Example Reflection-Mind Mapping

Challenge:

I’m a member of a team working within a scientific organization and we have been assigned to establish  a sustainable energy department and state its objectives and initiatives that we will work on for a period  of one year. The main challenge that we faced was how to structure our department in terms of its  objectives, and what these objectives shall be specially we weren’t clear yet about the scopes that we  will focus on because of the vastness of the sustainability definition. Moreover, these objectives should  add value to both scales, organizational and the country vision toward sustainability. Our team is  consisting of ten members under a bigger organization which consist of different departments such as  purchase department, exterior relation department, finance department and services department. All  these departments will have a contribution toward our team to achieve the department goals.

Selection:

My team and I started this mission by arranging several workshops to go through different design  thinking tools. After analyzing several options, we found out that mind mapping could be the best  option for us so we decided to use it as our designing tool for our challenge. Despite of the other tools,  mind mapping is a useful tool for the case where you have a lot of things to demonstrate and you want  to extract your goals from it by focusing directly to the required things to achieve our goals in most  efficient, simplest, and practical ways.

Application:

We started our mind mapping by four sessions divided on a week time, stating all scopes related to  sustainability that each member might think of and stick it to our mapping board. After that we chose  the most relevant ones and focused it to five main scopes including green energy, energy saving  strategies and tools, recycling processes, Co2 emissions, sustainability policies & public initiatives. After  we stated all related topics, we planned 3 days per week workshops for a three weeks’ time-period. The  aim of these workshops was to connect which goes to which in terms of wither this work will be done  within the organizational scale, the country vision scale or both. To connect our map, we drew lines  using markers and strings making it easy to follow in different stages. Now for this stage we were having  all our objectives on our map, and the next phase was to break down each objective to its stages and  what will be the expectations after the implementation. Finally, we ended our mind mapping sessions by  looking at where each member of our team has an interest and in what scope of work each member can  do the best. Thus, he/she can serve the best and has their input to the maximum.

Insight:

The outcome of the mind mapping tool was having five teams, where each team consist of two  members working on one of the five scopes mentioned above. By applying the mind mapping tool, we  created our map that we can follow to structure and achieve our objectives. Moreover, it helped us to  design the department structure with respect to the scopes and its tasks through the workshops that we  carried. We considered a path for each scope parallel to what we expected to achieve in it. We also  stated what are the sub projects or tasks that can be considered under each scope to serve its outcome.  It was important to mention it clearly wither the scope will has the impact on the organizational level, or  community and country level.

At this stage, our team become more familiar with the work that should be carried this year and the  objectives are clearer to them. However, at the earlier stages, the terms energy, and sustainability were  very wide titles and it weren’t clear where to start as they consist of many variables and sections that  needed to be covered. Using the mind mapping tool helped us well to clarify the uncertainty that might  occur through this work and to narrow our focus toward the topics that we thought they are much  interested and more relevant. The end year results of applying this tool were great as we managed to  achieve two tasks in each scope where one task was targeting the organization itself and the other  supporting the country vision.

Approach:

The work done for the first six weeks started with illustrating different design thinking tools and ended  by applying the mind mapping as our design thinking tool. Using this tool presented a great impact in  the work that the team carried within the year and resulted in achieving more than what expected for a  short time period.  My team and I will strongly stick to use this tool for our future work as we found out  that it suits our type of work which includes a lot of information, charts, graphs and tables that always  need to be linked towards having the promised outcomes. We agreed to follow the mind mapping we  already used for our future tasks and objectives and it always must demonstrate the insight within the  work, the progress done, and focus more toward the impact that we are expecting.


Example Reflection - Mind Mapping Challenge : I ’m a member of a team working within a scientific organization and we have been assigned to establish a sustainable energy department and state its objectives and initiatives that we will work on for a period of one year . The main challenge that we faced was how to structure our department in terms of its objectives , and what these objectives shall be specially we were n’t clear yet about the scopes that we will focus on because of the vastness of the sustainability definition . Moreover , these objectives should add value to both scales , organizational and the country vision toward sustainability . Our team is consisting of ten members under a bigger organization which consist of different departments such as purchase department , exterior relation department , finance department and services department . All these departments will have a contribution toward our team to achieve the department goals . Selection : My team and I started this mission by arranging several workshops to go through different design thinking tools . After analyzing several options , we found out that mind mapping could be the best option for us so we decided to use it as our designing tool for our challenge . Despite of the other tools , mind mapping is a useful tool for the case where you have a lot of things to demonstrate and you want to extract your goals from it by focusing directly to the required things to achieve our goals in most efficient , simplest , and practical ways . Application : We started our mind mapping by four sessions divided on a week time , stating all scopes related to sustainability that each member might think of and stick it to our mapping board . After that we chose the most relevant ones and focused it to five main scopes including green energy , energy saving strategies and tools , recycling processes , Co2 emissions , sustainability policies & public initiatives . After we stated all related topics , we planned 3 days per week workshops for a three weeks ’ time - period . The aim of these workshops was to connect which goes to which in terms of wither this work will be done within the organizational scale , the country vision scale or both . To connect our map , we drew lines using markers and strings making it easy to follow in different stages . Now for this stage we were having all our objectives on our map , and the next phase was to break down each objective to its stages and what will be the expectations after the implementation . Finally , we ended our mind mapping sessions by looking at where each member of our team has an interest and in what scope of work each member can do the best . Thus , he / she can serve the best and has their input to the maximum . Insight : The outcome of the mind mapping tool was having five teams , where each team consist of two members working on one of the five scopes mentioned above . By applying the mind mapping tool , we created our map that we can follow to structure and achieve our objectives . Moreover , it helped us to design the department structure with respect to the scopes and its tasks through the workshops that we carried . We considered a path for each scope parallel to what we expected to achieve in it . We also stated what are the sub projects or tasks that can be considered under each scope to serve its outcome . It was important to mention it clearly wither the scope will has the impact on the organizational level , or community and country level . At this stage , our team become more familiar with the work that should be carried this year and the objectives are clearer to them . However , at the earlier stages , the terms energy , and sustainability were very wide titles and it were n’t clear where to start as they consist of many variables and sections that needed to be covered . Using the mind mapping tool helped us well to clarify the uncertainty that might occur through this work and to narrow our focus toward the topics that we thought they are much interested and more relevant . The end year results of applying this tool were great as we managed to achieve two tasks in each scope where one task was targeting the organization itself and the other supporting the country vision . Approach : The work done for the first six weeks started with illustrating different design thinking tools and ended by applying the mind mapping as our design thinking tool . Using this tool presented a great impact in the work that the team carried within the year and resulted in achieving more than what expected for a short time period . My team and I will strongly stick to use this tool for our future work as we found out that it suits our type of work which includes a lot of information , charts , graphs and tables that always need to be linked towards having the promised outcomes . We agreed to follow the mind mapping we already used for our future tasks and objectives and it always must demonstrate the insight within the work , the progress done , and focus more toward the impact that we are expecting .