Reflection - Mind Mapping tool for IT Product Managers

Challenge

As a product manager, my primary role was to build technology solutions for my healthcare businesses  that cater to payment integrity business for pre pay due diligence and post pay recovery of additional  amount paid to hospitals/clinics during claim settlement lifecycle. My primary interaction was with  business leaders and managers. A set pattern of requirement gathering, documentation, workflow  creation and cross application impacts have to be identified before actually handling over these to  engineers to build it. The pattern that most of the software requirements that used to come to our  technology teams was primarily defined in terms of short wins like automating manual effort to save  time that are predominantly “what they want”. Also, the requirements given to me were primarily the  inferences that a manager could make around the problem faced by his team while using an application.   I still need to identify opportunities to save time and effort, and increase the ability of analyst to process  claims accurately and faster while engaging with currently available software solutions.

Selection

The need was to understand the analysts and the current basket of software solutions to not only solve  the business problem, but also make sure analysts are able to do the job with limited human  intervention, and better automated outcomes for them to make faster decisions. The plan was to do  mind mapping to identify insights and patterns around the work they do, the data and available  solutions that an analysts is exposed to during his day to day job. This would help in knowing beyond  what I already know, and also build perspective for me and other stakeholders.

Application

I had started to deep dive and engage with the analyst, clinical coders and cash recovery posters who  have tight timelines and work really hard to meet the service level agreements for reviewing claims.  During the analyst shadowing sessions, I decided to capture the day in life of analyst as his user journey.  The steps were complex, redundant and time consuming for them, and the end result they get for the  huge amount of time they spent could be reduced drastically. Most of the days, the analyst had to  follow set steps to get the data for his work. Also, juggling between multiple applications for information  and data collection was fairly tedious. The inferences that had to be made based on business rules did  not exist in common platform. After completing the given insurance claims inventory, the analyst had to  publish his work manually into separate portal for administrative tracking only. The analysts opened up  about their problems and gave suggestions, why they want it and how it could benefit others also.  I also  offered them to share a dream feature or capability that the application could do, to make their life  better. All these inputs were noted diligently. This journey of getting firsthand information, details of  activities, data, and outcomes became crucial hangers in creating the mind map.

Insight and Approach

The close engagement with analyst helped in creating broad perspective of workflow as well building  better understanding of business and responsibilities of the analyst. The mind mapping capability helped  me to jot down the day in life of user, the current application and information portfolio, and what the  analysts thinks about the work with available set of applications. Most importantly, I was able to fetch  relevant details from available information and paint a picture that helped all stakeholders to come on  same page. Further discussions with these stakeholders were now more meaningful and focused around  a common specific paint points and opportunities. This also helped me to highlight the data and usability  challenges which did not have direct revenue impact, but convinced stakeholders around projected time  savings it could bring to an analyst as well as organization. Mind Mapping is a great tool to deep dive as  well as build broader perspective. Most importantly, it helped me to build my use cases and prioritize  them with business in order of benefits and value it generates for business and stakeholders.

This course made me understand and apply the tools and techniques more systematically. Earlier I was  putting up my questions but unable to clearly join the dots and paint the picture and missed key focus  areas. Going forward, while utilizing the mind mapping capability, I would also offer the users some  questionnaires that could be answered so that I can fetch in more inputs and perspectives, and also help  me pull data backed insights.


Reflection - Mind Mapping tool for IT Product Managers Challenge As a product manager , my primary role was to build technology solutions for my healthcare businesses that cater to payment integrity business for pre pay due diligence and post pay recovery of additional amount paid to hospitals / clinics during claim settlement lifecycle . My primary interaction was with business leaders and managers . A set pattern of requirement gathering , documentation , workflow creation and cross application impacts have to be identified before actually handling over these to engineers to build it . The pattern that most of the software requirements that used to come to our technology teams was primarily defined in terms of short wins like automating manual effort to save time that are predominantly “ what they want ” . Also , the requirements given to me were primarily the inferences that a manager could make around the problem faced by his team while using an application . I still need to identify opportunities to save time and effort , and increase the ability of analyst to process claims accurately and faster while engaging with currently available software solutions . Selection The need was to understand the analysts and the current basket of software solutions to not only solve the business problem , but also make sure analysts are able to do the job with limited human intervention , and better automated outcomes for them to make faster decisions . The plan was to do mind mapping to identify insights and patterns around the work they do , the data and available solutions that an analysts is exposed to during his day to day job . This would help in knowing beyond what I already know , and also build perspective for me and other stakeholders . Application I had started to deep dive and engage with the analyst , clinical coders and cash recovery posters who have tight timelines and work really hard to meet the service level agreements for reviewing claims . During the analyst shadowing sessions , I decided to capture the day in life of analyst as his user journey . The steps were complex , redundant and time consuming for them , and the end result they get for the huge amount of time they spent could be reduced drastically . Most of the days , the analyst had to follow set steps to get the data for his work . Also , juggling between multiple applications for information and data collection was fairly tedious . The inferences that had to be made based on business rules did not exist in common platform . After completing the given insurance claims inventory , the analyst had to publish his work manually into separate portal for administrative tracking only . The analysts opened up about their problems and gave suggestions , why they want it and how it could benefit others also . I also offered them to share a dream feature or capability that the application could do , to make their life better . All these inputs were noted diligently . This journey of getting firsthand information , details of activities , data , and outcomes became crucial hangers in creating the mind map . Insight and Approach The close engagement with analyst helped in creating broad perspective of workflow as well building better understanding of business and responsibilities of the analyst . The mind mapping capability helped me to jot down the day in life of user , the current application and information portfolio , and what the analysts thinks about the work with available set of applications . Most importantly , I was able to fetch relevant details from available information and paint a picture that helped all stakeholders to come on same page . Further discussions with these stakeholders were now more meaningful and focused around a common specific paint points and opportunities . This also helped me to highlight the data and usability challenges which did not have direct revenue impact , but convinced stakeholders around projected time savings it could bring to an analyst as well as organization . Mind Mapping is a great tool to deep dive as well as build broader perspective . Most importantly , it helped me to build my use cases and prioritize them with business in order of benefits and value it generates for business and stakeholders . This course made me understand and apply the tools and techniques more systematically . Earlier I was putting up my questions but unable to clearly join the dots and paint the picture and missed key focus areas . Going forward , while utilizing the mind mapping capability , I would also offer the users some questionnaires that could be answered so that I can fetch in more inputs and perspectives , and also help me pull data backed insights .