Storytelling – Augmented reality technology for the energy industry

Challenge:

I’m part of the Chief Technology Officer of a telecom company and my main goal is to understand how  emerging technologies can enable innovative ways to solve our customer’s problems. For this specific  challenge, my team and I wanted to understand how augmented reality technology can bring efficiencies  and improve operational metrics to our customers in the energy industry. We usually do this by creating  proof of concepts or validating use cases, not necessarily by creating the end product, which allow us to  understand if the idea is commercially and technologically feasible. In this case, the challenge was to  capture the real world experience of an energy field worker in a compelling way that will allow us to create  a solid use case or concept that we can validate.

Selection:

We wanted to use storytelling as a tool that will help us craft what the current reality is for an energy worker  on the field. Specifically, we wanted to know what tasks where important to them, how do they think those  tasks could be performed more efficiently, what tools they think could help them and why. We figured  storytelling will be the perfect tool to transform their challenges into a compelling story since storytelling  allows to focus on the people and their experience and serves as a way to show the problems they were  facing using a simple and clear narrative. We thought it was the perfect tool to both, synthesize all the  information we gathered and to create empathy to the stakeholders.

Application:

Since our goal was to validate a use case, or proof the concept, we wanted to quickly establish what that  use case was, so instead of reaching out to a big number of energy field workers on a more formal way,  which could have taken more time, we contacted our circle of friends and family in the industry and  conducted interviews with most of them. We quickly gained insights into the challenges that they were  facing on the field, and as mentioned before, we focused on understanding how do they think their tasks  could be performed more efficiently, what tools they think could help them and why, among other questions.

After we gathered all the data from the interviews, we ended up writing them down on sticky notes and  place them all on a white board, as a way to better visualize the information. We just used another tool,  visualization or visual thinking, which proved to be very useful to correlate and find patterns. From this  exercise, we created 3 distinctive “personas” that we were hoping will lead us to one or more use cases.  This is where we decided to use storytelling to create the personal experience around these 3 “personas”.  We were able to create a story of these “personas” based on all the information we gathered before. We  focused on their experience, why they performed the tasks the way they did, and what they were hoping to  do differently, along with a personal profile of these “personas”. After that, we just told the story of each of  them as if they were our closest friends.

Insight:

Storytelling allowed us to present the result of the interviews, with all the data, in a very relatable and  empathetic way. It served the purpose to communicate on a very clear and concise manner what the use  cases could be to a wide array of people. And here is where I see the power of storytelling, it doesn't matter  what your background is, or your position in the organization, a good told story can relate to anybody and

be the perfect conduit for you to deliver your message. I can say now, that telling the story instead of  presenting use cases changed the perception of our stakeholders around what we wanted to achieve with  our proof of concept on a very positive way.

Approach:

Looking back at my experience on that challenge, I realized how powerful telling a story is. Of course, when  the story is clear, concise, and passionate and more importantly, revolves around people and their  experience. Given the opportunity, I would have used storytelling for this specific challenge again, as I saw  the immediate result of this. This is a tool that I will be using more frequently, not only on design type of  challenges, but on a multitude of other problem solving opportunities.

As a last comment, I think this course helped me understand that at the very core of innovation there’s a  human desire, need, or challenge that needs to be deal with, and design thinking provides you with a  roadmap on how to discover those desires, needs or challenges, and how to creatively address them.


Storytelling – Augmented reality technology for the energy industry Challenge : I ’m part of the Chief Technology Officer of a telecom company and my main goal is to understand how emerging technologies can enable innovative ways to solve our customer ’s problems . For this specific challenge , my team and I wanted to understand how augmented reality technology can bring efficiencies and improve operational metrics to our customers in the energy industry . We usually do this by creating proof of concepts or validating use cases , not necessarily by creating the end product , which allow us to understand if the idea is commercially and technologically feasible . In this case , the challenge was to capture the real world experience of an energy field worker in a compelling way that will allow us to create a solid use case or concept that we can validate . Selection : We wanted to use storytelling as a tool that will help us craft what the current reality is for an energy worker on the field . Specifically , we wanted to know what tasks where important to them , how do they think those tasks could be performed more efficiently , what tools they think could help them and why . We figured storytelling will be the perfect tool to transform their challenges into a compelling story since storytelling allows to focus on the people and their experience and serves as a way to show the problems they were facing using a simple and clear narrative . We thought it was the perfect tool to both , synthesize all the information we gathered and to create empathy to the stakeholders . Application : Since our goal was to validate a use case , or proof the concept , we wanted to quickly establish what that use case was , so instead of reaching out to a big number of energy field workers on a more formal way , which could have taken more time , we contacted our circle of friends and family in the industry and conducted interviews with most of them . We quickly gained insights into the challenges that they were facing on the field , and as mentioned before , we focused on understanding how do they think their tasks could be performed more efficiently , what tools they think could help them and why , among other questions . After we gathered all the data from the interviews , we ended up writing them down on sticky notes and place them all on a white board , as a way to better visualize the information . We just used another tool , visualization or visual thinking , which proved to be very useful to correlate and find patterns . From this exercise , we created 3 distinctive “ personas ” that we were hoping will lead us to one or more use cases . This is where we decided to use storytelling to create the personal experience around these 3 “ personas ” . We were able to create a story of these “ personas ” based on all the information we gathered before . We focused on their experience , why they performed the tasks the way they did , and what they were hoping to do differently , along with a personal profile of these “ personas ” . After that , we just told the story of each of them as if they were our closest friends . Insight : Storytelling allowed us to present the result of the interviews , with all the data , in a very relatable and empathetic way . It served the purpose to communicate on a very clear and concise manner what the use cases could be to a wide array of people . And here is where I see the power of storytelling , it does n't matter what your background is , or your position in the organization , a good told story can relate to anybody and be the perfect conduit for you to deliver your message . I can say now , that telling the story instead of presenting use cases changed the perception of our stakeholders around what we wanted to achieve with our proof of concept on a very positive way . Approach : Looking back at my experience on that challenge , I realized how powerful telling a story is . Of course , when the story is clear , concise , and passionate and more importantly , revolves around people and their experience . Given the opportunity , I would have used storytelling for this specific challenge again , as I saw the immediate result of this . This is a tool that I will be using more frequently , not only on design type of challenges , but on a multitude of other problem solving opportunities . As a last comment , I think this course helped me understand that at the very core of innovation there ’s a human desire , need , or challenge that needs to be deal with , and design thinking provides you with a roadmap on how to discover those desires , needs or challenges , and how to creatively address them .