Challenge:    The leadership team of the firm I work for had agreed on the priorities and strategy for leveraging  technology to realise business goals. As the strategy was a multi-year journey and involved  orchestrating multiple levers simultaneously, they wanted to (1) put in place a scorecard to ensure we  are closely monitor and demonstrate the execution of strategy as intended and (2) facilitate a  consistent understanding of success (up to 4 levels from the top).    As a starting point we had the following sources of information – A rich description of strategy and list  of primary metrics to be used; Audit reports providing insights into the expectation of stakeholders as  regulators; Previously used dashboards for similar purposes    Selection    After having looked at previous dashboards and speaking to various user groups- I observed   gaps and tensions between how user groups/stakeholders reasoned about the strategy and  associated metrics in their own contexts.  Some examples include – high level synthesis vs. ability to  drill down; snapshot of current performance vs. forward looking predictions; One metric at a time vs.  evaluate the interaction of multiple metrics at the same time. It was clear that refreshing previous  dashboard templates with data for new metrics was not an option.    I knew a dashboard was required but not sure about the form and interface necessary to strike the  right balance between the interpretation and expectation of user groups regarding the strategy. This  involved first making their mental models as explicit as possible (see week 1 interview)and using them  as building blocks to develop a common mental model that everyone can use to manage the execution  of strategy. Hence, I chose visualisation/visual thinking as a tool.    Application:     I created the following material to be used during 2-3 workshops (we called them road shows) per  heterogenous group of stakeholders:

§  Dummy visual charts (e.g., line, bar pie etc) for the metrics using dummy data.

§  Metrics journey for key metrics based on interviews with user group, i.e., the different paths  of reasoning a user group is likely to take starting with a metric

§  Expected hypotheses between metrics derived from strategy. E.g- “Overtime as the % of  mature engineers increases, we should also expect an increase in release frequency”

During the online workshops, initially a walkthrough of charts and metrics journey was done, and the  forum was left open for reactions or suggestions on metric journeys. The inputs from various  workshops were synthesised in recurring interaction patterns depending on the type (e.g., % vs.  actuals) or view (e.g., time series vs. distribution) of metric. Similarly, the statements of expected  correlations were ratified, and the users were requested to suggest/draw how they would visualise  them. This resulted in a revised set of metrics journeys and a set of new correlation views which was  never used before in the organisation in this context(insight).      Approach:  Considering the stakeholder group and problem at hand, I think visual thinking was best  suited. Although I did manage this using online workshops, In future I would enough through  to using the right collaboration tools- screen shares with excel/ppt has their limits.


Challenge : The leadership team of the firm I work for had agreed on the priorities and strategy for leveraging technology to realise business goals . As the strategy was a multi - year journey and involved orchestrating multiple levers simultaneously , they wanted to ( 1 ) put in place a scorecard to ensure we are closely monitor and demonstrate the execution of strategy as intended and ( 2 ) facilitate a consistent understanding of success ( up to 4 levels from the top ) . As a starting point we had the following sources of information – A rich description of strategy and list of primary metrics to be used ; Audit reports providing insights into the expectation of stakeholders as regulators ; Previously used dashboards for similar purposes Selection After having looked at previous dashboards and speaking to various user groups- I observed gaps and tensions between how user groups / stakeholders reasoned about the strategy and associated metrics in their own contexts . Some examples include – high level synthesis vs. ability to drill down ; snapshot of current performance vs. forward looking predictions ; One metric at a time vs. evaluate the interaction of multiple metrics at the same time . It was clear that refreshing previous dashboard templates with data for new metrics was not an option . I knew a dashboard was required but not sure about the form and interface necessary to strike the right balance between the interpretation and expectation of user groups regarding the strategy . This involved first making their mental models as explicit as possible ( see week 1 interview)and using them as building blocks to develop a common mental model that everyone can use to manage the execution of strategy . Hence , I chose visualisation / visual thinking as a tool . Application : I created the following material to be used during 2 - 3 workshops ( we called them road shows ) per heterogenous group of stakeholders : § Dummy visual charts ( e.g. , line , bar pie etc ) for the metrics using dummy data . § Metrics journey for key metrics based on interviews with user group , i.e. , the different paths of reasoning a user group is likely to take starting with a metric § Expected hypotheses between metrics derived from strategy . E.g- “ Overtime as the % of mature engineers increases , we should also expect an increase in release frequency ” During the online workshops , initially a walkthrough of charts and metrics journey was done , and the forum was left open for reactions or suggestions on metric journeys . The inputs from various workshops were synthesised in recurring interaction patterns depending on the type ( e.g. , % vs. actuals ) or view ( e.g. , time series vs. distribution ) of metric . Similarly , the statements of expected correlations were ratified , and the users were requested to suggest / draw how they would visualise them . This resulted in a revised set of metrics journeys and a set of new correlation views which was never used before in the organisation in this context(insight ) . Approach : Considering the stakeholder group and problem at hand , I think visual thinking was best suited . Although I did manage this using online workshops , In future I would enough through to using the right collaboration tools- screen shares with excel / ppt has their limits .