Challenge  I work for a newly formed division for our organization. Our division’s goal is to help different business  units to reduce their manual work and improve cycle time, implement better control and be better  coordinated. We have performed some proof of concept works with couple of business units in  understanding and solving their certain process automation needs. Now we need to spread the word  and rest of the enterprise know what we do, how we can benefit them, how they can engage with us. As  a first and obvious step we needed to design and launch a website for our department where people  can know about us and able to engage with us. The challenge was to quickly design and launch an  effective divisional website that will be useful for our internal customers.

Selection  We needed a tool to clearly articulate our ideas, validate the effectiveness and share the refined  requirements to the development team so that they can implement the website. Since, it was about a  website – its layout, look and feel, what goes where, how people interact with the website – all were  key component and everything is very visual in nature. We decided to use the visualization tool.

Application  Before convening a group meeting, I researched some standard layouts our organization is using (fonts,  tags, colors, specific layout etc.) and taken few screenshots of them and captured in a power point. Then  searched web for some icons and images relevant for our department – organized them in a manner I  thought will be best to let the people know what we do, what benefits we bring, the steps on how to  engage us, what to expect in the process etc. I created couple of versions and brought the printouts of  the mockups to the meeting with our team. We started discussing key components of the design – what  elements are liked, disliked and why. People noted their comments on the printouts of their copy of the  images. I collected the feedback from all, quickly incorporated the changes and immediately showed a  version to the group. And then some additional minor comments on font size, color theme etc. was  received. On making those changes live –we managed to get consensus on how the first version of our  website should look like. I then took that finalized mock up, annotated certain area with comments  geared towards the development team such as clicking on a certain link what should happen. Then  shared that document with the developers and walked them through the design in a group meeting. It  was very easy to converse the requirements with the dev team with the help of our mock up.

Insight  Using visualization tool immensely helped the conversation with the team and with developers as well  to outline the concepts/ideas, get quick feedback, make changes – and convey the requirements easily.  Our previous experience of using lengthy verbal or written description of features and requirements  were often difficult to covey, have healthy discussions, reach consensus etc. The visualization tool  eliminated all those challenges. We were able to quickly and efficiently articulate the ideas and features,  have conversation regarding feature needs easily. Visualization is very important tool as part of design  thinking – our entire team were appreciative of its importance.

Approach  Visualization being such an important tool, not only I will continue to use the tool just for a visual  scenario (such as a website) but also a typical non-visual scenario e.g. a series of process or steps,  governance models, people to people or people to product interactions. Wherever we can use words to  describe, I’d like to approach to describe visually. I also, plan to enable my rest of the team also be in a  habit of visual description. That way we can build a culture of using visualization and apply design  thinking in any problem solving situations.


Challenge I work for a newly formed division for our organization . Our division ’s goal is to help different business units to reduce their manual work and improve cycle time , implement better control and be better coordinated . We have performed some proof of concept works with couple of business units in understanding and solving their certain process automation needs . Now we need to spread the word and rest of the enterprise know what we do , how we can benefit them , how they can engage with us . As a first and obvious step we needed to design and launch a website for our department where people can know about us and able to engage with us . The challenge was to quickly design and launch an effective divisional website that will be useful for our internal customers . Selection We needed a tool to clearly articulate our ideas , validate the effectiveness and share the refined requirements to the development team so that they can implement the website . Since , it was about a website – its layout , look and feel , what goes where , how people interact with the website – all were key component and everything is very visual in nature . We decided to use the visualization tool . Application Before convening a group meeting , I researched some standard layouts our organization is using ( fonts , tags , colors , specific layout etc . ) and taken few screenshots of them and captured in a power point . Then searched web for some icons and images relevant for our department – organized them in a manner I thought will be best to let the people know what we do , what benefits we bring , the steps on how to engage us , what to expect in the process etc . I created couple of versions and brought the printouts of the mockups to the meeting with our team . We started discussing key components of the design – what elements are liked , disliked and why . People noted their comments on the printouts of their copy of the images . I collected the feedback from all , quickly incorporated the changes and immediately showed a version to the group . And then some additional minor comments on font size , color theme etc . was received . On making those changes live – we managed to get consensus on how the first version of our website should look like . I then took that finalized mock up , annotated certain area with comments geared towards the development team such as clicking on a certain link what should happen . Then shared that document with the developers and walked them through the design in a group meeting . It was very easy to converse the requirements with the dev team with the help of our mock up . Insight Using visualization tool immensely helped the conversation with the team and with developers as well to outline the concepts / ideas , get quick feedback , make changes – and convey the requirements easily . Our previous experience of using lengthy verbal or written description of features and requirements were often difficult to covey , have healthy discussions , reach consensus etc . The visualization tool eliminated all those challenges . We were able to quickly and efficiently articulate the ideas and features , have conversation regarding feature needs easily . Visualization is very important tool as part of design thinking – our entire team were appreciative of its importance . Approach Visualization being such an important tool , not only I will continue to use the tool just for a visual scenario ( such as a website ) but also a typical non - visual scenario e.g. a series of process or steps , governance models , people to people or people to product interactions . Wherever we can use words to describe , I ’d like to approach to describe visually . I also , plan to enable my rest of the team also be in a habit of visual description . That way we can build a culture of using visualization and apply design thinking in any problem solving situations .