Reflection: Visualization

Challenge and Selection: In a growing team of 100 plus individuals, it was realized that there was a need  for one single platform/portal to enhance the communication and collaboration within the team and to  share ideas, information and make the knowledge available on a single platform. The critical information  and best practices from the project were just sticking within the teams and a common medium was  missing to disseminate the information to the wider audience.

A brainstorming session was held with a varied mix of stakeholders at different levels in the hierarchy  from the top management to the consultants to discuss the challenge more broadly and to identify the  possible solution. The group constitutes the heterogenous mix of people to get a varied array of opinions.

Visualization or Visual Thinking tool was used to bring together the team of around 20 to discuss the  challenge and derive the possible solution. We used the tool called whitespace, which is an internally  developed tool to collaborate and collect ideas with a group of people. The tool offers space to write and  place ideas in the form of Post-its and drawing options to bring the creativity out while solving the  challenge.

The exercise was conducted based on the reference taken from the visualization tool explained during  week 1 of the course with the example of The Good Kitchen Story

Application: At the onset of the session, the agenda was discussed, and plan was presented for the  conduct of the session. The initial time is spent in discussing the current mode of sharing the information  and challenges they are facing if any. It was discussed that the productivity is affected amongst smaller  teams due to the lack of one proper medium, transparency is also an issue and streamlined collaboration  is missing. Post this discussion, a poll was taken to identify whether it’s a good idea to introduce the one

Visual tool used - Whitespace

common portal and majority has responded favorably. The left side of the above image depicts the  scenario of identifying problem statement and polling done.

Idea Generation: Visualization was used for idea generation, one idea per post-it with a time duration of  15 minutes. The white space on the right side was used, the team was told to post at least 2 ideas, one  idea per post-it on how a portal should look like and what content should it hold to enhance the  productivity, collaboration and communication.

Variety of ideas were received spreading across the whitespace, clustering was used to group the ideas of  similar nature under one cluster and concluded with 3 clusters with the below labels:

Information: Including each (sub) team’s service portfolio, offerings and capabilities

Repository: Project deliverables and best practices

Communication: Regular updates on upcoming events like townhalls and knowledge around rewards and  recognition.

Each cluster has around 12-15 ideas and in order the choose the best ideas for implementation, a poll was  conducted.  Team was asked to use the drawing tool and place the dot at the idea they liked the most and  they can select max 2 ideas under each cluster.  I then prioritize the idea based on maximum votes  received and decided to keep 2 ideas per cluster and concluded with total of 6 ideas to implement for the  portal. Visualization activity is the best way to bring the sample team together and to collect the ideas in  real time.

Insight: What I learnt from conducting this exercise is that I can have everyone’s opinion on the table at  one go within a short span of time and a large pool of individuals can be easily managed with a simple  visualization technique and with a tool like whitespace. The activity is more enjoyable and interactive with  a technique like visualization.

I have been able to cover the what is and what if part of design thinking process with this collaboration  activity.

Approach: visualization tool brought the best collaborative experience with the team members. That gave  the ability to write ideas effectively and to vote for the best idea with a simple visualization trick. I would  also like to use the learning launch tool to solve a business problem with the help of hypothesis and test  the assumptions backed by relevant set of data.


Reflection : Visualization Challenge and Selection : In a growing team of 100 plus individuals , it was realized that there was a need for one single platform / portal to enhance the communication and collaboration within the team and to share ideas , information and make the knowledge available on a single platform . The critical information and best practices from the project were just sticking within the teams and a common medium was missing to disseminate the information to the wider audience . A brainstorming session was held with a varied mix of stakeholders at different levels in the hierarchy from the top management to the consultants to discuss the challenge more broadly and to identify the possible solution . The group constitutes the heterogenous mix of people to get a varied array of opinions . Visualization or Visual Thinking tool was used to bring together the team of around 20 to discuss the challenge and derive the possible solution . We used the tool called whitespace , which is an internally developed tool to collaborate and collect ideas with a group of people . The tool offers space to write and place ideas in the form of Post - its and drawing options to bring the creativity out while solving the challenge . The exercise was conducted based on the reference taken from the visualization tool explained during week 1 of the course with the example of The Good Kitchen Story Application : At the onset of the session , the agenda was discussed , and plan was presented for the conduct of the session . The initial time is spent in discussing the current mode of sharing the information and challenges they are facing if any . It was discussed that the productivity is affected amongst smaller teams due to the lack of one proper medium , transparency is also an issue and streamlined collaboration is missing . Post this discussion , a poll was taken to identify whether it ’s a good idea to introduce the one Visual tool used - Whitespace common portal and majority has responded favorably . The left side of the above image depicts the scenario of identifying problem statement and polling done . Idea Generation : Visualization was used for idea generation , one idea per post - it with a time duration of 15 minutes . The white space on the right side was used , the team was told to post at least 2 ideas , one idea per post - it on how a portal should look like and what content should it hold to enhance the productivity , collaboration and communication . Variety of ideas were received spreading across the whitespace , clustering was used to group the ideas of similar nature under one cluster and concluded with 3 clusters with the below labels : Information : Including each ( sub ) team ’s service portfolio , offerings and capabilities Repository : Project deliverables and best practices Communication : Regular updates on upcoming events like townhalls and knowledge around rewards and recognition . Each cluster has around 12 - 15 ideas and in order the choose the best ideas for implementation , a poll was conducted . Team was asked to use the drawing tool and place the dot at the idea they liked the most and they can select max 2 ideas under each cluster . I then prioritize the idea based on maximum votes received and decided to keep 2 ideas per cluster and concluded with total of 6 ideas to implement for the portal . Visualization activity is the best way to bring the sample team together and to collect the ideas in real time . Insight : What I learnt from conducting this exercise is that I can have everyone ’s opinion on the table at one go within a short span of time and a large pool of individuals can be easily managed with a simple visualization technique and with a tool like whitespace . The activity is more enjoyable and interactive with a technique like visualization . I have been able to cover the what is and what if part of design thinking process with this collaboration activity . Approach : visualization tool brought the best collaborative experience with the team members . That gave the ability to write ideas effectively and to vote for the best idea with a simple visualization trick . I would also like to use the learning launch tool to solve a business problem with the help of hypothesis and test the assumptions backed by relevant set of data .