Reflection Assignment - Visualisation

Challenge & Selection

In the following, I will describe how I was able to overcome a challenge by using the power of  visualisation. The tool of visualisation gives a great opportunity for making an idea that you have more  tangible and more concrete. This can be done by either drawing the audience a picture, sketching out  concepts by using workflows and maps, drawing a low fidelity prototype (such as a sketch or  wireframes) on a whiteboard or even by building a small prototype out of simple material such as  Lego® stones, Play-Doh® and straws. There are many different ways of visualising an idea that help  turn your thoughts into something that the audience can look at in order to understand the thoughts  that you had better.

I used the power of visualisation in an introductory design thinking workshop course at my company  where the challenge set was to create a “pharmacy of the future” within 2 hours. I chose the tool of  visualisation in order to be able to draw my team colleagues a sketch of the app that I was thinking  about in order to be able to better explain my team colleagues my idea on how to solve the  interviewee’s problem statement. This was especially important in this group as I did not know any  other my team colleagues yet and therefore decided it was easier to explain them my idea by drawing  it out rather than trying to explain it in words in English to a group of non-native people from different  departments. In this way, we could check whether our ideas for solving the problem statement  matched up and we could see where we complement each other to come up with an ever better  solution for the problem statement. In my case drawing my idea as a low fidelity sketch on the  whiteboard was the best way of drawing out my idea as I had a mobile app in mind and in this way I  could show my idea on what the app would look like and what the user journey would be.

Application

During this workshop we were split into 4 groups of 4 people each. In the course of this introductory  design thinking workshop, we started first with interviewing one of our fellow team members to ask  about their daily experience when visiting a pharmacy. In this way, I was able to get to know the  customer better and I was able to understand the main pain points of the interviewee during her  customer journey in relation to going to a pharmacy, her visit at the pharmacy and the follow-up  after the pharmacy.

I learnt that “time” was a major issue for the customer in this process. She explained how it was time  consuming to first visit the doctor to have a diagnosis (including the long waiting time at the doctor)  in order to receive a prescription with which she then had to go to a pharmacy (which sometimes  might not be close by and therefore would be another trip to take). At the pharmacy, she would also  have to wait in line to then finally be able to hand in her prescription and to then receive the  medication. And this is the best case scenario, where the pharmacy has the medication in stock.  Otherwise, she would have to come back in order to pick-up the medication once it has been  delivered.

The idea I came up with to solve her problem was an app that would allow the user to collect  information already at home by themselves in order to speed up the process in each of the steps  along the customer journey of a pharmacy visit. For example, the app would go through a series of  questions in order to create a first summary of symptoms, which the user would be able to directly  show to the doctor upon arrival.  In order to be able to better tell the story of my idea to the interviewee later in the process, I chose

to draw out mobile screens on a whiteboard and to show in each screen the messages and questions  the user would roughly see when using the app along the journey. I then also drew out the scenario  of the visit to the doctor and to the pharmacy. By sketching my idea out on the whiteboard I was able  to transfer my thoughts into a concrete storyboard to show my customer within roughly 30 minutes.  It was a high-level sketch and it did not matter whether I could draw very well. However, when the  30 minutes were over, I was then able to paint a picture to my team colleague of her next pharmacy  visit by telling the story going along my sketch on the whiteboard.

Insight

At the end of the workshop I was amazed to see how we came up with some very interesting ideas  within only 2 hours and especially to see that I was able to come up with an idea for a whole new app  with a complete user journey within only 30 minutes. And it all it took was a whiteboard marker and  a whiteboard.

The interviewee was directly able to grasp what I was planning and after saying that she liked the  idea, came up with questions and suggestions on how to develop the idea even further. If we would  have had the time, we could have gone directly back to the whiteboard to easily adapt the sketch  and add to it in order to customise it even more to solve the original problem statement even better.  Hence, this visualisation tool was not only cheap, but was able to transmit the idea and allowed to be  quickly and easily adapted and iterate.   For example, her direct feedback was that she would like the app to include another feature such as  map that would be able to show “pharmacies nearby you” after the doctor’s visit in order to allow  her to find the closest pharmacy within seconds.

This workshop once again showed me that the visualisation process step is an important part of the  design thinking process as it is the first time in the process, where ideas become more concrete and  build the basis of the solution that you might potentially come up with in the end. It is, however,  important to share a designs early on in the process with the end user in order to receive feedback.  This way you can check whether you are going down the right path with your idea or if potentially  your idea does not solve the problem statement at all. At that point, you will not have invested too  much time and money ideally and can easily adapt your idea. You can go back and quickly reiterate –  you can fail fast and cheap.

Approach

In this exercise I had a very concrete idea of what the app would look like and how the user journey  should look like. This is also why I added already quite a bit of detail to the prototype and even  included potential questions that would appear on screen along the journey. Working in pharma it  was clear it would not take more than 5 seconds for someone to get hung up on the questions if we  can legally and compliantly ask these particular questions and a 5 minute discussion evolved around  this. The next time I might not add as much detail to first focus on the fact of whether for example an  app would really be the right format to solve the problem statement or whether it would better to  use another format.  Furthermore, out of old habit I reverted directly back to using a whiteboard and a whiteboard marker  to draw out my idea. However, in the workshop we were also offered other material such as Legos®,  straws and spaghetti. Next time I would like to try to use more abstract material to create a  prototype of my idea as I saw what the other teams did and actually I felt like they came up with  much more creative ideas as they had to think more abstract.


Reflection Assignment - Visualisation Challenge & Selection In the following , I will describe how I was able to overcome a challenge by using the power of visualisation . The tool of visualisation gives a great opportunity for making an idea that you have more tangible and more concrete . This can be done by either drawing the audience a picture , sketching out concepts by using workflows and maps , drawing a low fidelity prototype ( such as a sketch or wireframes ) on a whiteboard or even by building a small prototype out of simple material such as Lego ® stones , Play - Doh ® and straws . There are many different ways of visualising an idea that help turn your thoughts into something that the audience can look at in order to understand the thoughts that you had better . I used the power of visualisation in an introductory design thinking workshop course at my company where the challenge set was to create a “ pharmacy of the future ” within 2 hours . I chose the tool of visualisation in order to be able to draw my team colleagues a sketch of the app that I was thinking about in order to be able to better explain my team colleagues my idea on how to solve the interviewee ’s problem statement . This was especially important in this group as I did not know any other my team colleagues yet and therefore decided it was easier to explain them my idea by drawing it out rather than trying to explain it in words in English to a group of non - native people from different departments . In this way , we could check whether our ideas for solving the problem statement matched up and we could see where we complement each other to come up with an ever better solution for the problem statement . In my case drawing my idea as a low fidelity sketch on the whiteboard was the best way of drawing out my idea as I had a mobile app in mind and in this way I could show my idea on what the app would look like and what the user journey would be . Application During this workshop we were split into 4 groups of 4 people each . In the course of this introductory design thinking workshop , we started first with interviewing one of our fellow team members to ask about their daily experience when visiting a pharmacy . In this way , I was able to get to know the customer better and I was able to understand the main pain points of the interviewee during her customer journey in relation to going to a pharmacy , her visit at the pharmacy and the follow - up after the pharmacy . I learnt that “ time ” was a major issue for the customer in this process . She explained how it was time consuming to first visit the doctor to have a diagnosis ( including the long waiting time at the doctor ) in order to receive a prescription with which she then had to go to a pharmacy ( which sometimes might not be close by and therefore would be another trip to take ) . At the pharmacy , she would also have to wait in line to then finally be able to hand in her prescription and to then receive the medication . And this is the best case scenario , where the pharmacy has the medication in stock . Otherwise , she would have to come back in order to pick - up the medication once it has been delivered . The idea I came up with to solve her problem was an app that would allow the user to collect information already at home by themselves in order to speed up the process in each of the steps along the customer journey of a pharmacy visit . For example , the app would go through a series of questions in order to create a first summary of symptoms , which the user would be able to directly show to the doctor upon arrival . In order to be able to better tell the story of my idea to the interviewee later in the process , I chose to draw out mobile screens on a whiteboard and to show in each screen the messages and questions the user would roughly see when using the app along the journey . I then also drew out the scenario of the visit to the doctor and to the pharmacy . By sketching my idea out on the whiteboard I was able to transfer my thoughts into a concrete storyboard to show my customer within roughly 30 minutes . It was a high - level sketch and it did not matter whether I could draw very well . However , when the 30 minutes were over , I was then able to paint a picture to my team colleague of her next pharmacy visit by telling the story going along my sketch on the whiteboard . Insight At the end of the workshop I was amazed to see how we came up with some very interesting ideas within only 2 hours and especially to see that I was able to come up with an idea for a whole new app with a complete user journey within only 30 minutes . And it all it took was a whiteboard marker and a whiteboard . The interviewee was directly able to grasp what I was planning and after saying that she liked the idea , came up with questions and suggestions on how to develop the idea even further . If we would have had the time , we could have gone directly back to the whiteboard to easily adapt the sketch and add to it in order to customise it even more to solve the original problem statement even better . Hence , this visualisation tool was not only cheap , but was able to transmit the idea and allowed to be quickly and easily adapted and iterate . For example , her direct feedback was that she would like the app to include another feature such as map that would be able to show “ pharmacies nearby you ” after the doctor ’s visit in order to allow her to find the closest pharmacy within seconds . This workshop once again showed me that the visualisation process step is an important part of the design thinking process as it is the first time in the process , where ideas become more concrete and build the basis of the solution that you might potentially come up with in the end . It is , however , important to share a designs early on in the process with the end user in order to receive feedback . This way you can check whether you are going down the right path with your idea or if potentially your idea does not solve the problem statement at all . At that point , you will not have invested too much time and money ideally and can easily adapt your idea . You can go back and quickly reiterate – you can fail fast and cheap . Approach In this exercise I had a very concrete idea of what the app would look like and how the user journey should look like . This is also why I added already quite a bit of detail to the prototype and even included potential questions that would appear on screen along the journey . Working in pharma it was clear it would not take more than 5 seconds for someone to get hung up on the questions if we can legally and compliantly ask these particular questions and a 5 minute discussion evolved around this . The next time I might not add as much detail to first focus on the fact of whether for example an app would really be the right format to solve the problem statement or whether it would better to use another format . Furthermore , out of old habit I reverted directly back to using a whiteboard and a whiteboard marker to draw out my idea . However , in the workshop we were also offered other material such as Legos ® , straws and spaghetti . Next time I would like to try to use more abstract material to create a prototype of my idea as I saw what the other teams did and actually I felt like they came up with much more creative ideas as they had to think more abstract .