Challenge

I work for a research and consulting company specifically in the IT industry. One of our challenges in  2011 was to understand how receptive South African organizations were to an emerging concept (at  that time) called cloud computing. The design criteria was to understand the state of readiness of South  African organizations for this new and upcoming technology concept in 2011 when it was nascent.  (Cloud in simple terms is a concept of delivering IT resources in an on-demand manner). One of the ways  in which we went about addressing this challenge was to undertake a large survey of CIOs across South  Africa (SA) to get qualitative insights.

Selection

To analyze the results and uncover preliminary assumptions we used the Mind Mapping tool. The  reason we chose to use Mind Mapping was because all of us in the team had used it in the past to  uncover insights and also link different topics to each other in a visual manner.  Also, we had to share  the insights with others in the organization who may not be familiar with the topic and we believed that  Mind Mapping will help us share insights about a topic quickly.

Application

Once the results of the interviews were in, the team, mostly members involved in the project were  tasked to come up with key insights and assumptions about the state of cloud readiness in SA.  We could  not involve people from different teams due to time and organizational constraints.  We started by  listing all the findings on a whiteboard. The team then discussed together to start bucketing different  themes into a different areas of whiteboard as clusters. We then started coming up with key messages  for each individual insight in a cluster. By applying the mind mapping tool, we were able to identify not  just individual themes but also the relationship between themes.

Insights

One of the key insights we uncovered was that organizations that have a highly virtualized (IT term for  pseudo physical) environment have an affinity to use private cloud, where as those already using  mechanisms such as managed services are more likely to use public cloud services. We were also able to  come up with insights in terms of their planned usage of this new technology.  We continued to do this  and came up with a set of key overarching findings from our surveys that were used to formulate  assumptions and hypothesis for our project. We then validated some of these assumptions by speaking  with other stakeholders such as suppliers of cloud computing and IT.  What we uncovered was that  there was a disconnect between the expectations of the IT suppliers and customers of cloud. While  customers were eager and keen to utilize cloud computing in the next 1-2 years (in 2011), many of the  suppliers were under the impression that the concept was too early for adoption and were not planning  to push these solutions in the market until 2017/10. By using Mind Mapping tool we were able to  uncover the real needs of the customer and why those needs will press them into action much earlier  than thought previously. We were also able find strong relationships that helped us convince key  stakeholders and cloud providers to take some action.

Approach: One of my main motivations for signing up for the course was that I wanted to learn about a  formal way of doing Design Thinking. So to be honest, although I have used Mind Mapping before, it was  not in the context of a Design Thinking Approach.

Knowing what I know now from the Design Thinking course, I will probably conduct a smaller sample of  interviews but go much more in-depth in terms of interviewing. I will probably use more a visual  approach, asking the interviewee more open ended questions. Once the insights are collected I will  arrange them in a room along with multiple copies for different team members to come in, and pick out  to form their themes. I will work to get permission from senior leadership to involve a wider variety of  team members because some of the insights could have been driven by our own initial assumptions and  perhaps biased. In essence, I would set up a yard sale approach as mentioned by Eduarda and  John Smith in their book, "Designing for Growth" and also as mentioned in the lecture video "Mind  Mapping" by Martha Gonzalez.


Challenge I work for a research and consulting company specifically in the IT industry . One of our challenges in 2011 was to understand how receptive South African organizations were to an emerging concept ( at that time ) called cloud computing . The design criteria was to understand the state of readiness of South African organizations for this new and upcoming technology concept in 2011 when it was nascent . ( Cloud in simple terms is a concept of delivering IT resources in an on - demand manner ) . One of the ways in which we went about addressing this challenge was to undertake a large survey of CIOs across South Africa ( SA ) to get qualitative insights . Selection To analyze the results and uncover preliminary assumptions we used the Mind Mapping tool . The reason we chose to use Mind Mapping was because all of us in the team had used it in the past to uncover insights and also link different topics to each other in a visual manner . Also , we had to share the insights with others in the organization who may not be familiar with the topic and we believed that Mind Mapping will help us share insights about a topic quickly . Application Once the results of the interviews were in , the team , mostly members involved in the project were tasked to come up with key insights and assumptions about the state of cloud readiness in SA . We could not involve people from different teams due to time and organizational constraints . We started by listing all the findings on a whiteboard . The team then discussed together to start bucketing different themes into a different areas of whiteboard as clusters . We then started coming up with key messages for each individual insight in a cluster . By applying the mind mapping tool , we were able to identify not just individual themes but also the relationship between themes . Insights One of the key insights we uncovered was that organizations that have a highly virtualized ( IT term for pseudo physical ) environment have an affinity to use private cloud , where as those already using mechanisms such as managed services are more likely to use public cloud services . We were also able to come up with insights in terms of their planned usage of this new technology . We continued to do this and came up with a set of key overarching findings from our surveys that were used to formulate assumptions and hypothesis for our project . We then validated some of these assumptions by speaking with other stakeholders such as suppliers of cloud computing and IT . What we uncovered was that there was a disconnect between the expectations of the IT suppliers and customers of cloud . While customers were eager and keen to utilize cloud computing in the next 1 - 2 years ( in 2011 ) , many of the suppliers were under the impression that the concept was too early for adoption and were not planning to push these solutions in the market until 2017/10 . By using Mind Mapping tool we were able to uncover the real needs of the customer and why those needs will press them into action much earlier than thought previously . We were also able find strong relationships that helped us convince key stakeholders and cloud providers to take some action . Approach : One of my main motivations for signing up for the course was that I wanted to learn about a formal way of doing Design Thinking . So to be honest , although I have used Mind Mapping before , it was not in the context of a Design Thinking Approach . Knowing what I know now from the Design Thinking course , I will probably conduct a smaller sample of interviews but go much more in - depth in terms of interviewing . I will probably use more a visual approach , asking the interviewee more open ended questions . Once the insights are collected I will arrange them in a room along with multiple copies for different team members to come in , and pick out to form their themes . I will work to get permission from senior leadership to involve a wider variety of team members because some of the insights could have been driven by our own initial assumptions and perhaps biased . In essence , I would set up a yard sale approach as mentioned by Eduarda and John Smith in their book , " Designing for Growth " and also as mentioned in the lecture video " Mind Mapping " by Martha Gonzalez .