For this assignment I would like to explain how we used Mind Mapping as part of the tools to  re-define the activities of my department.  I work in the Project Management department in a big company. The way we are currently  organized is with one project manager assigned to a project; normally we will work as part of  the project team full time for a period of time, and sometimes we can support more than one  project at the same time.  Due to the current situation, we are facing challenges about the quantity of projects we can  support. This lead us to the question of how to be more efficient and focus our efforts on the  activities that will provide more value added to our internal customers.    To start this process we did some brainstorming in the department to identify the activities that  each of us is currently doing in our respective projects. We also conducted some interviews  with our main stakeholders, as well as with potential customers (people we are not supporting  in this moment but would eventually be interested in having the support).  After this exercise, we end up with a big list of activities and we decided to use the Mind  Mapping technique to identify the big subjects and to organize the information in a way that  can be used for further decisions.    In the current context a physical workshop was not feasible, so we organize a series of virtual  working sessions of 2 hours each. We invited the people that participated in the initial  brainstorming and interviews, but also some experienced people to get an external point of  view to help us to “think out of the box”.  During the first the workshop we presented all the activities that we have identified and briefly  review them to the team to ensure we all had the same understanding. We then asked them  to add/ complete with any activities they think are missing and also with any ideas they may  have.  For the second workshop we asked the participants to work in small teams to create clusters,  which were then review and agreed with all participants together.This allowed us to identify the  main “families” of activities where the support was required, as well as some points that were  important to the users.  In the third workshop we started from the families that we had previously identified and asked  the team to think about the best way to support this activities, for example a PM Office  supporting several projects, individual project manager assigned to a team, or coaching to the  project team members on how to do it. An idea that also arise was that for some kind of  activities, even if the activities are the same, there are other factors that would determine the  kind of support needed.   As an outcome of the workshops, we defined some alternative ways of organizing our support,  and next steps including defining criteria for deciding best support for a given project.   We also collected ideas from the team not directly related to the subject of activities but that  we will explore how to integrate in the definition of the solution.    I would say Mind Mapping was a useful tool in our case to organize the information we had,  and also to involve the people that would be affected by the changes. It allowed us to capitalize  in the experience of the participants and also to make the participants feel part of the team,  which I think will help us with buy-in once the new way of working will be defined.    It was challenging to do the workshops in remote way, especially when we asked the  participants to work in small teams; however it was managed and at the end we got very good  information.  Something that I would probably do different is the distribution of the small teams, to ensure  each team includes all different kind of stakeholders and specially one external person to  ensure different points of view are included.

Once we have processed all the information and defined some alternatives for our new ways  of working, I would like to use the Learning Launch tool to test and refine these solutions, and  I would definitely try to use Mind Mapping again since I found it to be a very powerful tool.


For this assignment I would like to explain how we used Mind Mapping as part of the tools to re - define the activities of my department . I work in the Project Management department in a big company . The way we are currently organized is with one project manager assigned to a project ; normally we will work as part of the project team full time for a period of time , and sometimes we can support more than one project at the same time . Due to the current situation , we are facing challenges about the quantity of projects we can support . This lead us to the question of how to be more efficient and focus our efforts on the activities that will provide more value added to our internal customers . To start this process we did some brainstorming in the department to identify the activities that each of us is currently doing in our respective projects . We also conducted some interviews with our main stakeholders , as well as with potential customers ( people we are not supporting in this moment but would eventually be interested in having the support ) . After this exercise , we end up with a big list of activities and we decided to use the Mind Mapping technique to identify the big subjects and to organize the information in a way that can be used for further decisions . In the current context a physical workshop was not feasible , so we organize a series of virtual working sessions of 2 hours each . We invited the people that participated in the initial brainstorming and interviews , but also some experienced people to get an external point of view to help us to “ think out of the box ” . During the first the workshop we presented all the activities that we have identified and briefly review them to the team to ensure we all had the same understanding . We then asked them to add/ complete with any activities they think are missing and also with any ideas they may have . For the second workshop we asked the participants to work in small teams to create clusters , which were then review and agreed with all participants together . This allowed us to identify the main “ families ” of activities where the support was required , as well as some points that were important to the users . In the third workshop we started from the families that we had previously identified and asked the team to think about the best way to support this activities , for example a PM Office supporting several projects , individual project manager assigned to a team , or coaching to the project team members on how to do it . An idea that also arise was that for some kind of activities , even if the activities are the same , there are other factors that would determine the kind of support needed . As an outcome of the workshops , we defined some alternative ways of organizing our support , and next steps including defining criteria for deciding best support for a given project . We also collected ideas from the team not directly related to the subject of activities but that we will explore how to integrate in the definition of the solution . I would say Mind Mapping was a useful tool in our case to organize the information we had , and also to involve the people that would be affected by the changes . It allowed us to capitalize in the experience of the participants and also to make the participants feel part of the team , which I think will help us with buy - in once the new way of working will be defined . It was challenging to do the workshops in remote way , especially when we asked the participants to work in small teams ; however it was managed and at the end we got very good information . Something that I would probably do different is the distribution of the small teams , to ensure each team includes all different kind of stakeholders and specially one external person to ensure different points of view are included . Once we have processed all the information and defined some alternatives for our new ways of working , I would like to use the Learning Launch tool to test and refine these solutions , and I would definitely try to use Mind Mapping again since I found it to be a very powerful tool .