Reflection – Visualisation and optimisation – not just finding ‘the common ground’

Challenge

Exponential growth in data, the proliferation of information sources and repositories, the ever- intensifying cyber threat and more stringent legal and regulatory requirements have intensified the  criticality of robust information security across both the private and public sectors.

I am working with teams of specialist information security architects and accreditors to design new  ways of working that will allow them to satisfy this ever-increasing demand.  The teams come from  several government departments. The primary objective is to create collaborative teams working in  innovative ways to support the information security requirements of multiple government customer  groups.

The immediate challenge was not to take the ‘best elements’ of the individual teams’ current ways  of working or to coalesce around existing best practice, but to find new and innovative ways to  deliver the increasing and diversifying workload. The challenge was also to address the ‘not invented  here’ risk that could undermine innovation, progress and future implementation. [See:  Design  Thinking for Innovation > Week 4 > Strategic Opportunities > Strategic Contribution #2 (Satisficing  versus optimising).]

Selection

We had carried out a knowledge sharing exercise in which we had compared the current ways of  working of the individual teams (‘What is?’).  We had completed a short ‘what would great look and  feel like’ exercise and identified a set of high-level design criteria.  We now wanted to develop  concepts and candidate ideas that could then be assessed and tested (‘What wows?’).

Visualisation was chosen to break away from the previous mechanistic and process led discussions  and to drive a more creative way of generating new thinking and ideas. [See: Design Thinking for  Innovation > Week 1 > Visualization Tool.]

Application

Through two workshops, we examined the Information Security services the teams provide. There  was no imposed way of doing the design thinking although we had agreed we would ‘picture and  draw it’ rather than talk and then write up people’s ideas.

Using two flip charts, a large white board, marker pens and post-its and starting with a single and  common service area we depicted, with no limitations, how the service could be delivered. We had  no obvious ‘artist’ in the room, but using basic drawings, sketches and annotations the progress was  swift and unconstrained. The resulting visualisations consisted of cartoons, high-level process maps,  spider diagrams, callouts and annotations, a layered service model diagram, basic organisational  hierarchies and service timelines.

Insight

Visualisation drove and accelerated the creative process and increased team engagement. The  outputs included several potential innovative design ideas that could be considered and refined in a  ‘What wows?’ phase. The design ideas were not just a recycling of existing ways of doing work but  incorporated genuinely different ways of tackling current issues. As importantly, the resulting design

ideas were not based on an individual teams’ experiences or agendas but were developed and  owned by the whole group.

Visualisation proved to be a powerful tool: it succeeded in breaking down barriers, distancing the  past ways of working from the future and created a blank canvas onto which unconstrained designs  could be captured.  The team are now keen to use real-life business scenarios and customer  journeys to test and refine their emerging innovative design ideas before moving to prototyping.

Approach

I introduced visualisation at this point of the project to differentiate between the factual work  (assessing existing ways of working) and moving to a more creative phase thinking and focussing on  the future design (‘What is?’ to ‘What if?’). However, the potential of visualisation can be anticipated  throughout the whole design thinking and innovation journey.

A point of learning is that not everyone understands and easily interprets pictures. There is a crucial  need to embrace this diversity of thinking.  I believe that combining visualisation with storytelling  and customer scenarios would help translate pictorial representations, making them more  meaningful to a wider audience.  This in turn will provide further validation, deeper design  robustness and result in even stronger design products.


Reflection – Visualisation and optimisation – not just finding ‘ the common ground ’ Challenge Exponential growth in data , the proliferation of information sources and repositories , the ever- intensifying cyber threat and more stringent legal and regulatory requirements have intensified the criticality of robust information security across both the private and public sectors . I am working with teams of specialist information security architects and accreditors to design new ways of working that will allow them to satisfy this ever - increasing demand . The teams come from several government departments . The primary objective is to create collaborative teams working in innovative ways to support the information security requirements of multiple government customer groups . The immediate challenge was not to take the ‘ best elements ’ of the individual teams ’ current ways of working or to coalesce around existing best practice , but to find new and innovative ways to deliver the increasing and diversifying workload . The challenge was also to address the ‘ not invented here ’ risk that could undermine innovation , progress and future implementation . [ See : Design Thinking for Innovation > Week 4 > Strategic Opportunities > Strategic Contribution # 2 ( Satisficing versus optimising ) . ] Selection We had carried out a knowledge sharing exercise in which we had compared the current ways of working of the individual teams ( ‘ What is ? ’ ) . We had completed a short ‘ what would great look and feel like ’ exercise and identified a set of high - level design criteria . We now wanted to develop concepts and candidate ideas that could then be assessed and tested ( ‘ What wows ? ’ ) . Visualisation was chosen to break away from the previous mechanistic and process led discussions and to drive a more creative way of generating new thinking and ideas . [ See : Design Thinking for Innovation > Week 1 > Visualization Tool . ] Application Through two workshops , we examined the Information Security services the teams provide . There was no imposed way of doing the design thinking although we had agreed we would ‘ picture and draw it ’ rather than talk and then write up people ’s ideas . Using two flip charts , a large white board , marker pens and post - its and starting with a single and common service area we depicted , with no limitations , how the service could be delivered . We had no obvious ‘ artist ’ in the room , but using basic drawings , sketches and annotations the progress was swift and unconstrained . The resulting visualisations consisted of cartoons , high - level process maps , spider diagrams , callouts and annotations , a layered service model diagram , basic organisational hierarchies and service timelines . Insight Visualisation drove and accelerated the creative process and increased team engagement . The outputs included several potential innovative design ideas that could be considered and refined in a ‘ What wows ? ’ phase . The design ideas were not just a recycling of existing ways of doing work but incorporated genuinely different ways of tackling current issues . As importantly , the resulting design ideas were not based on an individual teams ’ experiences or agendas but were developed and owned by the whole group . Visualisation proved to be a powerful tool : it succeeded in breaking down barriers , distancing the past ways of working from the future and created a blank canvas onto which unconstrained designs could be captured . The team are now keen to use real - life business scenarios and customer journeys to test and refine their emerging innovative design ideas before moving to prototyping . Approach I introduced visualisation at this point of the project to differentiate between the factual work ( assessing existing ways of working ) and moving to a more creative phase thinking and focussing on the future design ( ‘ What is ? ’ to ‘ What if ? ’ ) . However , the potential of visualisation can be anticipated throughout the whole design thinking and innovation journey . A point of learning is that not everyone understands and easily interprets pictures . There is a crucial need to embrace this diversity of thinking . I believe that combining visualisation with storytelling and customer scenarios would help translate pictorial representations , making them more meaningful to a wider audience . This in turn will provide further validation , deeper design robustness and result in even stronger design products .