•  Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.    Due to projected cultural shift in our organization and push to adopt “Agile” methodologies for  project deliveries, my challenge was to lead the transformation by choosing an “Agile” method  e.g. Kanban, re-define the roles of individuals and tasks within the framework of Agile principles.

•  Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g., what it is and why you  selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references).

I used Mind Mapping tool – a creative and visual method to find patterns in the data, as  described in Week 3 in video lecture by Tiffany Velazquez.  I particularly selected this method  for my challenge to help me see the various categories of task our team needs to do in order to  comply with agreed project deliverables. Having those tasks categorized, now it was easy for me  to fit them into a matrix structure used in Agile methods e.g. Sub-projects with our projects were  defined as Epics, tasks under those sub-projects were defines as Stories and the “actionable”  task was then defined as Sub-task of that Story.

•  Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g., what you did  and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively).

I started by making a list of all the tasks we did or were planned to do for a small example  project which I called as “Backlog” and this is how I applied mind mapping tool:

•  Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge  (e.g., how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more  broadly).

Backlog

Sub-

project A

Sub-

project C

Sub-

project B

Story B  Story A

S.T. -1

S.T. -2

S.T - 3

Epics

Stories

Sub-tasks –  “Actionable”

tasks

Sub-project  Managers

Project

executives

The most important insight I gained from applying the tool that having this matrix structure now  in place, I was able to discover patterns in terms of complexity of task, inter-dependencies and  to of all the workflow of tasks. This affected my thinking about the challenge and about design  thinking that if approached in a systematic, well defined steps many of the insights can be  discovered in a challenge which otherwise would have been lost e.g. the Workflow and potential  bottlenecks in my case. Design thinking enforces that systematic approach by default.

•  Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you  selected or a different one -- and the reason(s) why.    Next time I will try two things. First, applying the same tool i.e. Mind mapping, I will go a step  further and involve all the stakeholders and reason for that would be to have a holistic view of  “What Is”.    Secondly, I will embark on another step of Design thinking approach that is to discussion with  team for the reason that we need to establish a criterion to categorize any task from Backlog to a  particular level in the matrix structure.


• Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . Due to projected cultural shift in our organization and push to adopt “ Agile ” methodologies for project deliveries , my challenge was to lead the transformation by choosing an “ Agile ” method e.g. Kanban , re - define the roles of individuals and tasks within the framework of Agile principles . • Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . I used Mind Mapping tool – a creative and visual method to find patterns in the data , as described in Week 3 in video lecture by Tiffany Velazquez . I particularly selected this method for my challenge to help me see the various categories of task our team needs to do in order to comply with agreed project deliverables . Having those tasks categorized , now it was easy for me to fit them into a matrix structure used in Agile methods e.g. Sub - projects with our projects were defined as Epics , tasks under those sub - projects were defines as Stories and the “ actionable ” task was then defined as Sub - task of that Story . • Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . I started by making a list of all the tasks we did or were planned to do for a small example project which I called as “ Backlog ” and this is how I applied mind mapping tool : • Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . Backlog Sub- project A Sub- project C Sub- project B Story B Story A S.T. -1 S.T. -2 S.T - 3 Epics Stories Sub - tasks – “ Actionable ” tasks Sub - project Managers Project executives The most important insight I gained from applying the tool that having this matrix structure now in place , I was able to discover patterns in terms of complexity of task , inter - dependencies and to of all the workflow of tasks . This affected my thinking about the challenge and about design thinking that if approached in a systematic , well defined steps many of the insights can be discovered in a challenge which otherwise would have been lost e.g. the Workflow and potential bottlenecks in my case . Design thinking enforces that systematic approach by default . • Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . Next time I will try two things . First , applying the same tool i.e. Mind mapping , I will go a step further and involve all the stakeholders and reason for that would be to have a holistic view of “ What Is ” . Secondly , I will embark on another step of Design thinking approach that is to discussion with team for the reason that we need to establish a criterion to categorize any task from Backlog to a particular level in the matrix structure .