Mind Mapping and Its Applications in Our Platform Improvement

Challenge

Responsible investment is growing movement in the investment industry where investors align  their investment decisions based on a set of principles described by the United Nations Global  Compact (UNGC). In a nutshell, the UNGC aims to outline what businesses should aim to be ‒ conducting business activities that do not cause harm on the local populace, the employees, the  environment, and governing in a just and fair way (The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact,  n.d.).

The problem that us, the investment service providers, have products and services whose  offerings do not necessarily match our clients’ use cases. The usability score of service offerings  in the investment industry is varies wildly because of the wide range of goals that funds, fund  managers, and institutional investors have. This is especially true for the responsible investment  where the idea of “responsible” is ever-changing.  We service providers are therefore not making  the best use of our resources by providing a product with low usability measures, and our clients  are not getting the best value for their money.

Selection

To increase our product’s usability score, we used Mind Mapping. It is, of course, not ideal for a  business to create a specific product for each of their customers. It would be costly to make and  maintain, and confusing for the employees and employers as they’re trying to cater to a number  of clients. Mind mapping will allow us to describe our current reality based on our customers’  inputs on our products. As described in our Week 3 lecture, it is used to identify patterns and  insights which will capture the minds of our customers.

Application

Our sales and research team had already conducted an ethnographic interview of our customers.  Our team then gathered a handful of our colleagues from different teams, whose efforts feed  into the different product offerings in our responsible investment business unit. We recreated  the idea of holding an “art gallery” filled with the raw data gathered by the sales and research  team. Our colleagues, equipped with a stack of sticky notes and pens, then took down their  individual observations of the data surrounding them. After which we gathered in a room where

each colleague organized their sticky notes on general idea-themed sets. Then we presented our  themes to the team and stuck them on a huge idea board. We took turns presenting our themes,  grouping similar themes together, and stuck outliers farther from themed clusters. When  everyone was done, we looked at our themed findings and formed insight statements garnered  from the themed clusters.

The biggest challenge we encountered in this exercise was introducing this new idea to the team.  It was hard for them to take it seriously as some found the exercise to be silly or a waste of time.  It was hard, indeed, to try to convince people to stray away from how we would usually tackle  these things. I personally fear that we did not get a more thorough description of our themes as  they don’t know what to put, or were hesitant to bring up an idea that they think that it was too  obvious or too much of an outlier.

The exercise was most effective when we started presenting our themes, and especially effective  when we were trying to put insights on our themes. The atmosphere in the start of the discussion  was awkward, but as the participants started to see that people had similar insights, it was easier  for them to speak up. The collaborative aspect of Mind Mapping really bloomed at that point in  the exercise.

Insight

The insight-labelling aspect of the exercise was an eye-opener for everyone. We found that the  platform we had made sense to us, but it was not as obvious to our clients. We found that the  design of our platforms, and how our data pipelines are designed affected a large part of the  usability for our product. We found that clients had to extensively modify the data they extracted  from our platforms to make it useable for their use cases. We even found out that clients were  not aware of some of the services included in their packages simple because of how we designed  our platform.

This was a revelation to us. We designed our product to cater to a huge number of aspects that  our clients may be interested in. However, the fact that how we presented this did not make a  lot of sense to clients, effectively rendered our efforts to null.

Approach

Although we had a rough start, I believe that doing the art gallery exercise was one of the most  effective ways to look at where we stand. We agreed that it was something that we can  implement, not just to our responsible investment unit, but across the different business units as  well. What I think we could have done differently was to introduce more innovative exercises to  the teams. It was a hard hurdle to overcome that the exercise was so different to what we were

used to, we found it hard to convince colleagues that what we’re doing was of value to us and  how we can improve. This reflected in their initial response and effort in the experiments.

All things considered, I will count this exercise as a success. We now have a good idea of what  our clients are thinking and have some idea on how they use and think about our platforms. I am  thankful for the guidance of this course, and for opening a whole new world of ideas, idea- and  solution- generation for us. It definitely lit a spark on how we should improve ourselves and tackle  problems innovatively.

References

The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2020, from United

Nations Global Compact: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is- gc/mission/principles


Mind Mapping and Its Applications in Our Platform Improvement Challenge Responsible investment is growing movement in the investment industry where investors align their investment decisions based on a set of principles described by the United Nations Global Compact ( UNGC ) . In a nutshell , the UNGC aims to outline what businesses should aim to be ‒ conducting business activities that do not cause harm on the local populace , the employees , the environment , and governing in a just and fair way ( The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact , n.d . ) . The problem that us , the investment service providers , have products and services whose offerings do not necessarily match our clients ’ use cases . The usability score of service offerings in the investment industry is varies wildly because of the wide range of goals that funds , fund managers , and institutional investors have . This is especially true for the responsible investment where the idea of “ responsible ” is ever - changing . We service providers are therefore not making the best use of our resources by providing a product with low usability measures , and our clients are not getting the best value for their money . Selection To increase our product ’s usability score , we used Mind Mapping . It is , of course , not ideal for a business to create a specific product for each of their customers . It would be costly to make and maintain , and confusing for the employees and employers as they ’re trying to cater to a number of clients . Mind mapping will allow us to describe our current reality based on our customers ’ inputs on our products . As described in our Week 3 lecture , it is used to identify patterns and insights which will capture the minds of our customers . Application Our sales and research team had already conducted an ethnographic interview of our customers . Our team then gathered a handful of our colleagues from different teams , whose efforts feed into the different product offerings in our responsible investment business unit . We recreated the idea of holding an “ art gallery ” filled with the raw data gathered by the sales and research team . Our colleagues , equipped with a stack of sticky notes and pens , then took down their individual observations of the data surrounding them . After which we gathered in a room where each colleague organized their sticky notes on general idea - themed sets . Then we presented our themes to the team and stuck them on a huge idea board . We took turns presenting our themes , grouping similar themes together , and stuck outliers farther from themed clusters . When everyone was done , we looked at our themed findings and formed insight statements garnered from the themed clusters . The biggest challenge we encountered in this exercise was introducing this new idea to the team . It was hard for them to take it seriously as some found the exercise to be silly or a waste of time . It was hard , indeed , to try to convince people to stray away from how we would usually tackle these things . I personally fear that we did not get a more thorough description of our themes as they do n’t know what to put , or were hesitant to bring up an idea that they think that it was too obvious or too much of an outlier . The exercise was most effective when we started presenting our themes , and especially effective when we were trying to put insights on our themes . The atmosphere in the start of the discussion was awkward , but as the participants started to see that people had similar insights , it was easier for them to speak up . The collaborative aspect of Mind Mapping really bloomed at that point in the exercise . Insight The insight - labelling aspect of the exercise was an eye - opener for everyone . We found that the platform we had made sense to us , but it was not as obvious to our clients . We found that the design of our platforms , and how our data pipelines are designed affected a large part of the usability for our product . We found that clients had to extensively modify the data they extracted from our platforms to make it useable for their use cases . We even found out that clients were not aware of some of the services included in their packages simple because of how we designed our platform . This was a revelation to us . We designed our product to cater to a huge number of aspects that our clients may be interested in . However , the fact that how we presented this did not make a lot of sense to clients , effectively rendered our efforts to null . Approach Although we had a rough start , I believe that doing the art gallery exercise was one of the most effective ways to look at where we stand . We agreed that it was something that we can implement , not just to our responsible investment unit , but across the different business units as well . What I think we could have done differently was to introduce more innovative exercises to the teams . It was a hard hurdle to overcome that the exercise was so different to what we were used to , we found it hard to convince colleagues that what we ’re doing was of value to us and how we can improve . This reflected in their initial response and effort in the experiments . All things considered , I will count this exercise as a success . We now have a good idea of what our clients are thinking and have some idea on how they use and think about our platforms . I am thankful for the guidance of this course , and for opening a whole new world of ideas , idea- and solution- generation for us . It definitely lit a spark on how we should improve ourselves and tackle problems innovatively . References The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact . ( n.d . ) . Retrieved December 12 , 2020 , from United Nations Global Compact : https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is- gc / mission / principles