Storytelling through Storyboards

Challenge:

For my challenge, I recently learned about several customers cancelling their contracts for a particular  product that my company offers.  I thought of a service we perform in another division that we could  potentially offer to these unsatisfied customers in lieu of the product we have been offering.

Selection:

I chose to apply Storytelling via Storyboards as a design thinking tool because I wanted to ensure we  were all interpreting the problem and solution in the same way.  In viewing Armando Ramirez’s lecture on  Storytelling (Week 2), Ramirez had the following to say, “And I think what storytelling does for leaders  in terms of strategy, is it makes it simple. It makes it relate-able, It gives strategy color, and life In  character and plot. And it, allows the line worker, working your manufacturing unit to vice president  running marketing to have the same understanding of what we're trying to do.”  I completely agree with  Ramirez.

Application

Our team has met several times to perform research, brainstorm, and create a napkin pitch for this new  service offering.  We’ve addressed the ‘What Is’, the ‘What If’ and are currently in the ‘What Wows’  stage.  I created the Storytelling Storyboard to share with my teammates.  My expectation was that the  storyboard would validate that we were aligned on understanding the problem and the potential  solution.

I used the storyboard to describe the problem and the solution.  It had six scenes – (1) the accountant in  a panic because the bank accounts were low on funds due to unpaid bills that needed to be collected  on, (2) the accountant calling the supervisor in the Collections department asking ‘What’s going on over  there?” and the Supervisor replying that the notices for unpaid bills were coming in so fast that she  couldn’t keep up or figure out which one was the most important to work first (‘Work’ means to correct  the errors in the bill and resubmit it for payment; she needed to know which ones had errors she could  work that would result in them getting paid versus those that would likely never get paid), (3) the scene  shows the Supervisor calling my company & asking for “Help!” where my company responds with “We  have the perfect solution for you!”, (4) Shows a heap of disorganized papers (unpaid bill notices) going  into a robot (our business analytics tools) and coming out on a conveyor belt in a nice, neat order, (5)  shows the Supervisor pulling unpaid bills to work one by one and also handing some of them off to the  same girl from my company that told her about the great solution we had (both are working the unpaid  bills together to collect payments), (6) the final scene is the accountant again.  He has a smile on his face  and the bank accounts are showing almost full again.

I shared the storyboard with my teammates who laughed a bit at first but also thought it was a good  representation of the problem and solution.  It helped us all to know that we all had the same

understanding of what the user problem was and what we were pitching as the solution and how it  would benefit not just the end user, but the financial health of their organization as well.

Insight

As a product manager, I have the ability to see these scenarios and flows in my mind very quickly,  however not everyone on the team can do that easily.  I work with offshore resources often and I  learned long ago that providing rough sketches (visuals) of the screens I want them to build are usually  more effective than the written word – so it’s a bit of a ‘well, duh’ moment for me now that I recognize  applying this design tool approach can be helpful to all areas of the organization.   I also found that  creating this was much easier than I originally thought.  It is a useful tool for helping other areas of the  organization (sales, support, development, quality assurance, etc.) understand the concepts as well.

Approach:

I think storytelling was the correct design tool to use for my challenge and I will use it again.  There’s  much truth in the saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words” and this tool does that.  While there  are alternative tools (I could have created a flow chart or a prototype to show the proposed service), the  storyboard was better in that it captured the emotions of the customer experience.  The storyboard  helps all areas of our company relate to the client’s feelings and in turn, understand how we help  resolve that customers pain points.  I will continue to use this tool as it worked well for this project and I  see how it can work well for future ones.

This has been a very helpful class for me and I’m looking forward to using these Design Thinking tools  more in my line of work.


Storytelling through Storyboards Challenge : For my challenge , I recently learned about several customers cancelling their contracts for a particular product that my company offers . I thought of a service we perform in another division that we could potentially offer to these unsatisfied customers in lieu of the product we have been offering . Selection : I chose to apply Storytelling via Storyboards as a design thinking tool because I wanted to ensure we were all interpreting the problem and solution in the same way . In viewing Armando Ramirez ’s lecture on Storytelling ( Week 2 ) , Ramirez had the following to say , “ And I think what storytelling does for leaders in terms of strategy , is it makes it simple . It makes it relate - able , It gives strategy color , and life In character and plot . And it , allows the line worker , working your manufacturing unit to vice president running marketing to have the same understanding of what we 're trying to do . ” I completely agree with Ramirez . Application Our team has met several times to perform research , brainstorm , and create a napkin pitch for this new service offering . We ’ve addressed the ‘ What Is ’ , the ‘ What If ’ and are currently in the ‘ What Wows ’ stage . I created the Storytelling Storyboard to share with my teammates . My expectation was that the storyboard would validate that we were aligned on understanding the problem and the potential solution . I used the storyboard to describe the problem and the solution . It had six scenes – ( 1 ) the accountant in a panic because the bank accounts were low on funds due to unpaid bills that needed to be collected on , ( 2 ) the accountant calling the supervisor in the Collections department asking ‘ What ’s going on over there ? ” and the Supervisor replying that the notices for unpaid bills were coming in so fast that she could n’t keep up or figure out which one was the most important to work first ( ‘ Work ’ means to correct the errors in the bill and resubmit it for payment ; she needed to know which ones had errors she could work that would result in them getting paid versus those that would likely never get paid ) , ( 3 ) the scene shows the Supervisor calling my company & asking for “ Help ! ” where my company responds with “ We have the perfect solution for you ! ” , ( 4 ) Shows a heap of disorganized papers ( unpaid bill notices ) going into a robot ( our business analytics tools ) and coming out on a conveyor belt in a nice , neat order , ( 5 ) shows the Supervisor pulling unpaid bills to work one by one and also handing some of them off to the same girl from my company that told her about the great solution we had ( both are working the unpaid bills together to collect payments ) , ( 6 ) the final scene is the accountant again . He has a smile on his face and the bank accounts are showing almost full again . I shared the storyboard with my teammates who laughed a bit at first but also thought it was a good representation of the problem and solution . It helped us all to know that we all had the same understanding of what the user problem was and what we were pitching as the solution and how it would benefit not just the end user , but the financial health of their organization as well . Insight As a product manager , I have the ability to see these scenarios and flows in my mind very quickly , however not everyone on the team can do that easily . I work with offshore resources often and I learned long ago that providing rough sketches ( visuals ) of the screens I want them to build are usually more effective than the written word – so it ’s a bit of a ‘ well , duh ’ moment for me now that I recognize applying this design tool approach can be helpful to all areas of the organization . I also found that creating this was much easier than I originally thought . It is a useful tool for helping other areas of the organization ( sales , support , development , quality assurance , etc . ) understand the concepts as well . Approach : I think storytelling was the correct design tool to use for my challenge and I will use it again . There ’s much truth in the saying that “ a picture is worth a thousand words ” and this tool does that . While there are alternative tools ( I could have created a flow chart or a prototype to show the proposed service ) , the storyboard was better in that it captured the emotions of the customer experience . The storyboard helps all areas of our company relate to the client ’s feelings and in turn , understand how we help resolve that customers pain points . I will continue to use this tool as it worked well for this project and I see how it can work well for future ones . This has been a very helpful class for me and I ’m looking forward to using these Design Thinking tools more in my line of work .