleasant and boring working environment ; an unfortunate fact for a company that relies on young and fresh minds to keep aiming forward . My challenge is to create an environment in which our employees can perform and endure their daily challenges agreeably and more pleasantly . The project scope includes our team ’s department and the new employees of other departments , with a limited period of thirty business days . We will focus on trying to uncover and pin point the effective solutions with regard to a pleasant environment . Selection “ When I want to do something analytical , I make a list . When I ’m trying to do something creative , I make a mind - map . ” David Kelley - Founder , IDEO . With the problem already in hand , I selected the Mind - Mapping tool at this stage of my design . I believe it illustrates the minds of our employees to finally create a common mind amongst them regarding the reality of our challenge . Application Mind Mapping is great way to brainstorm . In order to turn their ideas into reality , we had to collect data from our employees . My colleagues and I have prepared a reunion for all the concerned members of the company ; at first , we have demanded answers from each employee on a survey that tackled their vision of a pleasant environment . The survey contained many types of questions , some were closed , other were open and loaded questions that required a deeper thinking ; for example : 1)Would you like a cup of coffee every few hours ? ( yes / no answer ) , 2 ) How are you getting on with the new system at work ? ( more elaborated answer ) … We had to cover many aspects , since it is pretty normal that visions differ from one individual to another . Our next step triggered some of the right brain functions . Each employee had to enter an empty room , and to schematically draw on a sheet of paper his idea of a pleasant office that meets his needs ; this may include adding a window , a plant , or perhaps sharing the room with another employee . Out of those pieces of data gathered from these employees during this ethnographic approach , we ’ve created “ personas ” . They represented patterns , a common mind amongst the members . Insight By applying the Mind Mapping tool , my team and I have gained an advanced feedback from our employees . We communicated all that data and created personas to finally generate a design criteria statement that our design solution must satisfy . The results came out as expected , except for few members that decided not to cooperate and resigned . The agreed upon personas helped us identify the many types of personalities working in our company , such as the sociable employee , the nature lover , the quiet one , the dreamer and more . We will try our best to meet the needs of everyone , even though they differ widely . Approach We ca n’t deny that the way we handled this problem was organized and creative , it came out with a lot of useful data that allowed us to set our pivotal point in the design thinking process . Nevertheless , since the results were n’t matching , noting that we will still adapt the Mind Mapping tool at this stage of our design , we could have detailed the questions furthermore in order to limit the number of personas created at the end . Consequently , the design solution will please almost everyone .