Mind Mapping tool    Challenge:  I’m a member of an association that organizes educational courses in the areas of Technology,  Sustainability, Entrepreneurship. I experienced a great application of the Mind Mapping tool when  me and my peers were working on a new educational course.   Some time ago we wanted to organize a new course for digital skills but we had not decided the  topic and the structure of it.   Also, the internet is plenty of thousands courses for Technology and Digital competences people  can afford easily, so it was very hard to produce something creative, useful and economic.  The challenge consisted in producing an attractive course in the Digital area for recently graduates  and young professionals, which could spread some technical knowledge and could let them to  extend their network meeting people with same interests and passions.    Selection:  For our purpose we used the Mind Mapping tool.   In design thinking, this tool is used at the end of What Is phase, to process the large amount of data  collected and look for patters and insights among them. Through Mind Mapping you can establish  criteria for the idea generation step, which is explored during the What If phase.   Mind Mapping is pivotal because it provides guidelines for the idea generation, that becomes cleaner  and faster. In the book Designing for growth, the process is well explained and it becomes clear that  Mind Mapping is not used to design, while it’s useful to design criteria, on which the ideas will be  based.    Application & Insight:  We launched a survey to our network asking basically questions on:

-  Why they should choose a face-to-face course instead of online ones

-  What they did and did not appreciate about online courses

-  How is the best way to learn (through game experiences, face-to-face lessons, practical  sessions)

-  Which topic they preferred and what level of knowledge they had

-  What they did expect from our course

-  Etc.

The data collected were analyzed through the Mapping Tool in this way.  We found three macro categories among the answers:

1. Object of the course  2. Modality and structure of the course  3. Other interests/passions of the users

The tool was useful to visualize all the categories, to address the answers and to find the  communalities in order to list the major trends/requirements, and the minor ones.    Finally, we discovered the following main patterns:

-  The majority of users had not specific knowledge on the newest digital competences  (blockchain, machine learning, data analysis, etc) but had strong interest in these topics and  wanted to learn some basics.

-  Due to the complexity of the topics, users would prefer a dynamical course, with many case  studies, new learning techniques, enjoyable environment.

-  Online courses are boring, you don’t have the opportunity to ask questions directly.

-  Users would take the opportunity to expand their network, to share their passions with people  with different background

These and other insights were very useful to understand the needs of our network and it was a  crucial point for the idea generation phase. Mainly, this tool allowed us to focus our attention, in the  next phase, just on ideas that matched those macro-patterns. It allowed us to save a lot of time.       Approach  The potential of the tool is incredible indeed for the reasons explained above, even if it requires a  well-structured data gathering, that is very difficult and time/cost consuming, especially when you  are a small organization.   Also, if the data collection is not done in the right way (there is an important knowledge on how to  gather information and tools to use), the Mind Mapping could get you into wrong patters, destabilizing  the whole process.  The point is, I found it not so flexible, because it is actually based on the database you collected.  This is good when you face problems with many available data. While during innovation processes  with low quantity of data, I think it’s better to not limit so much the ideas generation with the output  guidelines of the Mind Mapping, and move on to the next phase (What If).


Mind Mapping tool Challenge : I ’m a member of an association that organizes educational courses in the areas of Technology , Sustainability , Entrepreneurship . I experienced a great application of the Mind Mapping tool when me and my peers were working on a new educational course . Some time ago we wanted to organize a new course for digital skills but we had not decided the topic and the structure of it . Also , the internet is plenty of thousands courses for Technology and Digital competences people can afford easily , so it was very hard to produce something creative , useful and economic . The challenge consisted in producing an attractive course in the Digital area for recently graduates and young professionals , which could spread some technical knowledge and could let them to extend their network meeting people with same interests and passions . Selection : For our purpose we used the Mind Mapping tool . In design thinking , this tool is used at the end of What Is phase , to process the large amount of data collected and look for patters and insights among them . Through Mind Mapping you can establish criteria for the idea generation step , which is explored during the What If phase . Mind Mapping is pivotal because it provides guidelines for the idea generation , that becomes cleaner and faster . In the book Designing for growth , the process is well explained and it becomes clear that Mind Mapping is not used to design , while it ’s useful to design criteria , on which the ideas will be based . Application & Insight : We launched a survey to our network asking basically questions on : - Why they should choose a face - to - face course instead of online ones - What they did and did not appreciate about online courses - How is the best way to learn ( through game experiences , face - to - face lessons , practical sessions ) - Which topic they preferred and what level of knowledge they had - What they did expect from our course - Etc . The data collected were analyzed through the Mapping Tool in this way . We found three macro categories among the answers : 1 . Object of the course 2 . Modality and structure of the course 3 . Other interests / passions of the users The tool was useful to visualize all the categories , to address the answers and to find the communalities in order to list the major trends / requirements , and the minor ones . Finally , we discovered the following main patterns : - The majority of users had not specific knowledge on the newest digital competences ( blockchain , machine learning , data analysis , etc ) but had strong interest in these topics and wanted to learn some basics . - Due to the complexity of the topics , users would prefer a dynamical course , with many case studies , new learning techniques , enjoyable environment . - Online courses are boring , you do n’t have the opportunity to ask questions directly . - Users would take the opportunity to expand their network , to share their passions with people with different background These and other insights were very useful to understand the needs of our network and it was a crucial point for the idea generation phase . Mainly , this tool allowed us to focus our attention , in the next phase , just on ideas that matched those macro - patterns . It allowed us to save a lot of time . Approach The potential of the tool is incredible indeed for the reasons explained above , even if it requires a well - structured data gathering , that is very difficult and time / cost consuming , especially when you are a small organization . Also , if the data collection is not done in the right way ( there is an important knowledge on how to gather information and tools to use ) , the Mind Mapping could get you into wrong patters , destabilizing the whole process . The point is , I found it not so flexible , because it is actually based on the database you collected . This is good when you face problems with many available data . While during innovation processes with low quantity of data , I think it ’s better to not limit so much the ideas generation with the output guidelines of the Mind Mapping , and move on to the next phase ( What If ) .