Storytelling – A computer science course  Ana Gonzalez

Challenge & Selection

Mind mapping is a design tool that captures the mind of the customer. As Maritza Morales  explains (from video lecture week 3) the tool is used to look for patterns and insight that can  lead to a better and more creative solution. I use mind mapping to create a better  understanding of the customers mind and be able the design a holistic solution for the  customer’s needs.  By conducting mind mapping several “what if” ideas are created by the  team from the “what is”. Mind mapping was used to explore the development of a computer  science course.

One challenge with mind mapping is that team members at first can be shy and don’t want to  share their ideas. The selection of the team should be diversified since this reduce the risk of  bias and makes the creativity better. I usually use team members with different educational  backgrounds e.g. business, technology and social science otherwise the generated ideas might  be too single minded.

Application

At the first mind mapping meeting I usually start by telling the team that no idea during the  mind mapping is too stupid. For our team we usually start the mind mapping by having a  theme (product or service) that we look at from the customers viewpoint. As the mind  mapping goes on, we also use other stakeholder e.g. competitors and suppliers to find more  insight about possibilities and limitations. It is important to look at the need and solution from  different stakeholders’ point of view, by doing so the complexity of a need is better  understood.

During Covid the mind mapping sessions are done online and some limitations have been  experienced it is more difficult for team members to collaborate e.g. draw on a white board  or use sticky notes, although, there are digital tools like Canva (ww.canva.com) it is not the  same. Perhaps this will become better and more effective as the team gets better at using  digital tools for mind mapping (and also the tools/software becomes better)

Insight & Approach

The mind mapping result in the development of a few key personas that are also used in other  design step e.g. prototyping and testing. Some services can be done using different  approaches such as over phone, online or person-to-person and the prototyping and testing  could be done by using first using personas and later real customers.

Often the personas are not only key customer groups that could be found by doing customer  segmentation i.e. who are our largest and most profitable customer groups, the 20/80 rule  (20 percent of our customers generate 80 percent of our profit). The personas can be  important for example influencer or early adopters that are important if our product and  service will become successful. Competition is fierce and to get a competitive advantage is  difficult.

Diversity is important I made the mistake of creating a team of members with the same  education and the discussions and ideation was limited to look at possibilities and limitations  from one certain point of view and no one challenged the assumptions behind this point of  view. One insight for the computer science course was to not change the programming  language at this time, since other courses also would need to change, also the paying student  preferred to keep Java as programming language.

By doing mind mapping we also understood the importance of all stakeholders, the suppliers  are very important and can be crucial in the development of a service or product. We now  think more about creating strong business networks together with our partners. Mind  mapping is a great tool to generate a lot of ideas in a short amount of time. The team  continuously learns from each mind mapping session and improves the teamwork.


Storytelling – A computer science course Ana Gonzalez Challenge & Selection Mind mapping is a design tool that captures the mind of the customer . As Maritza Morales explains ( from video lecture week 3 ) the tool is used to look for patterns and insight that can lead to a better and more creative solution . I use mind mapping to create a better understanding of the customers mind and be able the design a holistic solution for the customer ’s needs . By conducting mind mapping several “ what if ” ideas are created by the team from the “ what is ” . Mind mapping was used to explore the development of a computer science course . One challenge with mind mapping is that team members at first can be shy and do n’t want to share their ideas . The selection of the team should be diversified since this reduce the risk of bias and makes the creativity better . I usually use team members with different educational backgrounds e.g. business , technology and social science otherwise the generated ideas might be too single minded . Application At the first mind mapping meeting I usually start by telling the team that no idea during the mind mapping is too stupid . For our team we usually start the mind mapping by having a theme ( product or service ) that we look at from the customers viewpoint . As the mind mapping goes on , we also use other stakeholder e.g. competitors and suppliers to find more insight about possibilities and limitations . It is important to look at the need and solution from different stakeholders ’ point of view , by doing so the complexity of a need is better understood . During Covid the mind mapping sessions are done online and some limitations have been experienced it is more difficult for team members to collaborate e.g. draw on a white board or use sticky notes , although , there are digital tools like Canva ( ww.canva.com ) it is not the same . Perhaps this will become better and more effective as the team gets better at using digital tools for mind mapping ( and also the tools / software becomes better ) Insight & Approach The mind mapping result in the development of a few key personas that are also used in other design step e.g. prototyping and testing . Some services can be done using different approaches such as over phone , online or person - to - person and the prototyping and testing could be done by using first using personas and later real customers . Often the personas are not only key customer groups that could be found by doing customer segmentation i.e. who are our largest and most profitable customer groups , the 20/80 rule ( 20 percent of our customers generate 80 percent of our profit ) . The personas can be important for example influencer or early adopters that are important if our product and service will become successful . Competition is fierce and to get a competitive advantage is difficult . Diversity is important I made the mistake of creating a team of members with the same education and the discussions and ideation was limited to look at possibilities and limitations from one certain point of view and no one challenged the assumptions behind this point of view . One insight for the computer science course was to not change the programming language at this time , since other courses also would need to change , also the paying student preferred to keep Java as programming language . By doing mind mapping we also understood the importance of all stakeholders , the suppliers are very important and can be crucial in the development of a service or product . We now think more about creating strong business networks together with our partners . Mind mapping is a great tool to generate a lot of ideas in a short amount of time . The team continuously learns from each mind mapping session and improves the teamwork .