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Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge:

I am a Product Owner working for a large financial services company. My challenge was to  supplement our existing proposition for a student audience by identifying new and innovative  concepts that would help them to improve their ‘financial fitness’. The project scope incorporated  members from my own team (an internal innovation function) and colleagues from our retail team  who have overall responsibility for the student market. The project should incorporate ‘New Ways of  Working (a design thinking approach, in this instance) and was charged with not impacting core  systems so as to ensure speed of delivery and an lean approach. We will focus on uncovering  student problem areas, or needs, in relation to student finances in order to create a solution(s) that  will address their needs and achieve our goal of helping them to become ‘financially fit’.

Selection:

Having religiously followed the process set out in “Designing for Growth: A design toolkit for  Managers” by Patrizia Valdez, our core team were ready to adopt the Mind Mapping tool in order to  showcase the wide array of data we had captured on our audience and subject area to key  stakeholders. As highlighted in the week 3 video ‘Mind Mapping Tool’, Mind mapping is the process  of identifying themes or patterns in the large amount of data that you have captured up to that  point. These insights then form the foundation of the subsequent ideation and concept  development stages of the design thinking process.

We wanted to do this for two reasons:   (i) To gain stakeholder buy-in for the process we were following. By inviting stakeholders to explore  our insight with us, they were effectively joining our team and making an emotional investment in  the work we were undertaking.   (ii) To get a fresh perspective on the insight we had captured from subject matter experts, senior  decision makers, and ‘sceptics’ who could develop our thinking and challenge any assumptions we  had made.

Application:

Our Mind Map consisted of the following assets:

  Interview analysis which highlighted emotional highs and lows of each interviewee,

  personas which had been created using psychographic trends extracted from our interviews,

  a customer journey map which plotted the user journey for each persona,

  relevant items of secondary research in relation to our audience and the wider market

Each of the aforementioned assets were displayed on the walls of a large meeting room in a logical  order. This became our art gallery. Stakeholders were divided into small groups and given tours of  the gallery by core team members before being allowed to walk round on their own and consume  the insights at their own pace, noting on post-its anything that interested them or piqued their  attention. On completion, each individual then categorised, or clustered, their own observations into  themes before being invited to share their individually observed themes with the wider group. Soon

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consistencies and patterns began to emerge and connections were able to be made between  themes and clusters.

By the end of the mind mapping process we had arrived at a common understanding of the  research, the emergent themes, how we might want to approach the problem we were solving and  the beginnings of some great ideas! This exercise enabled us to confidently define our design  criteria. Perhaps as importantly, by involving key stakeholders in the process we had ensured that  they were fully bought into and invested in what we were hoping to achieve.

Insight:

The mind mapping tool helped us to identify some key insights that would heavily influence the  subsequent stages of brainstorming and concept development and, ultimately, informed the  solutions that we would test with customers. Specifically, we identified from mind mapping the  following:

Parental influence and involvement in a student’s finances heavily influenced the student’s spending  behaviour and likelihood to accrue debt.

Prior to this ‘lightbulb moment’ we had been focusing solely on the individual student. By  uncovering the role of the parent in the dynamic we added a whole new dimension to our thinking  and unlocked a previously untapped area for ideation and brainstorming. This enabled us to come  up with solutions that harnessed the parental influence to the benefit of the student.

Approach:

The mind mapping tool worked really well for getting ‘business’ stakeholders onside. Next time I  would consider inviting ‘technical’ stakeholders to the party to ensure that we were considering any  technical limitations upfront. Equally, it would be useful to get our technical stakeholders buy-in  early on in the process so that they are advocates for our solution if and when we need their support  further down the line during inevitable prioritisation discussions. Working in a big organisation like  mine, there are multiple projects competing for a finite amount of technical resource at any one  time. Therefore, by immersing our technical colleagues in the process at this early stage, they will  hopefully become advocates for the initiative.


Classification : Private Reflection – Mind Mapping Challenge : I am a Product Owner working for a large financial services company . My challenge was to supplement our existing proposition for a student audience by identifying new and innovative concepts that would help them to improve their ‘ financial fitness ’ . The project scope incorporated members from my own team ( an internal innovation function ) and colleagues from our retail team who have overall responsibility for the student market . The project should incorporate ‘ New Ways of Working ( a design thinking approach , in this instance ) and was charged with not impacting core systems so as to ensure speed of delivery and an lean approach . We will focus on uncovering student problem areas , or needs , in relation to student finances in order to create a solution(s ) that will address their needs and achieve our goal of helping them to become ‘ financially fit ’ . Selection : Having religiously followed the process set out in “ Designing for Growth : A design toolkit for Managers ” by Patrizia Valdez , our core team were ready to adopt the Mind Mapping tool in order to showcase the wide array of data we had captured on our audience and subject area to key stakeholders . As highlighted in the week 3 video ‘ Mind Mapping Tool ’ , Mind mapping is the process of identifying themes or patterns in the large amount of data that you have captured up to that point . These insights then form the foundation of the subsequent ideation and concept development stages of the design thinking process . We wanted to do this for two reasons : ( i ) To gain stakeholder buy - in for the process we were following . By inviting stakeholders to explore our insight with us , they were effectively joining our team and making an emotional investment in the work we were undertaking . ( ii ) To get a fresh perspective on the insight we had captured from subject matter experts , senior decision makers , and ‘ sceptics ’ who could develop our thinking and challenge any assumptions we had made . Application : Our Mind Map consisted of the following assets :  Interview analysis which highlighted emotional highs and lows of each interviewee ,  personas which had been created using psychographic trends extracted from our interviews ,  a customer journey map which plotted the user journey for each persona ,  relevant items of secondary research in relation to our audience and the wider market Each of the aforementioned assets were displayed on the walls of a large meeting room in a logical order . This became our art gallery . Stakeholders were divided into small groups and given tours of the gallery by core team members before being allowed to walk round on their own and consume the insights at their own pace , noting on post - its anything that interested them or piqued their attention . On completion , each individual then categorised , or clustered , their own observations into themes before being invited to share their individually observed themes with the wider group . Soon Classification : Private consistencies and patterns began to emerge and connections were able to be made between themes and clusters . By the end of the mind mapping process we had arrived at a common understanding of the research , the emergent themes , how we might want to approach the problem we were solving and the beginnings of some great ideas ! This exercise enabled us to confidently define our design criteria . Perhaps as importantly , by involving key stakeholders in the process we had ensured that they were fully bought into and invested in what we were hoping to achieve . Insight : The mind mapping tool helped us to identify some key insights that would heavily influence the subsequent stages of brainstorming and concept development and , ultimately , informed the solutions that we would test with customers . Specifically , we identified from mind mapping the following : Parental influence and involvement in a student ’s finances heavily influenced the student ’s spending behaviour and likelihood to accrue debt . Prior to this ‘ lightbulb moment ’ we had been focusing solely on the individual student . By uncovering the role of the parent in the dynamic we added a whole new dimension to our thinking and unlocked a previously untapped area for ideation and brainstorming . This enabled us to come up with solutions that harnessed the parental influence to the benefit of the student . Approach : The mind mapping tool worked really well for getting ‘ business ’ stakeholders onside . Next time I would consider inviting ‘ technical ’ stakeholders to the party to ensure that we were considering any technical limitations upfront . Equally , it would be useful to get our technical stakeholders buy - in early on in the process so that they are advocates for our solution if and when we need their support further down the line during inevitable prioritisation discussions . Working in a big organisation like mine , there are multiple projects competing for a finite amount of technical resource at any one time . Therefore , by immersing our technical colleagues in the process at this early stage , they will hopefully become advocates for the initiative .