Design Thinking Reflection Submission: Mind Mapping

Author: Vanessa Sanchez    August 15, 2019

The challenge

I’m currently part of the IT Governance Team within my organisation and one of my projects over the year  has been to gather and report KPI information across the various IT departments. The scope of this piece  of work is limited to internal KPI data only and excluded any third party/vendor information. The current  process (which has been in place for the last 12 months) is to collect all the data manually each month,  approx. 300 KPIs across all IT departments. The whole process from start to finish took approximately 17  working days to complete each month. Over 40 people are involved at varying degrees across the month  with this process.

The main problems faced within the current process were getting the data in on time, the quality of the  submissions, confusion around what data needed to be submitted each month and manipulating the  various Management reports error free and on time.

My challenge is to automate the whole process where possible and to get the senior management  meaningful reports out within 7-9 working days.

Selection

The tool I have selected is Mind Mapping.  I have gathered individual feedback and large amounts of data  around the problems faced by stakeholder and customers of the process.  My aim is to make sure they  are all involved along this journey and to help drive towards an automated solution where I have their  buy in.

Mind Mapping has been identified as an effective tool to help analyse ideas and identify pattern and  themes.

According to Vanessa Sanchez, “Design Thinking for Innovation, Week3, Mind Mapping”. Available at    https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-design-thinking innovation/lecture/lsFRa/mind-mapping- tool , a marketing professor at Darton:  “Mind mapping is one of the most powerful tools in the design  thinker's toolbox. It's used to look for patterns, it's used to look for insights that lead to more creative  solutions to your design challenge.”

Application

The first step I took was to arrange an offsite day away from the office for all the stakeholders. 40  stakeholders were invited across IT from those supplying the data to those receiving the reports. The aim  was to get a holistic view; I shared the current problems/ issues and feedback received.

The challenge was written on the wall in front of them. The stakeholders were split in to small groups and  given sticky notes and asked to sort through the data and feedback received and to come up with recurring  themes.  Because of the visual nature of Mind maps the teams were encouraged to either write or draw  their thoughts on the sticky notes. The themes were then discussed in detail to gain a further level of  granularity and clarity and to identify any further links/ patterns and new thoughts. After much discussion

Design Thinking Reflection Submission: Mind Mapping

Author: Vanessa Sanchez    August 15, 2019

the themes were agreed upon. The mind map was then published for all the stakeholders for future  reference.

Insight

From the offsite day I observed the following;

It’s important to keep the stakeholders/ groups aligned on the topic in hand. It’s very easy to be distracted  and for the session to be pulled in a different directions. The tool helped to disperse the ‘noise’ around  the process issues and it allows them to think out of the box or in a slightly different way. Many of the  stakeholders had not used this tool before, so for them it was a new experience and the feedback was  positive and some said they would use it again in the future. The tool is very easy to use and groups found  the visual elements made it easy to focus on the subject and help stimulate other ideas which may not  have surfaced before. The details from the day will now feed into the next stage of designing the solution.  The main benefit for all those involved was how the map helps hold all the elements together.

Approach

I was introduced to mind maps many years ago by my daughter’s school; she has Dyslexia and one of her  teachers recommended this tool to help her organize her homework. From that point on I have  subconsciously used the tool to help organize my day etc. but have never used it in a group situation until  now. The outcome was interesting and I would definitely use the tool again. In future the approach would  be slightly different; I would make more use of pictures, colours and visuals rather that statistics and  words as they seems to lead to deeper discussions and understanding with the groups.  I also think I would  set the scene out differently making it more interactive and help drive the direction of the challenge.


Design Thinking Reflection Submission : Mind Mapping Author : Vanessa Sanchez August 15 , 2019 The challenge I ’m currently part of the IT Governance Team within my organisation and one of my projects over the year has been to gather and report KPI information across the various IT departments . The scope of this piece of work is limited to internal KPI data only and excluded any third party / vendor information . The current process ( which has been in place for the last 12 months ) is to collect all the data manually each month , approx . 300 KPIs across all IT departments . The whole process from start to finish took approximately 17 working days to complete each month . Over 40 people are involved at varying degrees across the month with this process . The main problems faced within the current process were getting the data in on time , the quality of the submissions , confusion around what data needed to be submitted each month and manipulating the various Management reports error free and on time . My challenge is to automate the whole process where possible and to get the senior management meaningful reports out within 7 - 9 working days . Selection The tool I have selected is Mind Mapping . I have gathered individual feedback and large amounts of data around the problems faced by stakeholder and customers of the process . My aim is to make sure they are all involved along this journey and to help drive towards an automated solution where I have their buy in . Mind Mapping has been identified as an effective tool to help analyse ideas and identify pattern and themes . According to Vanessa Sanchez , “ Design Thinking for Innovation , Week3 , Mind Mapping ” . Available at https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-design-thinking innovation / lecture / lsFRa / mind - mapping- tool , a marketing professor at Darton : “ Mind mapping is one of the most powerful tools in the design thinker 's toolbox . It 's used to look for patterns , it 's used to look for insights that lead to more creative solutions to your design challenge . ” Application The first step I took was to arrange an offsite day away from the office for all the stakeholders . 40 stakeholders were invited across IT from those supplying the data to those receiving the reports . The aim was to get a holistic view ; I shared the current problems/ issues and feedback received . The challenge was written on the wall in front of them . The stakeholders were split in to small groups and given sticky notes and asked to sort through the data and feedback received and to come up with recurring themes . Because of the visual nature of Mind maps the teams were encouraged to either write or draw their thoughts on the sticky notes . The themes were then discussed in detail to gain a further level of granularity and clarity and to identify any further links/ patterns and new thoughts . After much discussion Design Thinking Reflection Submission : Mind Mapping Author : Vanessa Sanchez August 15 , 2019 the themes were agreed upon . The mind map was then published for all the stakeholders for future reference . Insight From the offsite day I observed the following ; It ’s important to keep the stakeholders/ groups aligned on the topic in hand . It ’s very easy to be distracted and for the session to be pulled in a different directions . The tool helped to disperse the ‘ noise ’ around the process issues and it allows them to think out of the box or in a slightly different way . Many of the stakeholders had not used this tool before , so for them it was a new experience and the feedback was positive and some said they would use it again in the future . The tool is very easy to use and groups found the visual elements made it easy to focus on the subject and help stimulate other ideas which may not have surfaced before . The details from the day will now feed into the next stage of designing the solution . The main benefit for all those involved was how the map helps hold all the elements together . Approach I was introduced to mind maps many years ago by my daughter ’s school ; she has Dyslexia and one of her teachers recommended this tool to help her organize her homework . From that point on I have subconsciously used the tool to help organize my day etc . but have never used it in a group situation until now . The outcome was interesting and I would definitely use the tool again . In future the approach would be slightly different ; I would make more use of pictures , colours and visuals rather that statistics and words as they seems to lead to deeper discussions and understanding with the groups . I also think I would set the scene out differently making it more interactive and help drive the direction of the challenge .