Federation

By Sara Garcia

Challenge

With a history of working on multiple projects I (and assuming many others) have faced  a very peculiar conundrum throughout a project’s creation lifecycle.

Whenever a new project is executed, post an initial meeting, every team scatters and  starts ideating their own version of the project which ideally roots out and grows from

their areas of expertise. I.e a developer would ideate from a developer’s POV focusing

more on the technical aspects and a Business developer would do it from their POV

focusing on business goals etc.

The challenge here is to ensure that every team member involved in the project has a  common understanding of the project regardless of their involvement at any stage of

the project.

The solution to this challenge seems simple on the outside yet precarious when tackled.

Selection

The tool selected for this challenge is Mind mapping, due to its ability to visually  communicate large chunks of information in an organised manner. The tool would free

up useful time which would otherwise be wasted explaining all the information to bring

people up to speed.

Application

The approach was to create multiple mind maps at various stages which would  showcase the entire project journey and ensure any participant who would join midway

in the project would catch up with the least amount of time wasted, this would also

ensure that each member is in sync with the final goal of the project as well while being

able to see a broad view of the project to provide better ideas and spot potential issues.

Once a project was initiated, An empty room was selected and a ​client mind map​ was  created which contained all of the client’s insights. This helped the design team process

the information faster and proceed with the next steps of ideation. Post the ideation

session another mind map (​ideation mind map​) was created to showcase a refined

project idea which incorporated multiple missing facets that would otherwise impact

the success of the project. Post ideation was the research and design, we added in the

research information into the ‘ideation mind map’ and the result of the design team was

a set of wireframes organised as app flows which were placed beside the ideation mind

map and showcased the resulting output of the project.

At this stage the client, a few developers, and business development team were  brought in to look at the work in progress.

Rather than explaining the complete process and work done by the design team, we  asked the client, developers and business development team to spend a few minutes

looking at the Client mind map, then the ideation mind map and then the app flow.

This brought all the stakeholders of the project in sync with the current status of the  project, the direction and saved everyone a lot of time. We proceeded doing this at the

next few stages of the design and development cycles to ensure the complete project

journey is captured and each stakeholder is updated with the project status and

direction regardless of the time they joined the project.

Insight

During the complete process of this experiment I noticed increased efficiency, better  idea generation and a unified hive style thinking approach that is seen when

participants have spent close to 6-7 months working on the same project.

We were also able to generate ideas beyond our fields of expertise and also catch  issues that would have resulted in a lot of rework and significant loss for the client.

We had a few participants who had to keep shifting from project to project throughout  the process and they found it a lot easier to catch up with the progress and provide

useful insights during the time they spent.

Overall, I was able to open my mind and think from various other perspectives, in a way  following this process helped us to get out of our metaphorical boxes, work together

towards a common goal and this helped us provide better quality to our clients.

Approach

Next time, I would probably involve a few additional people from specific fields when  constructing and app of a particular user base. Ex - if I were to create an alternative to

facebook AD manager, I would do my research, but also include multiple digital

marketers to the team and create a custom mind map of their thoughts on an ideal

application and also involve them in ideation sessions to help refine the alternative

application even more to suit its end users.

----------Thanks for reading----------


Federation By Sara Garcia Challenge With a history of working on multiple projects I ( and assuming many others ) have faced a very peculiar conundrum throughout a project ’s creation lifecycle . Whenever a new project is executed , post an initial meeting , every team scatters and starts ideating their own version of the project which ideally roots out and grows from their areas of expertise . I.e a developer would ideate from a developer ’s POV focusing more on the technical aspects and a Business developer would do it from their POV focusing on business goals etc . The challenge here is to ensure that every team member involved in the project has a common understanding of the project regardless of their involvement at any stage of the project . The solution to this challenge seems simple on the outside yet precarious when tackled . Selection The tool selected for this challenge is Mind mapping , due to its ability to visually communicate large chunks of information in an organised manner . The tool would free up useful time which would otherwise be wasted explaining all the information to bring people up to speed . Application The approach was to create multiple mind maps at various stages which would showcase the entire project journey and ensure any participant who would join midway in the project would catch up with the least amount of time wasted , this would also ensure that each member is in sync with the final goal of the project as well while being able to see a broad view of the project to provide better ideas and spot potential issues . Once a project was initiated , An empty room was selected and a ​client mind map​ was created which contained all of the client ’s insights . This helped the design team process the information faster and proceed with the next steps of ideation . Post the ideation session another mind map ( ​ideation mind map​ ) was created to showcase a refined project idea which incorporated multiple missing facets that would otherwise impact the success of the project . Post ideation was the research and design , we added in the research information into the ‘ ideation mind map ’ and the result of the design team was a set of wireframes organised as app flows which were placed beside the ideation mind map and showcased the resulting output of the project . At this stage the client , a few developers , and business development team were brought in to look at the work in progress . Rather than explaining the complete process and work done by the design team , we asked the client , developers and business development team to spend a few minutes looking at the Client mind map , then the ideation mind map and then the app flow . This brought all the stakeholders of the project in sync with the current status of the project , the direction and saved everyone a lot of time . We proceeded doing this at the next few stages of the design and development cycles to ensure the complete project journey is captured and each stakeholder is updated with the project status and direction regardless of the time they joined the project . Insight During the complete process of this experiment I noticed increased efficiency , better idea generation and a unified hive style thinking approach that is seen when participants have spent close to 6 - 7 months working on the same project . We were also able to generate ideas beyond our fields of expertise and also catch issues that would have resulted in a lot of rework and significant loss for the client . We had a few participants who had to keep shifting from project to project throughout the process and they found it a lot easier to catch up with the progress and provide useful insights during the time they spent . Overall , I was able to open my mind and think from various other perspectives , in a way following this process helped us to get out of our metaphorical boxes , work together towards a common goal and this helped us provide better quality to our clients . Approach Next time , I would probably involve a few additional people from specific fields when constructing and app of a particular user base . Ex - if I were to create an alternative to facebook AD manager , I would do my research , but also include multiple digital marketers to the team and create a custom mind map of their thoughts on an ideal application and also involve them in ideation sessions to help refine the alternative application even more to suit its end users . ----------Thanks for reading----------