Design Thinking for Innovation Reflection – Visualization

Challenge

The challenge I am facing is related to a project identified as very high priority by the leadership team of  my company, an IT business delivering communication solutions to our customers. These customers are  typically businesses and government agencies that sometimes have multiple locations around the world.  These communication solutions are charged monthly to the customers with an overage depending on the  volume of minutes or data exchanged. Naturally, customers are looking to track their usage to make sure  they understand how their employees use our services, would it be to track minutes called, megabytes of  data exchanged, etc. and possibly readjust their contract with us if they constantly overuse or underuse  our services.

The problem at hand is the following: we need a state-of-the-art customer portal, for them to track  different metrics related to their usage of the communication service and possibly offer other  conveniences such as service configuration management, incident tracking, document library, etc.  Multiple meetings were already held to determine what this portal needed to include, how it is going to  look and how the information would be conveyed to the customers. With long discussions came confusion  around the solution we were working towards and what we were actually working on in each of these  meetings.

Selection

With this challenge in mind, I decided to build a workshop where I would use visualization to help the  audience align their vision and thoughts on the same solution as everyone else in the room. Visualization  is the tool I identified to be the perfect fit for this project, because it helps:

1. Understanding the problem and having the same understanding as everyone else in the room;  2. Idea generation, since everyone can see exactly the solution being worked on and can identify

missing elements, flaws or underexploited strengths; and

3. Testing the solution with actors from outside the project so they understand very quickly, with

minimal support, what is the product being worked on.

Application

Having selected my tool, I was ready to apply it in the workshop context. I applied large sheets of paper  on a meeting room wall and identified each sheet as a customer portal section e.g. “Real-time Dashboard”,  “Service Configuration”, “Analytics”, “Document Repository”, etc. Then, I cut letter-sized sheets into 4  pieces and wrote elements of each portal section on them which I then stuck to the relevant section with  gum tack.

For example, 1 of the pieces of paper looked like this:

It was placed on the sheet “Real-time Dashboard”. I did so for all the other elements already identified by  the project team and then started my workshop with the whole team.

This tool really worked well as everyone in the room was aligned on the same solution and we could make  changes and modifications on the fly while seeing the impacts on the final solution right in front of our  eyes. We would write on the different elements or add post-its to the different sections and elements to  explain our points and visualize ideas brought up by the different participants. It also kept the workshop  very active as people didn’t just stay in their chair listening or talking, they were physically involved in the  project. There was a great energy level throughout the whole workshop.

It was probably the most productive workshop we had on this project. We ended up generating more  than 40 new ideas which could range from new elements on the portal to simple modifications or  improvements over elements we had already identified. The following meetings on this project always  had these large sheets of paper with us in the room and became a great support for the whole team and  even for the subsequent steps, when we were designing the real portal.

Insight and Approach

Following this project, I quickly understood how Visualization, and Design Thinking as a whole, was crucial  for the type of projects I had to lead. At the time, I was not aware I was doing Design Thinking, but now, I  am able to put a name on the tool I used. It helped me (and the project team) so much that now I do not  hesitate to use the same kind of methods when designing a new product or even when trying to improve  a well-established product. It made gray areas much easier to navigate, and even fun sometimes!

I now understand how I should have used Visualization much earlier, even at the beginning of the project.  I feel like we have lost so much time with the initial meetings than led to nothing (or not much), just  discussions on top of discussions with very few valuable ideas. If I had to do it all again, I would have used  visualization right after my kick-off meeting. What is interesting now is that I also see how the Storytelling  tool would have helped me in the development of my customer portal. I could have roleplayed different  types of customers, try to immerse myself into what they needed and developed these needs into  requirements. It will be interesting to test that approach in one of my future projects.

Site X – Status (Active or Inactive)

Monthly minutes used: XX min  Monthly data used: XX MB


Design Thinking for Innovation Reflection – Visualization Challenge The challenge I am facing is related to a project identified as very high priority by the leadership team of my company , an IT business delivering communication solutions to our customers . These customers are typically businesses and government agencies that sometimes have multiple locations around the world . These communication solutions are charged monthly to the customers with an overage depending on the volume of minutes or data exchanged . Naturally , customers are looking to track their usage to make sure they understand how their employees use our services , would it be to track minutes called , megabytes of data exchanged , etc . and possibly readjust their contract with us if they constantly overuse or underuse our services . The problem at hand is the following : we need a state - of - the - art customer portal , for them to track different metrics related to their usage of the communication service and possibly offer other conveniences such as service configuration management , incident tracking , document library , etc . Multiple meetings were already held to determine what this portal needed to include , how it is going to look and how the information would be conveyed to the customers . With long discussions came confusion around the solution we were working towards and what we were actually working on in each of these meetings . Selection With this challenge in mind , I decided to build a workshop where I would use visualization to help the audience align their vision and thoughts on the same solution as everyone else in the room . Visualization is the tool I identified to be the perfect fit for this project , because it helps : 1 . Understanding the problem and having the same understanding as everyone else in the room ; 2 . Idea generation , since everyone can see exactly the solution being worked on and can identify missing elements , flaws or underexploited strengths ; and 3 . Testing the solution with actors from outside the project so they understand very quickly , with minimal support , what is the product being worked on . Application Having selected my tool , I was ready to apply it in the workshop context . I applied large sheets of paper on a meeting room wall and identified each sheet as a customer portal section e.g. “ Real - time Dashboard ” , “ Service Configuration ” , “ Analytics ” , “ Document Repository ” , etc . Then , I cut letter - sized sheets into 4 pieces and wrote elements of each portal section on them which I then stuck to the relevant section with gum tack . For example , 1 of the pieces of paper looked like this : It was placed on the sheet “ Real - time Dashboard ” . I did so for all the other elements already identified by the project team and then started my workshop with the whole team . This tool really worked well as everyone in the room was aligned on the same solution and we could make changes and modifications on the fly while seeing the impacts on the final solution right in front of our eyes . We would write on the different elements or add post - its to the different sections and elements to explain our points and visualize ideas brought up by the different participants . It also kept the workshop very active as people did n’t just stay in their chair listening or talking , they were physically involved in the project . There was a great energy level throughout the whole workshop . It was probably the most productive workshop we had on this project . We ended up generating more than 40 new ideas which could range from new elements on the portal to simple modifications or improvements over elements we had already identified . The following meetings on this project always had these large sheets of paper with us in the room and became a great support for the whole team and even for the subsequent steps , when we were designing the real portal . Insight and Approach Following this project , I quickly understood how Visualization , and Design Thinking as a whole , was crucial for the type of projects I had to lead . At the time , I was not aware I was doing Design Thinking , but now , I am able to put a name on the tool I used . It helped me ( and the project team ) so much that now I do not hesitate to use the same kind of methods when designing a new product or even when trying to improve a well - established product . It made gray areas much easier to navigate , and even fun sometimes ! I now understand how I should have used Visualization much earlier , even at the beginning of the project . I feel like we have lost so much time with the initial meetings than led to nothing ( or not much ) , just discussions on top of discussions with very few valuable ideas . If I had to do it all again , I would have used visualization right after my kick - off meeting . What is interesting now is that I also see how the Storytelling tool would have helped me in the development of my customer portal . I could have roleplayed different types of customers , try to immerse myself into what they needed and developed these needs into requirements . It will be interesting to test that approach in one of my future projects . Site X – Status ( Active or Inactive ) Monthly minutes used : XX min Monthly data used : XX MB