Challenges and Selection

One of the most influential tool of design thinking is storytelling and I realised its impact recently  when I used this when I was working with a Disaster Management company which needed a  strategic planning to deal with emotional and physical loss of victims and tracking relevant data of  population, land and extent of destruction. As we know, it’s hard for victims to answer important  questions at that time as they were in a mental state of abandonment and loneliness and all they  need is someone to motivate them. In scenario like this storytelling plays a crucial role. I tried to put  up very inspirational story of various states which have faced the same so that I can understand their  thought process and build up a strategic plan to relocate them as soon as possible. What’s most  challenging is to assure them sense of security in future by government schemes without knowing  extent of fallout which varies person to person.

Application:

Particularly in case of floods which is common in northern part of my country, we devised the  strategy of awareness, educating and sympathizing with the people. This procedure includes three  different scenarios:

1. People who living in regions close to flood prone areas- Awareness through storytelling-

(preparing them how to act and help when situation gets worse.)

2. People who are living in areas prone to flood- educating through storytelling- (what to do

much before the impact of flood and reading the signs)

3. People who are currently facing the problem. Helping/sympathising through storytelling.

The elaborate plan includes more than 10 million stakeholders and 1000 government officials with  various ground workers and many others. It turned out that we can reduce the loss of lives and  property by 30% which is significantly big number. We were able to observe that people retaliate by  giving their full support and in order to continuously grow we took feedbacks, from the stakeholders  as well as supporting staffs. This not only increased the sense of engagement but also results in  producing better ideas.

Approach:

What we considered the foremost part of the whole process is that, we will decide to approach a  given problem on the level of uncertainty by keeping an open mind about new possibilities not  depend on any hardcore rules, at the same time we relied on weather’s statistics, land quality,  Population density, per person’s average income and the level of risk. Even after considering all  these factors into account there was a broad scope of failures and errors. In order to avoid this we  have done reality checks so that ratio of resources invested did not get too far ahead of knowledge  possessed and statistics.

Insight:

This new approach of seeing disaster as an opportunity to serve people through design thinking tools  helps me develop new perspective in my own life. It not only impacted victims of flood but also

taught government officials to play as a team. What I realised is that there’s a big role of  communication technology in this. Biggest setbacks came in this project is due to lack of networks.

So, In future this is one of the field on which we have to ponder upon. In scenerios like this mind  mapping fails but tools like brainstorming, cocreating, storytelling and experimentation helps a lot.  This course helps me gain confidence and make me realise the importance of small skills which leads  to greater impact.


Challenges and Selection One of the most influential tool of design thinking is storytelling and I realised its impact recently when I used this when I was working with a Disaster Management company which needed a strategic planning to deal with emotional and physical loss of victims and tracking relevant data of population , land and extent of destruction . As we know , it ’s hard for victims to answer important questions at that time as they were in a mental state of abandonment and loneliness and all they need is someone to motivate them . In scenario like this storytelling plays a crucial role . I tried to put up very inspirational story of various states which have faced the same so that I can understand their thought process and build up a strategic plan to relocate them as soon as possible . What ’s most challenging is to assure them sense of security in future by government schemes without knowing extent of fallout which varies person to person . Application : Particularly in case of floods which is common in northern part of my country , we devised the strategy of awareness , educating and sympathizing with the people . This procedure includes three different scenarios : 1 . People who living in regions close to flood prone areas- Awareness through storytelling- ( preparing them how to act and help when situation gets worse . ) 2 . People who are living in areas prone to flood- educating through storytelling- ( what to do much before the impact of flood and reading the signs ) 3 . People who are currently facing the problem . Helping / sympathising through storytelling . The elaborate plan includes more than 10 million stakeholders and 1000 government officials with various ground workers and many others . It turned out that we can reduce the loss of lives and property by 30 % which is significantly big number . We were able to observe that people retaliate by giving their full support and in order to continuously grow we took feedbacks , from the stakeholders as well as supporting staffs . This not only increased the sense of engagement but also results in producing better ideas . Approach : What we considered the foremost part of the whole process is that , we will decide to approach a given problem on the level of uncertainty by keeping an open mind about new possibilities not depend on any hardcore rules , at the same time we relied on weather ’s statistics , land quality , Population density , per person ’s average income and the level of risk . Even after considering all these factors into account there was a broad scope of failures and errors . In order to avoid this we have done reality checks so that ratio of resources invested did not get too far ahead of knowledge possessed and statistics . Insight : This new approach of seeing disaster as an opportunity to serve people through design thinking tools helps me develop new perspective in my own life . It not only impacted victims of flood but also taught government officials to play as a team . What I realised is that there ’s a big role of communication technology in this . Biggest setbacks came in this project is due to lack of networks . So , In future this is one of the field on which we have to ponder upon . In scenerios like this mind mapping fails but tools like brainstorming , cocreating , storytelling and experimentation helps a lot . This course helps me gain confidence and make me realise the importance of small skills which leads to greater impact .