Reflection - Mind Mapping

Challenge & Selection    I work in an area of Research and Development of cosmetic company. Recently I  received a challenge from our commercial team that the sales of our main deodorant  line was decreasing and we are receiving some consumer’s complains that the product  were not fit and attend their needs.   In front of this scenario, I decided to use the mind mapping to help us to create  creative and innovative solutions based on our customer’s minds and needs. Mind  Mapping is a very important tool used in design thinking project/approach that allow  us to create robust design criteria that will be very important for us in the generation  phase.       Application    For the mind mapping realization, I invited a multidisciplinary team around 16 people,  from different ages, genders, areas (marketing, research and development,  commercial, sales, consumer market insights, purchasing, operations, logistic and etc).  The event was designed for one afternoon duration.  First I booked a large meeting room. Based on our internal researchs and information  as: Customers journey, Ethnographic interview, Formal quantitative datas and etc, I  fixed all this kind of information and source of inspiration in the walls (in advanced of  the event).   The kick off started with all attendees doing a tour in the meeting room and toke note  (in a stick paper) about all insights/ new ideas, based on the fixed information in the  walls. After that, all participants had a time to review their own notes, then I divided  the 16 people in 4 groups of 4 people (mixing again the areas and so one).  The next activity started with one participant of one group reading their note and fix in  the clear wall (wall dedicated for this step), then the other participant for other group  did the same.   PS: As soon as we identified similarity we started to do a clusterization of the notes.  After everybody have shared all notes, we did a review in cluster doing connection and  alignments based on our core challenge, we dedicated also a space for the outliers’  insights that could not fit with this challenge, but might be useful for other project.  To finalize the activity, we did a translation of the insights into design criteria  (conditions) that was used in the generation phase.       Insight & Approach     Using the mind mapping the team was able to identify very creatives and unique  insights, that using a conventional approach we probably won’t achieve.

Additionally, it was the first time that we worked in a multidisciplinary team for a  common objective and put the customers need and problem as main challenge, this  was a great evolution in the company mind set way of work.   Using this approach, we could also to think and create insights in all fields, due to the  contribution and participation of the stakeholders involved in this project.  After that, we moved forward to the generation phase and the follow steps much  more prepared and confident, because the insights and design criteria that we created  were really robust and very creative.  In the end, this start point allowed us to create a disruptive solution that helped the  sales increase of the deodorant.  For the next challenges we are planning to continue use the mind mapping tool, but  we realized the some adjusts will be necessary, as an agency or some people that are  not direct involved in the project to mediate the activity, because once the people are  not direct involved they are neutral and can contribute more for the coordination.  Besides that, the presence of a multidisciplinary team are mandatory.  Design Thinking is pretty new inside the company, but showing positives results I’m  really confident that we will use it more and more.


Reflection - Mind Mapping Challenge & Selection I work in an area of Research and Development of cosmetic company . Recently I received a challenge from our commercial team that the sales of our main deodorant line was decreasing and we are receiving some consumer ’s complains that the product were not fit and attend their needs . In front of this scenario , I decided to use the mind mapping to help us to create creative and innovative solutions based on our customer ’s minds and needs . Mind Mapping is a very important tool used in design thinking project / approach that allow us to create robust design criteria that will be very important for us in the generation phase . Application For the mind mapping realization , I invited a multidisciplinary team around 16 people , from different ages , genders , areas ( marketing , research and development , commercial , sales , consumer market insights , purchasing , operations , logistic and etc ) . The event was designed for one afternoon duration . First I booked a large meeting room . Based on our internal researchs and information as : Customers journey , Ethnographic interview , Formal quantitative datas and etc , I fixed all this kind of information and source of inspiration in the walls ( in advanced of the event ) . The kick off started with all attendees doing a tour in the meeting room and toke note ( in a stick paper ) about all insights/ new ideas , based on the fixed information in the walls . After that , all participants had a time to review their own notes , then I divided the 16 people in 4 groups of 4 people ( mixing again the areas and so one ) . The next activity started with one participant of one group reading their note and fix in the clear wall ( wall dedicated for this step ) , then the other participant for other group did the same . PS : As soon as we identified similarity we started to do a clusterization of the notes . After everybody have shared all notes , we did a review in cluster doing connection and alignments based on our core challenge , we dedicated also a space for the outliers ’ insights that could not fit with this challenge , but might be useful for other project . To finalize the activity , we did a translation of the insights into design criteria ( conditions ) that was used in the generation phase . Insight & Approach Using the mind mapping the team was able to identify very creatives and unique insights , that using a conventional approach we probably wo n’t achieve . Additionally , it was the first time that we worked in a multidisciplinary team for a common objective and put the customers need and problem as main challenge , this was a great evolution in the company mind set way of work . Using this approach , we could also to think and create insights in all fields , due to the contribution and participation of the stakeholders involved in this project . After that , we moved forward to the generation phase and the follow steps much more prepared and confident , because the insights and design criteria that we created were really robust and very creative . In the end , this start point allowed us to create a disruptive solution that helped the sales increase of the deodorant . For the next challenges we are planning to continue use the mind mapping tool , but we realized the some adjusts will be necessary , as an agency or some people that are not direct involved in the project to mediate the activity , because once the people are not direct involved they are neutral and can contribute more for the coordination . Besides that , the presence of a multidisciplinary team are mandatory . Design Thinking is pretty new inside the company , but showing positives results I ’m really confident that we will use it more and more .