Challenge

I was hired to build a new Practice in an area/domain in which the organization had very limited  experience. The key stakeholders needed to understand the facets covered in that domain, had a  high potential to be outsourced and were commercially viable for them to invest and grow. They  also needed to understand the current capability of the organization in terms of the number of  employees currently in the system with the required experience and the depth of their experience.

Selection

There were too many questions that the organization needed answered and we had taken the  primary research route to gather relevant data. The primary research led to a huge amount of data. I  needed to categorize that, discern it and share it in such a form with the business that they could  easily understand “What Is”. That would then form the foundation of next steps.  The stakeholders  were geographically spread, with varying backgrounds and skill-sets. Most of them had very limited  knowledge of the domain. This is why I chose “Visualization” to represent the findings and help  business get clarity on the answers they sought.

Application

The primary research done was two-fold, via online surveys with multiple-choice questions and tele- interviews with experts. The questions were planned but the answers, much like in any interview,  were descriptive as against the online survey. There were common themes that were covered in  both the approaches, interviews gave more colour to the responses.

•  The first step that I took was to combine the responses to various themes from the surveys  and interviews; and document the salient findings.   •  I then rated those findings in order of the possibility to be outsourced (through primary  research set) and ease of implementation (my experience in the domain). The ease also took  into account the other set of data collected from internal stakeholders on existing  knowledge and experience. Thus, leading to be aware of the type of investments that would  be needed in people development/hiring.    •  Each category of tasks could lead to certain type of projects and thereby, revenue. The  potential revenue was stated against each task. This was to address the commercial viability.  This came about from the interviews as well as my prior experience in various organizations.

Based on all this data and to answer the critical business questions, I used two sets of visualization:

1. Created a nine-blocker, where the x-axis depicted competitiveness and y-axis as ease of  outsourcing. Then placed the type of projects in the domain in each of those nine blocks.  This helped stakeholders to understand the playing field, especially since they didn’t know  the domain very well. In this visual representation, brief statements (4-5 words) were stated  to convey “what” of the task.  2. Created a 2x2 matrix leading to four quadrants where the x-axis moved from left to right in  order of attractiveness to the organization and y-axis as the effort needed. The  attractiveness was pertinent as the skills needed to augment the current offering and  continue to remain competitive in the market. The projects were plotted in form of circles  and the size of each circle was in line with its revenue potential.

Insight

This visual representation gave the stakeholders in two slides four key inputs:

1. What encompassed this new territory  2. What was easily outsourced to businesses like theirs  3. What tasks helped to stay or increase the competitiveness in the domain  4. How much revenue they were set to gain if they were to develop/invest in these areas  5. How much effort is involved. This part was then further addressed to state the phased  development of the skills in the organization.

Approach

Visualization helped all types of stakeholders understand and there were supporting slides that were  more textual in nature, should anyone feel the need to go deeper. I had to go through a couple of  iterations to depict in the manner that I finally did. If I look back, would have augmented it with  “storytelling” to state where the industry was headed with the use of technology and skills in the  domain to drive the point home even more strongly.


Challenge I was hired to build a new Practice in an area / domain in which the organization had very limited experience . The key stakeholders needed to understand the facets covered in that domain , had a high potential to be outsourced and were commercially viable for them to invest and grow . They also needed to understand the current capability of the organization in terms of the number of employees currently in the system with the required experience and the depth of their experience . Selection There were too many questions that the organization needed answered and we had taken the primary research route to gather relevant data . The primary research led to a huge amount of data . I needed to categorize that , discern it and share it in such a form with the business that they could easily understand “ What Is ” . That would then form the foundation of next steps . The stakeholders were geographically spread , with varying backgrounds and skill - sets . Most of them had very limited knowledge of the domain . This is why I chose “ Visualization ” to represent the findings and help business get clarity on the answers they sought . Application The primary research done was two - fold , via online surveys with multiple - choice questions and tele- interviews with experts . The questions were planned but the answers , much like in any interview , were descriptive as against the online survey . There were common themes that were covered in both the approaches , interviews gave more colour to the responses . • The first step that I took was to combine the responses to various themes from the surveys and interviews ; and document the salient findings . • I then rated those findings in order of the possibility to be outsourced ( through primary research set ) and ease of implementation ( my experience in the domain ) . The ease also took into account the other set of data collected from internal stakeholders on existing knowledge and experience . Thus , leading to be aware of the type of investments that would be needed in people development / hiring . • Each category of tasks could lead to certain type of projects and thereby , revenue . The potential revenue was stated against each task . This was to address the commercial viability . This came about from the interviews as well as my prior experience in various organizations . Based on all this data and to answer the critical business questions , I used two sets of visualization : 1 . Created a nine - blocker , where the x - axis depicted competitiveness and y - axis as ease of outsourcing . Then placed the type of projects in the domain in each of those nine blocks . This helped stakeholders to understand the playing field , especially since they did n’t know the domain very well . In this visual representation , brief statements ( 4 - 5 words ) were stated to convey “ what ” of the task . 2 . Created a 2x2 matrix leading to four quadrants where the x - axis moved from left to right in order of attractiveness to the organization and y - axis as the effort needed . The attractiveness was pertinent as the skills needed to augment the current offering and continue to remain competitive in the market . The projects were plotted in form of circles and the size of each circle was in line with its revenue potential . Insight This visual representation gave the stakeholders in two slides four key inputs : 1 . What encompassed this new territory 2 . What was easily outsourced to businesses like theirs 3 . What tasks helped to stay or increase the competitiveness in the domain 4 . How much revenue they were set to gain if they were to develop / invest in these areas 5 . How much effort is involved . This part was then further addressed to state the phased development of the skills in the organization . Approach Visualization helped all types of stakeholders understand and there were supporting slides that were more textual in nature , should anyone feel the need to go deeper . I had to go through a couple of iterations to depict in the manner that I finally did . If I look back , would have augmented it with “ storytelling ” to state where the industry was headed with the use of technology and skills in the domain to drive the point home even more strongly .