Reflection – Visualization

Challenge & Selection    I support my organization’s Dispatch Strategy and Automation projects. We want to improve the  holistic dispatch experience for both the customer and the technician to plan appointment capacity  more effectively, increase efficiency in the technician’s work day, and provide a better customer user  interface experience. The team consisted of leadership from the dispatch department, the field  operations team, the project/process support teams, and the technical development teams. The tool  we used was Journey Mapping, which was very effective to set the tone for the solution stage. Our  team has already used several visualization tools. We prepared a space on the wall and Wrote out the  Problem Statements & developed the Personas of the Customer, the Technician and the dispatch  center agent. This helped to keep everyone focused on what the goal was. We were ready to move to  the Journey Mapping and Solution Stage.        Application    We started by looking at the Day in the Life for the customer, the technician, and the agent. We  mapped out on a visual board a specific transaction and mapped out the Steps, the technology used,  the channels of communication, the customers thoughts and feelings, and the influential factors of  those actions and feelings. I divided the participants into two teams. One team looked at Repair  (existing customers needing a repair) and the other team looked at Installation orders (new  customers). There were about 10 people in each team. Each group was given a large whiteboard, sticky  notes, and markers. They were instructed to use the sticky notes to map out the process, the  tasks/actions, and feelings of each persona. I give the teams 30 minutes to complete this task. Then on  one part of the board (see attached pic), they were asked to mark if the customer, tech or agent was  happy, sad, or indifferent within each step. At the end of the activity, I took a marker and charted the  experience for each persona. This demonstrated the high/low feelings that all personas feel about this  experience throughout one single transaction with our company.

Insight & Approach    What I learned from this exercise: The visualization reinforced the teams’ assumptions of the problem  and we gained new insights on other root causes such as identifying system constraints, redundancies  in the process and unnecessary processes. It was also particularly interesting to see the overlay of the  persona/feelings as it tied the human-centered experience directly back to the process and the output  at the solution stage. One approach that I was conflicted about…I realize that having leadership  participate in these sessions is important as they are stakeholders in this; however, sometimes it can  stifle creativity. In the solution stage, I found that many ideas didn’t make it to the collaboration wall  because they were shut down with the “that’s not going to work” comment. I think I would change my  approach by limiting the leadership attendance in the next session to allow for the creative minds to  collaborate.   My next challenge is to figure out a way to convince my team to spend more time in the prototype  stage and include more user experience testing. We often rush our solutions to market with an agile  approach. Often, we don’t involve the user experience piece on the tool we develop.     All in All, this was a great experience for myself and the team. Many conversations about the future  and new ideas were birthed from this exercise.


Reflection – Visualization Challenge & Selection I support my organization ’s Dispatch Strategy and Automation projects . We want to improve the holistic dispatch experience for both the customer and the technician to plan appointment capacity more effectively , increase efficiency in the technician ’s work day , and provide a better customer user interface experience . The team consisted of leadership from the dispatch department , the field operations team , the project / process support teams , and the technical development teams . The tool we used was Journey Mapping , which was very effective to set the tone for the solution stage . Our team has already used several visualization tools . We prepared a space on the wall and Wrote out the Problem Statements & developed the Personas of the Customer , the Technician and the dispatch center agent . This helped to keep everyone focused on what the goal was . We were ready to move to the Journey Mapping and Solution Stage . Application We started by looking at the Day in the Life for the customer , the technician , and the agent . We mapped out on a visual board a specific transaction and mapped out the Steps , the technology used , the channels of communication , the customers thoughts and feelings , and the influential factors of those actions and feelings . I divided the participants into two teams . One team looked at Repair ( existing customers needing a repair ) and the other team looked at Installation orders ( new customers ) . There were about 10 people in each team . Each group was given a large whiteboard , sticky notes , and markers . They were instructed to use the sticky notes to map out the process , the tasks / actions , and feelings of each persona . I give the teams 30 minutes to complete this task . Then on one part of the board ( see attached pic ) , they were asked to mark if the customer , tech or agent was happy , sad , or indifferent within each step . At the end of the activity , I took a marker and charted the experience for each persona . This demonstrated the high / low feelings that all personas feel about this experience throughout one single transaction with our company . Insight & Approach What I learned from this exercise : The visualization reinforced the teams ’ assumptions of the problem and we gained new insights on other root causes such as identifying system constraints , redundancies in the process and unnecessary processes . It was also particularly interesting to see the overlay of the persona / feelings as it tied the human - centered experience directly back to the process and the output at the solution stage . One approach that I was conflicted about … I realize that having leadership participate in these sessions is important as they are stakeholders in this ; however , sometimes it can stifle creativity . In the solution stage , I found that many ideas did n’t make it to the collaboration wall because they were shut down with the “ that ’s not going to work ” comment . I think I would change my approach by limiting the leadership attendance in the next session to allow for the creative minds to collaborate . My next challenge is to figure out a way to convince my team to spend more time in the prototype stage and include more user experience testing . We often rush our solutions to market with an agile approach . Often , we do n’t involve the user experience piece on the tool we develop . All in All , this was a great experience for myself and the team . Many conversations about the future and new ideas were birthed from this exercise .