Reﬂection On - Mind Mapping

Challenge:  I work for a large, privately held software company in the Business Intelligence and  Analytics ﬁeld that was started by a small group of engineers in the 70s.  The culture is stagnate  in that they are so heavily focused on features and functions that they tend to overlook how  customers can feel lost when faced with the challenge of implementing.

Teaching a design thinking process to our customers, one that would help them better identify  who they needed to build for and what would best ﬁt the requirements, was to me the next best  step we could take in our own process of innovation.  Countless times I’ve been called onto  projects where the user acceptance rate was abysmal, only to ﬁnd out that no one was doing  this kind of work before spending months building applications.

Tool Selection:  Mind Mapping from Week 3:  Idea Generation - I chose this method of idea  generation because of it’s physical nature, and for how it gets a team to think independently at  ﬁrst, and then together to talk through the ideas.  I’ve participated in this type of exercise at a  few UX conferences I’ve attended, such as O’Reilly, and found that as part of a larger training  series, doing this using sticky notes, markers, notepads, and other visual aids, a team can move  from the UX research phase of interviews, to presentable wireframes for customer review in  very little time.

Application:  We have user groups across the world, and the New York City group provided us  an opportunity for our “Learning Launch”.  I lecture on the subject of UX & Design Thinking at  our annual Summits and via WebEx, and the response is always positive and encouraging - our  customers want to learn this.  After the last Summit earlier this year, the Customer Support  division approached me about doing my presentation to our User Groups across the US.  I  countered with a suggestion to do an actual workshop in NYC, rather than just another lecture.

Because of long standing tradition (stagnation) in our company, the managers feel that  customers only want to come in and learn new things about the product, and were reluctant to  try my idea of teaching skills that are software independent, focusing more on the who, what,  why.  But they gave in with a few course tweaks that made them feel more comfortable, and I  insisted that our invitation wording clearly signify that we would not be using computers.  I  trained workshop facilitators prior to the event by running them through a warm-up exercise and  giving them instructions on what to look for and how to keep a team moving through the timed  sessions.  One was assigned to each team.

For a full day, with four teams of ﬁve participants, we worked through challenges that ranged  from interviews to wireframe design, with the mind mapping exercises being the most involved.  Because this is a team approach to design thinking, the challenges were printed and taped on  the wall where each individual in a team would then write his or her ideas/suggestions/thoughts  on sticky notes and put those on the wall in the appropriate space in the diverge phase, then  they would all work through the converge phase together, focusing the notes into blocks of ideas   that formed the nodes of the mind map.

All participants were fully engaged and enjoyed this new way of thinking through their  application design and development challenges.  All left saying they would take this back to their  companies, and would be interested to learn more in the future.

Insight:  You can teach an old dog new tricks.  As much as I know the value that this training  provides our customers, the value we are now gaining internally is just as important to me.

For our customers, they now have a new way of handling the requirements that come to them in  a more powerful and meaningful way.  They can now identify the priorities from the Business  stakeholder, conduct a UX research phase with users, and use mind mapping sessions in a  cross-functional team to provide solid solutions to their users.

And for us, companies of our age and size are very slow to make changes, especially ones that  are somewhat outside their comfort zone.  By having VPs and other upper level managers  involved, or just stopping by to watch for a few minutes, I’m seeing momentum begin to build,  and increased interest being generated.  The fear that customers wouldn’t understand this is  fading and in it’s place is an optimism that we can do “different” things to partner with our  customers more effectively.  As a caveat, I’m now being asked to do this with our product teams.

Approach:  One of the concessions I had to make to my program and schedule, was to allow  two others from our company to do presentations - one during the morning session and one in  the afternoon.  If Customer Services insists that these be a part of every training, I want to move  them both to the end of the day.  I didn’t see any value in these sessions and to me, they just  watered down the effect of the training.  They slowed down the pace and most people were not  paying attention.

Having this day be focused on the experiential training, and doing several other types of  exercises, will be more beneﬁcial to our customers, and ultimately to us.


Reﬂection On - Mind Mapping Challenge : I work for a large , privately held software company in the Business Intelligence and Analytics ﬁeld that was started by a small group of engineers in the 70s . The culture is stagnate in that they are so heavily focused on features and functions that they tend to overlook how customers can feel lost when faced with the challenge of implementing . Teaching a design thinking process to our customers , one that would help them better identify who they needed to build for and what would best ﬁt the requirements , was to me the next best step we could take in our own process of innovation . Countless times I ’ve been called onto projects where the user acceptance rate was abysmal , only to ﬁnd out that no one was doing this kind of work before spending months building applications . Tool Selection : Mind Mapping from Week 3 : Idea Generation - I chose this method of idea generation because of it ’s physical nature , and for how it gets a team to think independently at ﬁrst , and then together to talk through the ideas . I ’ve participated in this type of exercise at a few UX conferences I ’ve attended , such as O’Reilly , and found that as part of a larger training series , doing this using sticky notes , markers , notepads , and other visual aids , a team can move from the UX research phase of interviews , to presentable wireframes for customer review in very little time . Application : We have user groups across the world , and the New York City group provided us an opportunity for our “ Learning Launch ” . I lecture on the subject of UX & Design Thinking at our annual Summits and via WebEx , and the response is always positive and encouraging - our customers want to learn this . After the last Summit earlier this year , the Customer Support division approached me about doing my presentation to our User Groups across the US . I countered with a suggestion to do an actual workshop in NYC , rather than just another lecture . Because of long standing tradition ( stagnation ) in our company , the managers feel that customers only want to come in and learn new things about the product , and were reluctant to try my idea of teaching skills that are software independent , focusing more on the who , what , why . But they gave in with a few course tweaks that made them feel more comfortable , and I insisted that our invitation wording clearly signify that we would not be using computers . I trained workshop facilitators prior to the event by running them through a warm - up exercise and giving them instructions on what to look for and how to keep a team moving through the timed sessions . One was assigned to each team . For a full day , with four teams of ﬁve participants , we worked through challenges that ranged from interviews to wireframe design , with the mind mapping exercises being the most involved . Because this is a team approach to design thinking , the challenges were printed and taped on the wall where each individual in a team would then write his or her ideas / suggestions / thoughts on sticky notes and put those on the wall in the appropriate space in the diverge phase , then they would all work through the converge phase together , focusing the notes into blocks of ideas that formed the nodes of the mind map . All participants were fully engaged and enjoyed this new way of thinking through their application design and development challenges . All left saying they would take this back to their companies , and would be interested to learn more in the future . Insight : You can teach an old dog new tricks . As much as I know the value that this training provides our customers , the value we are now gaining internally is just as important to me . For our customers , they now have a new way of handling the requirements that come to them in a more powerful and meaningful way . They can now identify the priorities from the Business stakeholder , conduct a UX research phase with users , and use mind mapping sessions in a cross - functional team to provide solid solutions to their users . And for us , companies of our age and size are very slow to make changes , especially ones that are somewhat outside their comfort zone . By having VPs and other upper level managers involved , or just stopping by to watch for a few minutes , I ’m seeing momentum begin to build , and increased interest being generated . The fear that customers would n’t understand this is fading and in it ’s place is an optimism that we can do “ different ” things to partner with our customers more effectively . As a caveat , I ’m now being asked to do this with our product teams . Approach : One of the concessions I had to make to my program and schedule , was to allow two others from our company to do presentations - one during the morning session and one in the afternoon . If Customer Services insists that these be a part of every training , I want to move them both to the end of the day . I did n’t see any value in these sessions and to me , they just watered down the effect of the training . They slowed down the pace and most people were not paying attention . Having this day be focused on the experiential training , and doing several other types of exercises , will be more beneﬁcial to our customers , and ultimately to us .